Are you planning on overwintering your roses? I put 3 roses in pots this year - 2 minis and a mr. lincoln. At first I thought I'd treat them as an annual, but now we're clearing out room in the garage to try to keep them over the winter - not sure how it will work!

Well, I don't have to worry about overwintering but I do have lots of plants and roses in pots! Right before vacation, however, I'm kinda wishing I didn't have so many.....! (and the person who has to come and water will wish I didn't, too!)

I move a lot of stuff around, too, depending on what is blooming at the time. It's very difficult to plant stuff under trees so a lot of time I just put a ring of pots of a singular item around the tree and it can be quite stunning (I do a lot of pots of caladiums like that).

Happy Gardening (in pots!)

Lynn

I have NEVER been able to grow roses in a pot. I try year after year, and I loose them by the following spring.
I too love them in pots, but how can one overwinter them to survive to the next?

but how can one overwinter them to survive to the next?

I put mine in an unattached garage and they overwinter just fine. However, I'm in a warmer zone than you so your mileage may vary.

I love planting in pots. I have some of my big roses in the ground but the vast majorty are in pots. My rose do great and like Lynn, I do not have to worry about moving them for the winter.

I live in a condo assoc and cannot plant in ground in the front yard so I use roses in pots to brighten up the front of my house with color. I even have my tomato plants in pots and they seem to do so much better.

Liz

Karl makes his a little tiny "shed" out of foam panels and uses a lighted incandescent (sp?) bulb that keeps it just warm enough to not freeze but cold enough they stay dormant.

I overwintered 4 roses in pots the past winter, and this year, I'll be up to 30. You want to make sure you let them "die" outside in the cold. :) Then water them really well. Put them in the attached garage (but not on the ground). Try to keep it dark. Give them a small drink of water around January and another small one in March. Once the daytime weather is about 8 degrees warmer than freezing, start dragging the pots outside for daytime and inside for nightime. Keep them well watered once you start doing this. This, of course, is for my zone.

Lynnn - Yeah - I hate vacationing in the summer - what a waste of rose time!! :) Your tree idea sounds great!!

Carol

Warm zoner again here. I don't have overwintering issues. Just trying to keep them green right now in this awful heat spell and drought.
But as to vacationing and pots, a while back I set up a system of speghetti irrigation tubes connected to a timer on my outdoor faucet. Works great for being gone; just be sure your faucet is not old and worn to the point of leaking badly. That would make for quite a water bill. The timer really wasn't terribly expensive, as I recall. I still have the equipment but never bothered setting it up again when I moved last, about 4 years ago. Didn't need to because my neighbor loves gardening too and was happy to help out with watering. But my wife and child and I are moving to a bigger place in a few days. I may just set that irrigation system up again after we're settled in.

btw, when it comes to moving, potted roses sure are a helluva lot easier than digging them all up. No chopping up root systems!

Mike

Another reason for pots is you can put them in a protected area so deer don't eat them.

As far as success in growing them is concerned a lot has to do with the potting soil. Check out the container forum for advice on that subject.

Mike - that sounds like a project my husband would LOVE to get into!! Thanks!! He does love his projects. :)

Jim - I will check out the container forum. Never knew there was such a forum! :)

Carol

Carol

The container forum is where I get my best advice. I learned about using wicks to keep the water moving down through the bottom and out of the pot so you do not get the root rot. It really does work.

rosesnpots - will you please respond to my other thread. I'm interested in your opinion, especially if you use the soil-less medium they suggest. And where would I find such things?

Carol :)

I also give them a handful of snow...if we have it. MIne seems to like that.

I love the fact that my 'garage gang' potted roses come out of the garage in the spring ready to go, and usually bloom one or two weeks ahead of the 'grounded group'. I also love the fact that they need very little pruning, as the lack of winter wind seems to prevent cane damage. I even overwinter two tree roses in the garage. We wrap a little bubble wrap around the upper graft for extra protections. We put styrofoam panels on the wall of the garage, then set the pots in front of the panels, on wooden slats so they are not sitting on the ground. we're also careful not to leave the garage door open for long during the winter. Carol makes two excellent points - you have to let them go dormant outside first (in my area they are ready to go in the garage around Thanksgiving) and they need to be watered occasionally during the winter. Dehydration will kill them. I love the fact that I can put them anywhere around the house and garden where a little color is needed - on the deck, by the front door, in the garden. I've got two going where the spring tulips and daffodils left a big bare spot. I have dribblers on my in-ground roses, so it is easy to put an extra dribbler right up into a pot.

Carol

I posted on your other thread earlier this afternoon.

Liz

Thanks Liz!

Karen - I'm looking forward to that too!!
Carol