Others in your climate can give better cultural advice than I can, but it would help us to know the variety name of these roses.

If they're REALLY ground-cover roses, be sure they're not prickly. Because I guarantee you, you don't want to have to pull weeds from the middle of them.

Been there. Done that.

Jeri

Average soil, don't prune.

They do have thorns. Should I lay down some landscaping fabric before planting to help keep the weeds out?

Here is a link that might be useful: Here they are..

NO to laying landscaping fabric... The feeder roots may get tangled in the fabric amoung other things...

Normal soil, do not prune until their first Spring, and then only dead wood. I would plant them fairly close together, so hopefully they will shade out any weeds.

I have a row of five of the original Flower Carpet roses which I planted almost 20 years ago - after they attained their full size, which took a while, I pruned them once a year (which in your climate I believe should be in the Spring) with hedge clippers, just if they needed it for shaping. The only weeds that grow under mine are either near the edge, and thus "gettable attable", or are tree saplings, which can be pulled or dug out when they get big enough to see. The dense foliage of the roses seems to prevent other weeds from growing under them. I don't spray them at all, and once a year I through Osmocote timed release fertilizer on them.

One other thing - try to get plants that are on their own roots - trust me, you DO NOT want to try and dig suckers out of the middle of several of these roses! Good Luck -

Jackie

I love my Flower Carpet rose. Yes, it's thorny but it usually covers the ground so densely that the weeds don't seem to grow much under or around it anyway. I only prune it in the spring but I do dead head it through the season to keep it looking neat. Darn thing is tough as nails, grows like a weed and blooms it's head off!

Landscape fabric is not a weed preventative. The weeds simply grow on top of the fabric in the accumulated litter.

Landscape fabric has some uses, but weed prevention is not one of them.

One more question..Some of the leaves are yellow. I watered the soil very well. The saleswoman at Lowes told me that I may need to plant them soon. Is there any way I can prevent the leaves from turning yellow? I can't plant them yet because I need to remove the weeds from my front yard.

Leaves have a normal life span. They form, and eventually they die and fall off. You can't prevent that, any more than you can prevent children from eventually ageing into retirees. :-)

The shock of planting will likely cause the plants to lose some foliage, but the plants should replace them.

I wouldn't put a LOT of faith in a Lowe's garden employee . . . call me a cynic.

As for weeds -- depends upon the weeds you've got.
Our "weeds" are for the most part feral Bermuda Grass, and it pretty much goes where it finds water.

Jeri

I have had great luck with Flower Carpet roses here. They need no maintenance, not even fertilizer. They bloom all summer.

But, the name is a misnomer. They are not a carpet. They get 5' tall here.

{{gwi:257918}}

@harryshoe, Those are beautiful! Did you plant those in full sun? Do you mulch around them? How do you protect them from the harsh temperatures?

In response to your other questions, you can plant a potted rose just about anytime, but in the middle of the hot summer (or cold winter) is not the best time--although I have done it on occasion. In Zone 6, they are usually planted in the spring, after the last threat of freeze. That basically means the month of May in my Zone 6 (Kansas--not all Zone 6s are identical, however). The hotter it gets (July - Aug), the more care they will need--water, protective shade, etc. I've never planted roses during autumn, so don't know about that, but I'd worry about whether they had enough time to get their roots well-established before winter arrived. Perhaps other posters have had other experiences.

If the roses are bare-root, they should be planted in early spring--let's say March, maybe into April (in Zone 6).

As for soil, I wouldn't worry much about it unless you have extremely sandy or extremely clay soil. Dig a hole 1.5-2 ft deep and wide and mix some manure in the lose soil. You can buy manure in bags at places like Wal-mart, Home Depot, etc.

In the autumn, do not prune. Pruning is an early spring activity. Exception: if a rose suddenly grows a superlong cane that might whip around in the winter wind, you might want to trim it back a bit.

As for winter protection, I do not mess around with it in my Zone 6. I make sure when I buy roses that they are not unusually tender and therefore in need of extra help. However, my neighbors grow oak trees, the leaves of which blow into my yard, so nature provides some minimal natural protection. You could pile up some extra mulch around them if you are worried about how they will survive. I'm too lazy to do all that work--and I only have 60+ roses. Some posters here grow roses by the 100s!

Harry--love that picture!

Kate

So I should keep my roses in their pots until next spring?

Mine does occasionally throw a cane straight up but that's not the norm for me. They usually drape to the ground nicely and the whole plant is about a foot tall and makes a nice 6 foot circle.

You don't say what zone you're in, Natrualchick. If you live in a cold zone I'd plant them now so they can get established before winter. Just keep them well watered (but not soggy) if the weather is very hot and dry. You can give them some shade during the hottest part of the day too by putting some cloth on stakes over them. Some people also use umbrellas to shade their roses!

Otherwise, if you leave them in the pots you'll have to find a place in a shed or unheated garage to winter them. If that's the case get them off the cement on wood blocks, water them a little once a month through the winter and plant them in the spring.

I agree with everything seil said. : )

Good luck with your roses.

Kate

Hi Seil. I am in zone 6. We have very cold winters (snow, sleet etc) and very hot summers. I will plant one this weekend. I planted a knockout rose last month and it came back to life already so hopefully I will have the same luck. Thank you everyone for your input;)

If you have purchased potted roses, you CAN plant them now, but you will have to water EVERY DAY because you're coming into the hottest times of the summer and they will suffer transplant shock badly (the yellow leaves and wilting) if you don't keep them watered in the heat. If you don't let them dry out for the first week or 2, they should be OK if planted now. If you leave them in pots, they will dry out even faster since they won't have the soil surrounding their roots like they do in the ground.