hi Sian, ...welcome to the world of Austin roses.... most people here like them too, although some grow better than others, depends where you garden... ...first of all, to answer question 1, there is no need to worry about the size of 'Claire Austin', you can keep it as a shrub like you thought. Just keep pruning down any climbing cane you see, to a size you want, it should then grow side shoots to flower. Lots of Austin's grow as climbers if you let them, but there's no need in our climate if you prune and control. This rose incidentally is used in a bed at the Savill Gardens Windsor Great Park, where it has its bed no. R5. They keep it pruned with all the others.. ...on this link HERE, is a page of a book about the landscaping at Savill and you can see the names of the roses used, including 'Claire Austin', and below that page, the design of the beds.. Question 2. I would use a pot with minimum measurements 18 inches across by 18 inches deep, 2 foot would be better, but HERE is another link to Austin's roses recommended for pots... some pots they use are not that big and I have read that they keep them up to 5 years without changing the soil.. Have fun... ...edit...I should add a word of warning I suppose, as I notice you are gardening on a balcony. Pots can get very heavy, so I hope your balcony is sturdy enough to withstand the weight. Wouldn't want anything untoward happening if you have several of them... just thought I would put that out there...

vaporvac - I've had 2 Cloud10s. The first one was so wimpy with tiny little flowers and never climbed. The second one started out the same but I fertilized it more and since it never stopped raining last year it seemed to like that better and actually put out several 5' canes. It does not BS at all! The flowers hang on a long time but they will get dirty looking with tons of rain. But it has very little foliage and I cannot detect any fragrance. I put it inside an obelisk and I think I should have wound the stems around the outside and it might look better. At the time I was thinking deer protection since they were roaming the gardens all night but they reached right in and helped themselves.

I have a Claire Austin. It does get rather tall and lanky, but it blooms quite a bit. The flowers, however, do not last long, just a couple of days. It is almost like DA's Heritage rose. Both are quite pretty, but they blow and shatter quickly. Neither Claire Austin nor Heritage are roses that I absolutely could not live without. Disease resistance here is about like most of the other plants I have. I have success with Winchester Cathedral, Lichfield Angel, Tranquillity, Glamis Castle, and Windermere among the Austins. Lichfield Angel is probably the most interesting of the lot. As for what to do with your orange-red and blue-red roses, I would suggest mixing in some pale yellows and/or creams. The yellows play against both of those colors quite effectively. If you want rose suggestions in that color range, I would look at Lemon Spice, Moondance, and Crocus Rose. Claire Austin also has a yellow component in its white flowers. Other ideas could include pale yellow petunias or those so-called white marigolds which are actually a cream to pale yellow color that did very well for me last year. Good luck with whatever you decide.

I have had Claire for 15 years or so. It has very rangy growth and can get quite tall with long branches. No matter what happens to it--no matter what sort of neglect (new baby, moving...) or poor growing conditions ( heatwaves, dry spells, coldwaves...)--it has just kept going, perhaps at time blooming a bit less (like the year it spent in a rather shady spot but still bloomed nevertheless). It is finally in a spot where it can spread its branches and be as untidy as it wants (I used to try to cut it back to shape it but that really does nothing for it in my opinion), and it has pretty much had blooms on it from spring to December. It didn't bloom in massive flushes, but consistantly and rather continuously. The web site has said that it has a very strong fragrance--and I don't get that from it, although apparently opinions differ on most roses, but it does always have a fragrance--which is quite lovely. It could possibly be trained as a climber. In terms of DA white roses, I also have William & Catherine and that is a much smaller, tidier. It is less fragrant but also rather reliable and sturdy as far as roses go. For Claire, it's good to give it some room, and let it be its wild self, but it it is lovely and pretty much indescructable.