Please advise me! New to gardening!

apple_2007

17 years ago

I am very impressed with this exchange of ideas and advises on this forum. I am completely new to gardening, but I am very eager to grow miniature roses in pot in my balcony. I have a big south facing balcony, bright light, but no direct sunlight. As you all know, being Chicago, there would definitely be experience droughts and severe snow later in winter. Can I go for my choice, because I am worried about no direct sunlight! Also I am eager to know what varieties can I go for? Are these miniatures perinnials , blooming many times a year? Whre can I buy them? Please folks give me any suggestions with all your experience. Thanks with all appreciation.

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Comments (9)

lesdvs9
17 years ago
Someone in your zone needs to help you out with some ideas, you'd be zone 5. Minis have a dormant period where the plant looses it's leaves in the winter but will awake in the spring with new leaves and buds and bloom again. There are roses that bloom repeatedly and some that bloom once and some that bloom just a couple of times, it depends on the rose you choose. I don't believe you find any rose that will grow well without any sunlight at all, I'm sorry. You could try and experiment on a couple. Without spending a lot of money, you might pick one from the grocery store, I'm not sure how well it would grow outside at this time of year because I don't know your weather conditions. This is why I can't advise you what to grow. Hopefully someone else will see your thread and help you out.
Leslie
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ladybutterfly
17 years ago
Apple, I also live in Chicago. If you are growing minis in pot I do know you will have to bring them in when winter comes. You might be able to put them in a garage for the winter but someone with more experience then me will have to let you know if that will work.

I don't know if your bright light is strong enough to grow them....you might want to just get a few and see...or go with ones that will live with a bit of shade. I can't help you to with ones those will be. I haven't grown a lot of minis so I don't know about what is out there.

As far as I know minis will keep flowers..off and on.

As for the droughts...you need to keep water them..but don't over water them. When it is hot here..I sometimes have to water my pots everyday.

You could go to a local garden center..you should be able to find minis

Sorry, I can't help you a whole lot but hope this is of some help!
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I don't live in your zone but as a general rule of thumb, you want to look for plants that are 1 - 2 USDA hardiness zones colder than that designated for your area. This recommendation is mainly if you want to keep the plants out in winter. If you have a place to bring them in that is chilled, then you can go with the more marginal plants. Sometimes it is difficult to judge what might do well if you have no direct sun and there are ways to increase the amount of light around plants. In many cases, the plants will grow but the flowering will be reduced without that sunlight. Being south-facing, I expect that it might be a little blessing that you aren't getting full blazing sun all day, which is usually the case for south-facing. I often recommend that people buy and plant things that they like and give it a try. I often go to a nursery looking for one thing and see something else and bring that home. Then I end up researching the care for the plant. However regarding your mention of "droughts" and "severe snow", you need to make sure that the plant gets manual watering if there is no natural rain that makes it on the balcony (if it is covered and/or enclosed) and you may want to consider protection in winter for less hardy plants. Snow is actually a good insulator and I allow my hardy plants to be covered in it, and that will help reduce the incidence of continual freezes and thaws, but again, it's dependent on how much precipitation in general, reaches your balcony and ultimately your plants.
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Mieriema, Your idea sounds lovely! And peaceful. I like it! You might consider ferns to start with - many can be grown indoors, low light suits many of them, and they have a suitable Tolkienesque woodland "feel." There are some summer shade annuals that do well as indoors plants - white impatiens (or the very palest pinks and lavenders) are quite lovely. Coleus is also tolerant of shade - the green and white cultivars really stand out in shady conditions. I can't think of any reason why you couldn't grow a white variegated Hosta indoors either. I've never heard of columbine as an indoor plant, but it might be worth the experiment - the flowers are graceful, and the foliage is lovely. Lilies of the Valley can also be grown indoors - dainty white bells, delicious fragrance. Jasmine can be grown indoors, but I'm not sure of its sun requirements (it can be bought from White Flower Farm, but it's pricey - you can probably find a cheaper source). Don't be afraid to try a few things from the garden center - indoors and outdoors plants. Get one of something you like, and if it does well you can get more; if it doesn't work, it was a cheap experiment. Check out plants from local florists or greenhouses - quite a few houseplants have amazing foliage or flowers and will tolerate low light conditions. (In my limited experience, low humidity is more of a problem for many plants than low light - a little room humidifier might be a good investment if your apartment gets really dry in the winter.) I'm still hunting for a good approximation of elanor, niphredil, and simbelmyne for my own garden - let me know if you find some! Laurelin
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Yep - wait a yr. better yet 2yrs for those biennials. Mark as they come up. When I inherited my garden I waited for 2yrs before digging anything out unless I knew exactly what it was and if it didn't fit into my grand scheme of things. For the things that I just wasn't sure about I moved them around back to a new bed while I contemplated they're outcome. Things that were in overabundance or that I could immediately identify as they started to come up and didn't want I bagged or boxed the root systems, wrote up an info sheet about what it was and it's care and set it all out on my front lawn w/ a sign that said free. I did this for a few yrs. until my garden was all situated. By far this was one of the most rewarding experiences that I ever had! People would wait yearly for my annual give away. I often have a hard time striking up conversation w/ strangers (I'm def. stranger shy - not much of a small talker - people think I'm just B!@#$% and stand offish - I'm really just conversationally challenged and live in my head) but man cuold I go on talking w/ all of the folks who would stop by - telling them all about the plants and the possibilities. It was wonderful! Often people would come get stuff when I wasn't home and I would come home to the most lovely notes. 2 stand out in my mind: 1. An older couple who planted some of my coneflower in their back yard and how that night they sat outside having tea and enjoying it. 2. The lady that sold her house and was moving out of the country. She'd dumped all of her money into the move at the end of the Summer and couldn't afford her annual garden plantings. She left me a note to 'The Generous Gardner' and I still have it yrs. later in my bedside table drawer. If I ever had a store that's what I decided I'd call it. Kids would come around while I gardened and ripped stuff out to give away. Little girls would go away happy and elementary school aged boys would take clumps of coneflower for their mom's. There's nothing more beautiful then a Friendship Garden!
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dan_keil_cr Keil
17 years ago
Roses need a minimum of 8 hours of sun.
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apple_2007
Original Author
17 years ago
I appreciate all of your advices. Thanks a lot.
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ladybutterfly
17 years ago
I always thought it was six....guess I might be wrong!
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ladybutterfly
17 years ago
I always thought it was six....guess I might be wrong!
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mike_in_new_orleans
17 years ago
6 hours IS the general recommended minimum of direct sunlight. But it also varies somewhat with the varieties. Some roses will tolerate less light. Once again, someone from the Chicago area should chime in about recommendations.

One variety that springs to mind, though, is Sweet Chariot. A purple, pom-pom-style spreading miniature that is praised for its fragrance, easy care, disease resistance, and cold-hardiness. It might be a good candidate.

I've heard of people taking their roses indoors to overwinter, but they dry out easily indoors and would be confused by the lack of winter temps, so that's not the best solution.

I like the idea of trying just a few roses to start, so you can see how they do for you. One tip for growing minis on a balcony is to give them a shower periodically through the summer with a water-wand or equivalent spray-attachment. The reason is spider mites. These pests are very tiny and hard to see. But they like dry conditions, seem particularly fond of minis, and can infest a bush and suck the leaves dry before you notice them. Hosing down the leaves with a forceful spray every few days helps wash off the buggers before they can do much damage.
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meredith_e Z7b, Piedmont of NC, 1000' elevation
17 years ago
Perhaps there are [other] small polyanthas that are hardy in your zone? I'm sorry, but I do not know hardiness above whether my z8s can survive in my 7b. But polyanthas tend to do well in less sun, stay smaller [particularly if you want them to], and may be hardy. A place to research, in any case.

There is usually a lack of fragrance with polyanthas, except for the startlingly strong and beautiful fragrance on Clothilde Soupert. I wonder how hardy she is? Sweet Chariot should be fragrant too... I don't grow him.

My apologies for focusing on non-minis in this forum, but the polyanthas often cross the two subjects.
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ladybutterfly
17 years ago
Meredith,
I'm so happy you did bring up about polyanthas. I'm getting my first polyanthas this season. I'm getting the dwarf ones. Mothersday, Marie-Jeanne and Pomponella Fairy Tale. I didn't know that they tend to do well in less sun. Mothersady and Pomponella...I will be growing in full sun but Marie-Jeanne I was planning to put in a area that gets a little bit less sun so I'm very happy to hear that.
If you have any more tips on growing polyanthas...I would be thankful!!
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Please advise me! New to gardening!

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lesdvs9

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Please advise me! New to gardening!

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