Depends on when your first frost date is. You want to get them in the ground a good 6 to 8 weeks before first frost so they can get established before winter. And when you do so you need to keep the root balls intact as much as possible. You don't want to lose any small feeder roots so the plants can be well hydrated and fed going into winter. Plant them deep and mulch them well for the first winter too.

If the barrels rot I'll just do something with rock, I like rock more anyway but I figured I would start with what I have. *** I understand. But I have done precisely what you plan to do, and NOW I know why I was advised not to do it. We come back, however, to the basic problem. If you have too much shade for morning glory, you have WAY too much shade for roses. There are some climbing fuchsias. I have one -- F. hatchsiae, which is commonly sold as F. regia. It is a climbing, vining species fuchsia, immune to fuchsia-gall-mite, and blooming all over in a cloud of teeny red flowers. That might tolerate your conditions, and I do actually grow it in a monstrous glazed pot. I have another wonderful climbing fuchsia, but the label was lost, so I have no clue what it is. Jeri

I grow all my roses in pots. Bearing in mind that I have only been doing this as a determined effort for the last 3 years , the most important thing is to work out your general conditions. Living in Australia, I don't have to winter protect at all, but summer is...difficult. Due to how my yard is situated, have to move mine around on a regular basis, as during winter there is very limited direct sunlight, whereas during summer they tend to get the full brunt of all day sun. Second most important thing is to work out your watering. Where I live, its pretty wet during winter and v.early spring, then dry most of the rest, being very very hot for two months at the height of summer. I have to water at least once a day during this period, and even then as many as i can manage get stashed under the car port during the hottest month. They sit on concrete which tends to get very hot. I have tried ornamental ceramic and terracotta pots, but just plain plastic seems to work better; its cheaper, and drains properly. If it gets hot where you are, avoid black and try to stick to lighter or terracotta coloured ones as they don't suck up the heat so much. Seriously, I still have a lot of black pots, and after doing a touch test one heatwave, immediately lugged them all under shade after imagining how the roots were getting cooked. Then there's fertilizing. Still haven't worked this one out properly tho:) I usually go for 2 lots of slow release stuff, one just pre spring, and a smaller one just before the autumn flush, and the odd bit of water soluble watered in if the plant looks like it seems to be suffering from a nutrient deficiency, or the odd bit of bagged cow manure when I get enthusiastic. Should probably fertilize more, but I'm still a bit scared about burning roots and salt build up.

FruitCat thanks for the link! I read the entire thread. Was surprised by all the comments regarding watering, especially with peat type soil mixes. I add peat moss to everything. As soon as you mix something into the peat, like compost or manure, there is no problem with getting the mix wet. It stays moist well too. My garden soil is sandy so I always top dress with peat moss and manure mix. It helps enormously with keeping garden plants from drying out. I tend to be an under waterer as opposed to over waterer. Which is another reason for using pots. Like in Spain, pots are much easier to keep watered than the ground is. It is easy to see when potted plants need water, they droop. Plant speak. "Water me!" As to over watering, that has only happened to me when a pot's drainage holes get plugged. It is easy to spot too. The pot turns into a pool! Or in case of attempting growing heuchera in ceramic pots, the roots rot off leaving just a crown of leaves. Seeing as I dislike heuchera anyway, this is a non issue. So I've never been concerned regarding watering when growing plants in pots.