I have 18 roses in containers. My climber is in a 15 gallon plastic container and the rest are hybrid tea roses in 5 and 6 gallon containers (5 gallon plastic and what I am calling 6 gallon are terra cotta pots that are bigger than 5 gallons but not by much - they could be 7 gallons). My roses started bare root (with 2 exceptions - 1 pulled from the ground and 1 purchased already potted) 6 years ago. Obviously it's better to have a bigger pot, but I haven't had major problems with this size pot. I have changed the soil once so far just to keep it fresh. I fertilize every other week at 1/2 strength with liquid fertilizer similar to Miracle Gro and once per month I fertilize with fish emulsion and an organic slow-acting fertilizer like alfalfa meal, blood meal, or Grow More. I never apply all of this on the same day, so that usually means a schedule similar to: Wednesday Week 1 Organic granular fertilizer Saturday Week 1 Weak liquid fertilizer Saturday Week 2 Weak liquid fertilizer Wednesday Week 2 Spray fungicide Saturday Week 3 Weak liquid fertilizer Wednesday Week 3 Fish emulsion Saturday Week 4 Weak liquid fertilizer Wednesday Week 4 Spray fungicide (I try to do the nasty things like spray chemicals and smelly fish emulsion during the week so that my neighbors and I don't have to deal with it when we are BBQing and the like on the weekends.) I spray for insects when they become a problem, except that I do proactively spray all of my buds with spinosad because thrips are the bane of my existence. For instance, I don't think I sprayed an insecticide at all last year. Most years I end up spraying maybe twice. I don't want to kill the praying mantis and hover flies that I get. Fungicide is a different story and I spray every other week (the week I do not fertilize). I use Immunox alternated with Mancozeb/Banner Maxx. When I do use an insecticide I use one mixed with yet a different fungicide just to switch it up. That's about it. Here in CA I usually prune in January, although I pruned in February this year. We usually get 3 flushes per year, although I had 4 this year with the mild weather. The biggest challenge I face growing roses in containers is keeping them watered. A rose in the ground can withstand even the fiercest heat for a few days between waterings. My container roses need to be watered every day when the temperature is above 90 degrees and when it's 100+ sometimes I water them twice if they look sad when I get home from work. If I miss a day the roses don't die, but the new growth gets crispy and the flowers I work so hard for burn up. Luckily, this is usually just for a couple of weeks in July or August. Otherwise, I water 2-3x per week. Right now with the rain I am watering just 1x to supplement Mother Nature.

I will shamelessly hijack this thread! lol) We have 2 climbers in containers which I plan to plant in the ground. I have done it in the past and am familiar with the procedure. However, my concern is about the weather. With the warm weather here in NY, everything including bees, hornets, mosquitoes etc. is confused. The roses are blooming, 4-6 weeks before time. The question is: if I transplant a couple of bushes, and plant the container roses (which were protected during the winter), what happens in case snow and freezing temperatures return? Will they survive?

Oh, this looks very like Harison's yellow - a lovely (and tough) old semi-wildling. You can remove it with some sturdy digging tools (fencehole spades are brilliant for this). If you have somewhere you wish to transplant to, have the hole ready and to move it to its new home, a good piece of hessian or burlap is useful. Water well the evening before you dig - this will soften the soil and enable the rootball to stay together). Cut back as much as half of the top growth (in your case, leaving a 2foot cane ). Dig a deep trench around the perimetre of the rose, as big as you think 2 people can manage to lift with forks or spades). Slice horizontally, as deep as you can, freeing the taproot then using 2 spades, lift the rootball onto the burlap, wrap well, pour a can of water on the whole wrapped rootball and transfer to new home. New hole. A nice deep hole, with, if possible, some good garden compost added to the soil taken out of the hole. Puddle in the new rose (add water to the hole and allow it to drain away), plant and backfill, throwing in the drier soil first to ensure it settles between the rose roots. Tread the backfilled soil in firmly with heel of boot. If the rose starts to look a bit wilty, try covering with an umbrella or parasol or other shade material. You will need to deep water (at least2 gallons every week or so) for the rest of the season, by which time the rose will have made new root growth and be able to survive with only minimal (if any) extra irrigation in following years.

I would plant them. The ground is the best root protection there is. If you get them in now they should still have some time to settle in before winter hits.