This is from the Austin site. Unfortunately Princess Alexandra of Kent isn't listed. From what I've read she grows very wide. One person's was 5 ft. tall and 10 ft. wide. I'm trying 18 inch pot and expect it will need re-doing in 5 years?

Austin roses for pots

I purchased this beauty last year and placed her in a container on my porch. What beautiful color and lovely plant. I have about 24 roses in containers, large, not huge, plastic containers and they all do well. I live in Zone 9 in San Jose Ca. They all tolerated our cold winter and already have a lot of good new growth. As a matter of fact I cut the first one today , a red Don Juan. Most of the others have many buds on them. I do not fuss over my roses, Water, occasional food and a good pruning in january and they are ready to bloom. Good luck, Judith Piazza

Hi irisgal,

On the UK site, it is listed good for containers.

Judith, do you think a 19" diameter by 20" deep urn will do the trick?

You might already know this but PAoK will not be winter hardy where you live. She will need to be brought into the garage to spend the winter. Just thought I'd let you know so you won't lose her over winter.

In pots that is, in the ground she would be fine.

Thanks Patty. I got a nice garage for her to spend the winter in.

How big in depth and diameter are your pots, Rose Whisperer?

I'll have to go measure them later today and will get back to you, but they are pots they typically use for small trees at the nurseries. I typically have very good success over wintering roses in pots in my garage, but the previous 2 winters were bad. This year, everything in the garage, including a few Japanese Maples, came through just fine.

Is the garage attached? Attached garages usually get a fair amount of heat from losses from the house. The whole time I've had a min/max thermometer out there, the lowest I've seen is about 25F. That includes times when the outside lows have been below -25F.

Thank you Rose Whisperer, please let me know! My garage is not attached but there are lots of things in it that might help insulate the plants. If it's still not enough I think I can move it indoors.

here in zone 3 i overwinter all of my roses in our unheated garage (attached). i strip the leaves off and water them tons before they go in the garage. i put the pots on leftover hardwood flooring strips so they're off the cement, then i cover them with layers of blankets or else an old sleeping bag. i leave them alone until the end of february, then i give them each 1 cup of water. i keep doing this once a month until they go outside where i water them really well. i never lose any. this warm winter, i didn't use any covering, and they're fine.

good luck!

carol

Good advice, thanks Carol.

Insulation only gets you somewhere if there is a heat source. If you had some magical insulation that allowed zero heat loss, then you could close the door when the inside temperature is perfect (within a few degrees of freezing), wave your magic wand, and come back in spring. However, in the real world, insulation only slows down temperature changes. So the garage might stay a bit warmer during the coldest part of the night, but if you get a week where the high is 20, the garage is going to get pretty cold.

Indoors tends to be too warm to successfully overwinter roses. If you have a place like a basement or attic that generally is under 60, that can work with a light setup.

I have a cold room in the house. There is little to no light though. Do they really need light for the winter? I've heard some people just cover them up in blankets.

They don't need light if they are dormant. However, to keep them dormant the temperature has to be around freezing. If the temperature is warmer than that, they aren't dormant and need light. The cooler the temperature, the less light they need. That's why you can grow them with fluorescents.

Last month was the coldest for my city in a long time. It reached -13 F.

http://m.thestar.com/#/article/news/starweather/2015/03/it-s-official-february-was-toronto-s-coldest-month-ever.html

Too cold to be in an unheated garage?

NO, BUT I WOULD PUT HEAPING PILES OF BLANKETS ON TO BE SURE. THEY MAY NOT NEED IT, BUT BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY.

SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS.

Better to be safe than sorry is why I am now considering planting them into the ground instead of containers. Although I'd love them in containers, these David Austin roses cost quite a bit and I really don't want to lose them to the cold.

i never lose them. never. i have over 50 large potted roses in the garage. i wouldn't use small pota, though.

right now all of the canes look so heathy, green and pretty. it's uplifting to look at all of my roses waiting for spring.

but whatever works for you is what's best. :)

carol

To answer and address some previous questions...The containers I typically use for trialing roses are in pots that are 16" wide and 18" deep. They are the thick, black plastic pots you see at nurseries that they use for small trees.

My garage is attached to the house, is unheated and non-insulated with a concrete floor. I place the pots directly onto the concrete floor and do not cover them. They receive snow as insulation and as a way of watering them as things warm. More snow is added as needed.

Throughout the years, I have had excellent luck in overwintering roses in this manner in average and typical winters. However, in the past 2 record breaking cold winters up here, I have lost the vast majority of the potted trial roses and other plants including perennials.

Hope that helps.