I grew Blaze like that for about 5 years and it did great! Pot size should be AS BIG AS POSSIBLE, lol! Mine was a good 2 ft. x 2 ft. and eventually after the 5 years it got so root bound and I had to find a place to plant it. It is possible to root prune occasionally and re-pot though. It just takes some hard pruning of the top to make it manageable.

seil wow such a big pot . in Florida the disease/insect pressure is very high , so I want to make sure first it will grow nicely before committing to a big pot .

Christopher is right, fortuniana would not be ideal for a big potted climber. I understand that fortuniana roots tend to spread wide rather than deep and potted climbers do tend to be a bit tippy. It might not root deep enough to keep it upright and in the pot. Besides the extra oomph in growing power might make it to big for a pot very quickly.

As for the size of the pot, think about it. That rose is going to go UP. You need a big, heavy base or it will want to tip over easily. I had problems with my Reine des Violettes in a pot because all the dense top growth was like a sail and it would catch the wind and tip over all the time. I finally had to tie it down to a post to keep it from sailing off, lol!

Seil

can I start with a 10 gallon plastic pot ?

I still have some large climbers in 5 gallon pots going on a year lol that are doing well but they are on Doc Huey or own root- not Fortuniana. You do have to water them daily if you do that. I would probably go with a 10 gallon or probably even larger, if you have one. That way you won't have to repot so soon. The tall climbers, especially thorny ones, can be kinda unwieldy to repot. I just stuck the pots against a sturdy trellis instead of trying to put one into the pot. I have had potted trellises in other pots break due to the weight of the plant or even tip the whole pot over. You could also push the pot against a wire fence if you don't have a trellis.

Make sure your pot has good holes in the bottom and that the soil is well draining otherwise the rose can get root rot.

If you go with an own root rose you want to pot it up slower and not stick it in a huge pot right away especially if you buy it as a small starter plant or band. My own roots do better if I start them out in a one gallon and pot them up to 3 gallon, etc as they grow otherwise they root rot even with good drainage.

I have one large rose, not a climber (Pope John Paul) on Fortuniana, in a huge pot. It is really thirsty and even though the pot is really large I must water it daily. I think the fort grafted roses like more water, at least in pots.

~SJN

If it's a small rose to begin with you can use a smaller pot and just pot it up to larger ones as it grows.

Thanks sultry ! All my roses are in their first year ,so I water frequently anyway .Do you grow Nahema ?

I think Nahema might be problematic in a pot because from what I have read, it likes to flower only at the ends of its canes...and it being in a pot, you couldn't really grow anything else with it to add interest around the base, meaning you might get a bit of a lollipop effect. Would prolly be a great candidate to grow with a clematis or something...

Hope I'm wrong, because in a momentary fit of rose madness, one found its way into my trolley on a routine visit to pick up potting mix last week. I saw one a couple of years back that smelt lovely, and the blooms were gorgeous,..and having always regretted not getting it, I couldn't resist when I finally saw it again. After I got home and thought about it, I have no idea where to put it...

Hi no I don't have Nahema yet. I have lots of climbers though, old garden types and modern types. I have chickens who like to eat the buds off my rose bushes so I like large or climbing roses because then the chickens cant jump up and get my flowers lol.

Pink Rose, I grow several own-root climbers in pots. A two-year old Eden and one-year olds: The Impressionist, Polka and Ginger Syllabub and a couple of Don Juan cuttings (babies). They are all doing well and growing steadily as own-root plants (I might be concerned about Fortuniana root stock plants in pots for very long.) My sense is that these OR plants should do ok for another year or so. I do water them daily during the growing season in my hot, dry climate and feed them regularly. What a joy they all are!

I have a few climbers and 39 rose trees in pots. Nahema is one of them. I made a teepee for it to climb on. I have another Nahema coming in the spring, will plant that one in the garden, I hope it can take the cold here.

summersrhythm

please post a pic of Nahema ! is she own root or grafted ? how big is her pot ?

It's about 6-7' tall ( has 2 long canes), grafted. The pot size is about 16", I might need a bigger pot next year with this growing speed. I think you need a bigger pot since you're in a warmer zone, it won't dry out fast in a large pot. I got my Nahema this summer from Ludwigs. It was a huge plant to start with. Right now it's in the garage with other pots for winter storage. All the rose pots are sitting between a summer car and motorcycles and scooters, it's hard to take a photo. I will take a photo in the spring for you after I move all the pots out of garage. I ordered another Nahema from Palatine for the spring 2017, their grafted roses are huge, I hope they still have some Nahema left. :-)

summerrhythm

Thanks ! how many gallons is the 16 inch pot ?

I have to google it, it says 16"=10gal. I must be wrong about 16" size, it's not 10gal for sure, because I won't be able to move a 10gal pot, it would be too heavy. :-) I will measure 1 pot when I get home from work, they are all about the same size. Sorry about that.

Just went to the garage to check on the pots for you, I have 3 sizes: 12" and 14" and 16". Here is a photo from last spring when I took the rose trees out of garage, you can see there are 3 different sizes there.......

Nahema is relatively small for a climber. It serves well as a pillar rose. Check out this article by Paul Zimmerman that teaches you how to pillar a rose. This should produce more lateral canes and thus more flowers, although my Nahema still likes to bloom mostly on top, but pillars are more compact than a trellis and will make for a nicer display in my opinion :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5rLjzkg7Zg

Thanks soFL rose

By the way does a metal trellis get hot and burn canes during our hot 100 daily summers ?

Yes! I've had that here.

Really ? so do you use wooden trellises only ?

Is there a reason you are getting Nahema on Fortuiana root stock? I live in South Florida and I have three. (I tried to rescue one that would have made 4 but it did not make it.) I purchased two of my three from Cool Roses in West Palm Beach. This is one of the rare roses that actually does well on its own roots and is not bothered by the nematodes we have here in our sandy soil.

Any way I saw this rose at Cool Roses at the end of one or their rows. It was in a pot and in full bloom. I fell in love with both the scent and the form. I have two of them in pots and one in the ground. One is in a 7 gallon pot and the other is in a 7 gallon pot (it is small). Though when I had Geoff from Cool's looking at another problem that I was having he said mine was in too small of a pot. If I remember correctly he informed me his was in a 20 gallon pot. I don't know where I will put a pot that size, but I will find a place because I just love it so much. Good Luck with yours.

Sharon

Actually I just ordered own root Nahema from Cool roses ,Fortuniana grafted ones were not ready . I love Fortuniana because the roses grow fast and I was afraid own root Nahema would be slow . how was Nahema's growth rate for you ? also is in ground or pot grown better?

The one I have in the ground is not doing as well as I like. It is quite slow. Unfortunately, I planted it right before our hurricane. She made it through that without a hitch, but not long after that I had several floods. She grew backwards for awhile, but seems to be holding her own for now (at least). On the other hand, the two that I have in pots are doing quite well. My larger one, I got in a 1 gallon pot last spring. The smaller one was just a tiny cutting last Feb. They are both in 7 gallon pots now. The smaller one is probably about 3 feet tall and two feet wide. It has not been cut back at all. I have clipped the roses off and anything dead out. The tall one was maybe 10 feet tall in early October. I cut her back to about 3 1/2 feet tall. I did not really want to go so low but she had been attacked by some kind of bore that got into some of her canes around the time of the hurricane. She is a good 5 feet tall again and putting out wonderful roses. I am sure you will love her. I just can't brag enough about her. Someday, I hope to try some of the jelly that was on Cool's Craft page, because I have always said she smells good enough to eat. :)

Good luck with yours.

Pleeese post pics of both !

I just moved mine that wasn't doing so well in the ground into a large pot. It already put out a new set of leaves so I'm hoping it will do better now.

So FL

Did you amend the soil where it was planted in the ground.?