Heirloom sells potted roses, not bare root. Yes, you could plant them now. In LV, you could plant year round except the hottest months with potted roses. Bare root roses should have gone in December or January.

Here in texas I try to do all my planting in the fall. Most winters dont get crazy and the plant has a chance to establish itself well before the heat. I have planted few things in spring, some do ok, some dont. This year, I do have several plants going in in April, so will see how that goes.

Thank you Maria for the local tips! We moved here 8 years ago and the first house we rented had several large rosebushes in the backyard that we didn't do anything to & they were great LOL Now that we own, finally it's my turn! Roses are second in my heart (after lilacs, which I miss greatly).

We are in Henderson though. I was thinking of 2 locations. The first along my house, they would get early morning sun ... I haven't paid much attention until what time though. The other I was considering was along the back wall opposite the house, so perhaps I should not do that one. We will definitely be amending the soil around where it goes in. Even not being much a gardener I can tell it's crap. I'd be surprised to hear the previous/first owner ever did anything with it. We do have compost though!

Do you have any you find do particularly well in your garden? Perhaps I could just get 1 now to hold me over lol and wait until fall for any additional plantings.

Rekha, I totally agree with you. I am a rose newbie and learned my lesson last year. Roses I planted late in spring took a big hit by the summer heat. Some never recovered. This year I will wait until late fall to plant potted roses.

It took me a few years to understand, but it gets really hot here fast. We have no Spring to speak of, it is pretty cold in February, March we get cold spells, but May is blistering heat. I will be planting several roses in container in April and one or two may go in the ground, but will have to baby them....mulch well and water deep. Its not just roses, almost all perennials do better planted in the fall.

I've never had great luck with roses planted in the spring because they don't have much time to get acclimated before the summer heat stresses them, which can happen fairly early nowadays.

I also can't recommend Glamis Castle because it was a thorny beast that just wasn't special enough to make up for that. I understand Heritage doesn't last well in the heat and drops its petals early on, so probably not a great hot weather rose. Bolero is considered to be a very good and beautiful white rose if you'd rather choose another white.

Ingrid, one of the threads I was reading you chose Bolero, but I can't remember if that was recent or several years ago. How did it end up doing?

I really don't care what color, I just want some roses at this point. It's ok if I make a mistake. Live & learn. And I've certainly made more expensive mistakes in the past!

Definitely plant them in a spot with morning sun & afternoon shade, and be aware that you'll have to water them a lot since they're not established, which might be an issue if you have water restrictions. As Maria said, also be careful about planting them right in front of a wall that reflects sun/heat. I would also look for varieties known to do well in heat.

Well, if you don't have ANY roses right now, I think you need at least a few to get you through the spring and summer! You can always plant more in the fall...

I can't comment on how these roses will do in your conditions, but Abe Darby, Sharifa Asma, and Golden Celebration have wonderful fragrances. They are all fruity/citrusy, with Sharifa Asma having an almost lychee scent.

David Austin Roses (Abe Darby, Heritage, Sharifa Asma, Golden Celebration, Scepter'd Isle) will all perform best if they receive morning sun only. Glamis Castle, I found to be the most heat/scorching sun tolerant of the group. It can tolerate Summer heat until about 3 p.m.

Henderson ( lower elevation) is hotter than Summerlin (edited for clarity). Many homes in this area are at 3000'+ elevation, which makes a difference. Long story short, err on the side of caution. Also, order and plant those Heirloom roses immediately. They need to be established to some degree before the Summer heat sets in to perform their best or merely survive. I prefer to plant potted roses in March, mid-April at the latest, but I must admit to doing all kinds of unconventional gardening for my area. If you plant roses now, be sure to mulch well and check to make sure the soil does not dry out; especially while the roses are getting established.

I am not familiar with the soil in Henderson (it is generally poor throughout Clark County), but if you have the typical sandy soil, be sure to amend the large planting hole first. I am guessing it is too late to amend the entire planting bed?

Oh, after digging the hole, check the drainage. Many areas throughout the valley have caliche or the soil is very rocky. Poor drainage is the cause of many dead roses/plants. We have rented an auger from Home Depot to dig rose holes.

Late October is the best time to plant potted roses, although right now should be fine.

Bolero is very heat tolerant ( I grow it in full sun). Blush Noisette and Darlow's Enigma are both heat tolerant too.

Bare-root roses need to be in the ground before Valentine's or President's Day. I like to plant my bare-root roses late December through mid-January.

You should have a watering guide. If not you will see it with your water bill. Most of the restrictions significantly impact sprinklers as they tend to waste and/or use a lot of water; relatively. You should have a drip irrigation system in your yard; most homes do.

Bolero - Roses Unlimited

I grow mostly OGR's, but off of the top of my head, moderns I can recommend are:

Bolero

South Africa

Iceberg

Oklahoma

Scentimental

Angel Face

Blue Girl

Perfume Delight

Marijke Koopman

Sugar Moon

Naga Belle

Black Magic

Chicago Peace

Pink Peace

Peace

Crimson Bouquet...

Don Juan Climber

Altissimo Climber

Grande Dame

Chrysler Imperial

Oklahoma

Neptune

Barbara Streisand

Veteran's Honor

Europeana

Easy does It

Koko Loco

Madam Anisette

Love Song

We literally have 1 large bush with some kind of white flowers on the south side of our back yard that must have lived off the neighbor's watering; we had to fix the irrigation when we moved in. The rest is just flat builder dirt. No beds, nothing. I try to think of it as an exciting blank slate, but there are other priorities until I can get to it, so it's depressing in the meantime :( The soil is really hard. I know because my 8 yr old son likes to try and dig it. It wears him out so I let him LOL But perhaps I'll have DH rent the auger and amend a large area for planting. I did order one of the inexpensive kits for soil testing to at least get a general idea of what to do.

We do have drip irrigation (no sprinklers) now and can setup for the summer schedule. Perhaps I could give it additional water by hand? Or arrange a shade structure so it becomes covered around noon.

I wonder about large pots, until you get a bit further along with your soil improvements, blackcats. Of course, when I moved here, I had to plant immediately into hole amended spots in a subsoil wasteland. I am giving advice I was unable to follow myself. Ideally, one would put in hardscape, and haul in good topsoil and improve the entire planting areas and put in the irrigation before you put the plants in. You can use the lasagna method and layer good soil and compost and amendments on top without using an auger and digging into the hard stuff. Eventually, it will all respond to the topdressings and soften up and improve.

This is exactly why it's still depressing dirt back there :P When we lived in Chicago that's exactly what we did, built a bed, used the lasagna method, had lots of compost. We had a beautiful little strip along our fence & delicious cucumbers & tomatoes. Until we were out of town for a week in late summer!

I don't mind the idea of a pot. I assume it needs to be a somewhat large one?

I often have been only able to amend the soil under a raised planter. Which was easy because the raised planter was 24" high and not too much had to be amended underneath... Oh and we paid to have the planter built etc. Beyond that, for every hole, once the dirt was removed, soil amendments were added and then the amended dirt mixture goes back into the hole. It is good that you are getting a soil test. We often have to add blood meal, or cottonseed meal, soil sulfur because our pH is high and maybe superphosphate. You may find out what you need to add after soil testing.

Oh, Sheilah...not here... especially if there is caliche, which is like cement. My 6'3" Marines, step-son would dig about three to four rose holes and then would give up for the day. The soil has next to no moisture in it, is often riddled with rocks, and sometimes boulders. The landscapers use augers. No one would want to dig many holes in the soil here, and the manual way is highly inefficient. If one has to dig more than about four holes, they will be happy to have an auger.

Blackcats, you do NOT want to water the roses with sprinklers. There will be too much evaporation and drip irrigation is more efficient on multiple levels.

You do not need a large pot for a one-gallon plant if you are going to plant the rose in about a year or so. I think I have used 12" pots for non-permanent growing.

Blackcats, you have been given excellent advice here. I would go the large pot method until you can get your soil amended and worked. I have similar conditions to you (AKA hotter than Hades summers and chilly winters and horrible builder's grade soil and/or caliche), however, I stay about 3--5 degrees or so, cooler than you in the summer--not much but every little bit helps.

I tried to find my book I had when I started. It was titled something like Growing Roses in the Desert. Of course, it is dark thirty in the morning and I can't find it but it was very helpful to me in the beginning. Basically, you throw pretty much everything everyone says and writes about growing roses out the window. A lot of what is written out there is for the eastern side of the US, not the desert. If you can give your roses morning sun and afternoon shade, so much the better. If need be, cover your roses with shade cloth during the hottest part of the day. It does not cool off at night much here or in Vegas during the hottest parts of the summer (unless you call 85 degrees cool). That is additional heat stress on your roses.

During the hottest months of the summer (from end of May through October), your roses will be dormant. They are just trying to survive. Your best blooms will come between April and May and then they will start up again in October or so, once it starts to cool down again.

I tend to stay away from David Austin roses as they were bred in northern England where it is cool and rainy. When I first started growing David Austin roses, I only wanted to grow DA roses as I thought they were gorgeous and the only roses in the world that looked like that. I thought everything else looked like a hybrid tea (not my favorite shape of a rose). Well, I am happy to say, I have learned a bit since then and found that there are many roses (not DA) that have the same shape and scent as a DA rose that can (as an added bonus) take the heat. Most of my DA roses can't, and I have been slowly replacing them with ones that can. I look at the person who bred the rose and where it was bred. Those with climates similar to mine, I tend to buy those roses as I know they will do well where I live. So I look for heat tolerant roses. Help Me Find (HMF) will often give a listing as to whether or not a rose will tolerate heat. I go for those, most of the time, unless a rose just captures my heart.

I have a tiny yard, so I have several roses in containers. I use LARGE containers (at least 24 inches across and 20 inches in depth..or bigger) to accommodate the root depth of the rose. I use a good potting mix for the roses. I also only use resin pots for my roses (the pot walls are thick and has what it looks like styrofoam in its makeup, as it helps to insulate the roots--not only in summer but also winter when we have freeing temps. All of my roses, etc., are all on drip. Expect to water your roses at least daily as they will dry out every day in the summertime. If it is 116 degrees outside, I might water for two or three minutes in the morning and in the late afternoon/evening. Make sure you use more than one emitter for each pot (I use three) so the water goes around the entire root system and not just in one spot. I have my yard on a timer that I can control from the internet (love it!), so if I am out of town and need to turn the zone on with the pots for a minute or two, I can, from anywhere in the world (that has the internet).

Check on the alkalinity of your water. Mine is very hard and alkaline--I suspect yours may be the same. I may add a bit of organic acid type fertilizer to my pots from time to time (once or twice a year). It helps to keep a balance so the environment is not too alkaline and more toward neutral (which they like). I also don't feed during the summer. It is too hot for the roses and they are just trying to survive the heat.

Have I scared you off yet? Gosh, I hope not! You SO can do this!

Here are some links for you. Growing Roses in the Desert blog

Las Vegas Master Gardener and Rose Society

Good presentation on growing and maintaining roses

A few roses I’ve had success with include Pope John Paul II. He never produces a “bad” bloom and smells really good and keeps decent foliage in summer.

Eugene de Beauharnais is the rose in my pic above that I’ve kept in a not overly large pot for many years and i love everything about him, his color fragrance, willingness to bloom and more compact size.

Barbara Striesand is not my favorite bloom - a little short on petals and goes to the light pink side of mauve but it is a very willing bloomer with great fragrance and unique and very pretty leaves on a nice bushy plant.

Jesse Hildreth is the first rose to bloom for me this year and his leaves rarely show sun damage but he is a petite thing so far.

You are receiving excellent information!!

Your Jesse Hildreth image is so pretty, Mojavemarie! I was surprised to see how yellow it is versus white but it seems to be a happy plant in the desert.

I agree with Mustbnuts regarding David Austin Roses for Vegas/Henderson. I have a large lot (by suburb standards) and reserved the best spot in the garden for David Austin Roses. I have found that in the desert soil, and the right conditions (afternoon shade, and more food), some of the varieties perform as well as everything except my Old Garden Roses. Mary Rose is also heat tolerant relative to other Austins. Munstead Wood can take some afternoon sun... the color will change.

Munstead Wood in June... Not it's best bloom or coloring

I too have purchased very healthy, and always the correct roses from Heirloom. Burlington Roses is my preference. Burling stocks some one-gallon plants but it seems that she has more bands. I like to grow bands in pots on my covered patio (during the Summer) for a growing season prior to planting. They cannot take the heat. I have also purchased bands In February, potted them up and planted in late October.

The Las Vegas Valley Rose Society is still going. They have an annual rose show, I think next week. Last year it was held at the East Charleston library and it is open to the public. They also meet once a month at Lorenzi Park in the p.m. for meetings. I have been back and forth between Pittsburgh and LV so am not keeping up with things.

What I have done with the roses in pots, is to dig out about 2"- 4" of soil in a strategic spot in a planter bed. The rose in the pot goes into the depressed area. I then surround the base of the pot with mulch and place mulch on the top of the soil in the pot. I drill two holes in the pot (4-5" from the top) and place the drip lines through the pot to ensure they are not blown out of the pots by the Spring winds. The regular watering that drips from the pot etc. will help to improve the soil underneath unless what lies there is worse than usual.

So much fantastic advice here, thank you so much everyone! I'm going to sit down with my notebook and write some organized notes. Just a few quick replies:

No worries desertgarden, definitely no sprinklers. I despise the waste of water. It's funny what you say about your 6ft marine step-son. My son once dug, with a standard metal shovel, a roughly 4ft x 2 ft trench in the middle of the backyard. It wasn't straight because he couldn't get through some spots LOL I have no idea why he dug it LOL I think I'll save serious landscaping till he's older and past these behaviors!

Ideally it would be potted for a year, but knowing me, a year will become 2 so I believe I'll go with the 24" pot. And either the insulated kind mentioned and/or the pot in pot method.

mustbenuts! Nope, totally not scared off :) I'll check into those resources

I found a couple pics of my yard when I was making space on my phone. It's mostly this, pic taken facing east and a little south. There are some weeds, so I guess it's not completely bare :P

That is a blank slate for sure! It will be so great to see after photos.

I agree Sheila! What a wonderful place to start! So exciting!

following

Hi Divya, I tried to respond to your post about DA roses but it disappeared:( The DA roses we’ve tried in Las Vegas have been beautiful but disappointing because the blooms haven’t had much staying power in our dry heat. Here is Carding Mill that would fade in about a day - sad but it no longer lives here.

The apricot I mentioned above, Jump for Joy has been really impressive. No rose has stood up to our dry desert heat like this one. I don’t even mind the faded flowers on it. here it is with another rose I’m loving in the background, Love Song.

A new Pink that is young but looking like a keeper is The Lady Rose.

These roses are all Week‘s roses, so easy to find they are the Rodney Dangerfield of the forums. They get no respect! I don’t know if it’s because they were hybridized in SoCal instead of England like Austin’s or Germany like Kordes but they seem to tolerate the desert better. If I was to pick a yellow it would be Julia Child the parent of Jump For Joy.

It will be interesting to hear about Blackcats and your experiences. Maria

Oh my goodness days later my post on the other thread showed up so sorry for the repeat. Houzz can be so frustrating!

Some input from a long-time rose grower in hot Phoenix area. I am fortunate to live in an older part of town where the soil is good due to house being on land that was farmland previously (probably cotton). It is clay but once enriched with compost and other goodies is quite good soil. On the (endless) housing developments on the edge of town where they have torn up the desert to build, the soil is terrible. I've also known people to try to garden in areas north closer to mountains and it is rocky, rocky, rocky. I don't know if I could ever get anything to grow in that!

I grow mostly old garden roses but also some hybrid teas and floribundas, etc. There are many that do well here: Fragrant Cloud, Love Song, Marmalade Skies, Iceberg, Perfume Delight, and many more. OGRs: teas, chinas, and bourbons generally do well here. Teas especially; they are quite easy to grow. I would advise you to take the opportunity to grow teas as they are wonderful roses and you are lucky you can grow them (zone).

I really try not to plant anything after February (March at latest) so the roses can put on a root system before the heat begins. I often don't follow my rule on this because I get tempted by something and buy it late and then I have to work hard to keep it alive during the summer. It is usually the first year that most roses are at risk for dying in heat.

I use drip irrigation (supplemented by hand-watering for those first year roses). I use beach umbrellas to temporarily shade some plants during the summer, mostly during their first year. I have many roses that are planted in my southern-facing front yard that get little shade in the summer and they do ok. I don't expect blooms between May and late September/early October due to heat. But, I get blooms the rest of the year, except maybe late December/January if if is fairly cold.

I have even "forgotten" (neglected) to water some teas on the side of my house for the whole summer and they survived. Established roses can go for quite a while without water (well, maybe just teas).

Hope this helps learning to grow roses in hot, dry climates. They do very well here. They grow to be monsters!

Just to clarify what I wrote ( the potted roses I refer to are 2-5 gallon roses purchased from a local nursery). Bands and 1- gallon own root plants, ideally, should not be planted until after they have had some time to grow in a protected location and then I find the best planting time to be mid to late October depending upon how warm it is. If not, plant own-root one-gallon roses by mid-March (as described by DebbyM...)

So I thought I'd come back & update. Of course I was unable to resist! I got Heritage from Antique Rose Emporium first. Was absolutely convinced just one would get me through. It's surviving quite well in a large pot in the backyard. I used well draining soil & try to remember to water daily. It probably gets watered 5 out of 7 days. Ish. I'm not sure at what point it goes into shade but it gets sun all morning. We've been blessed without crazy heat this year so that probably saved me/it lol

Then, of course, a sale at Heirloom Roses beckoned and I gave in and got Golden Celebration and Le Vésuve. Golden Celebration is starting to produce some small flowers but Le Vésuve died almost immediately and I've contacted them about their warranty.

Heritage, planted early April, pic taken end of May:

Golden Celebration, planted early June, pic taken today/end of June:

blackcats-

June is the mild month of Summer... for gardening, I ignore the actual season dates and pay attention to the temperature. July is Hades, and for the 19 years I lived there it was always the case... watch your new roses, a lot in the coming weeks...especially delicately petaled Heritage, and the increase of spider mite activity. Your roses can survive...

Golden Celebration (I have better images that I cannot locate that show its deep golden yellow coloring)

Btw... I would begin with filtered sun or sun for about 4 hours then shade

Oh for sure - it's just been a more mild June (and May especially) than usual. Thanks for the tips, will do!