Ayk, you could plant them in the ground (and mound them up) and construct an awning of sorts over them to shade them. They do sell shade cloth for this purpose. I never recommend keeping roses inside. They do not like the conditions in most homes. And I don't recommend plastic bags either. They don't breath at all and can trap too much humidity and promote fungal diseases. Paper bags will shade them but won't keep the canes from dehydrating. That's what the mound of soil does. Never, EVER use top soil or garden soil in pots! It is too heavy and dense and will not drain adequately. Although roses love water they hate to sit in soggy soil. Always use a good light weight potting soil. With or without fertilizer, with or without moisture control crystals, with or without added perlite it doesn't seem to matter for me as long as it's soil meant specifically for POTS!

"Diana, do let me know how Evelyn performs for you. Given that our climates are not that different I may wish to try it (I can't believe I just wrote this...)." Will do, Eduarda. And did I tell you I have Crepuscule waiting for a home, as well? ; ) "I bought an Lady Elsie May shrub rose last year and just love it. Your gardens are perfection." Annie Thanks, Annie! I hope L.E.M. does well for you. I have seven (yikes!) and they bloom non-stop from April until Dec., sometimes into Jan. if we don't get real cold too early. L.E.M. doesn't need deadheading but will bloom better with a snip or two now and then. Thanks, Nell! I'm glad you enjoyed the site. : ) Andrea, when you ask "how I have them planted" do you mean which roses hang out together? If so, I don't separate my roses according to type other than making sure the climbers have something sturdy to climb on. I have mostly floribundas along the front picket fence, with a few D.A.s mixed in. I leave quite a bit of room between them because roses get BIG out here and good air circulation is a must for growing healthy roses. I do pay attention to color and generally plant complimentary colored roses side by side, such as "Easy Going" (a golden color) next to "Outta the Blue", a deep pink that turns to dark purple). Most of the colors are the same intensities so nothing looks washed out, which can happen at my mile high elevation with strong sunlight. HTH! : ) Di

Lisa, I always forget about all the rose growers (and there are many, both wholesale and retail) in the Tyler, Texas, area and that is terrible, considering I grew up in Texas. If you ever have a chance to visit Tyler, Texas, in the springtime months of April and May when the roses are in full-bloom, it is an experience you will never forget! Also, this brings to mind the little bouquets of "Tyler Roses" you could buy for $1.00 each when I was a kid in the 60s and 70s in North Texas. The sellers would set up little roadside stands consisting of a lawn chair, a large sun umbrella, and 5 gallon buckets full of rose bouquets. It was the best deal going for $1.00. By the time I was married and had a child of my own in the 80s, those bouquets were up to $3.00 and still a good deal. Well, that was a fun walk down Memory Lane! Another favorite of mine is the Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham, Texas. I've read some negative comments the last few years that their display gardens are not as impressive as they used to be, but they still get good reviews for their products. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Antique Rose Emporium website

Quick answer, buy where you get value for your money. Know what value looks like. IF you decide to buy bare roots, there are three things I think you should look for. 1) are the canes green? It they are black or brown or green with black/brown splotches, KNOW that those canes are dead already and imagine the bush without them. If the canes are coated with a greenish wax, use your fingernail to flake off a bit of the wax and check the color of the canes. Greenish wax makes a lot of canes look ok. 2) have the canes already broken dormancy? Are there leaves at leaf nodes, even if they are dead? Can you see where the dead leaves from earlier this year are fingerpruned off? Are the canes starting to get wrinkled from lack of moisture IN the plant (that was lost when the earlier leaf break happened?) Each leaf axil on a healthy rose cane has three buds. Two are backups. But does the cane look as if either of the two backups will make it? 3) does the bagged up root mass that you can't see have enough roots to support the canes you can see? Two stories. I had Don Juans growing on my porch in Algiers Point, and I wanted to add a fourth one. I found one bagged with really good canes, and I got it home and found that there was a huge bright scar where half the roots had been pulled off in processing. I should have returned it. I didn't. With the same care that had supported the other three, #4 died. I remember that mistake. And how I confused densely packed sawdust for good roots. That lead to my not making a mistake several years later when I saw (insert music) from across a crowded room/nursery a mass of seven of the best looking canes I had ever seen on a body bag rose. Perfection. It was Purple something and it was a climber. And I grabbed the base of the bag, and there was close to nothing there. Not even much sawdust. Maybe one woody root. I knew that that root hadn't supported seven one inch canes in the growing fields. I put it back. And remember it to this day. Ann, putting off going out weeding.