If you view “some” (“ ... have some hope of the roses growing”) as a remarkably elastic term: yes.

Can you build a raised bed over this area instead ? What a bummer to be so excited for all those roses and run into those boulders!

Yeah it totally sucks, we were so excited and had all the roses picked out, but have not bought them yet. I had no idea this would happen. I thought about this , but we can't raise it unfortunately because of how it fits into the rest of the landscaping. I'm just going to go for it and see what happens, worst case scenario is some roses die and I learn from it, or it works.

I like the way you think JLo.

I can sympathize, but my 'boulders' are only basket ball size, give or take. It's a huge effort to leverage them out with a 6' long piece of heavy gauge rebar my husband had flattened on one end and shaped into a point on the other. With the pointed end, he can sometimes shatter rocks too large to get out in one piece, and with the flat end, he can gradually lift and leverage them out. Sometimes, we just dig to one side of the stone, but often run into more of the same. Other times, when he's determined to get the rock out, the hole has ended up the size of a small pond. We got one stone out - with the help of machinery - that we use as a bench. In the shallow spots, I plant shallow rooted perennials and save the deep holes for roses. Raised beds don't necessarily have to be boxes with wooden sides. Maybe you could mound the area. I'm sure you've thought about pots. The down side is if you're in a zone colder than z6, they have to be taken to the garage for winter. Good luck.

What if you make a raised bed using boulders around the outside ? Wouldn’t have to be neatly shaped or anything, but would create an area where you could fill in with soil to make deeper planting areas. Sounds like maybe you have good access to boulders? What a bummer when you have big plans and they don’t pan out as expected. Good luck!

I bought my mother - in - law an own root rose called Dee-lish a few years ago. I thought it would be an annual for her. I did plant it.... she is NH and has granite too... I could not dig down very far.... but planted it.... in the fall she covers it with pine needles.... I am surprised it hasn't died.... but as of last year it is still going..... I do not know what long term this rose will do.... I do know when I drive around in her area I see lots of roses and most are not in raised beds..... I do not know if they are directly over granite or not!

Where are you located, Jay Lo?

I'm in zone 10b, north San Diego

In your zone you won't have to worry about winter freezing but even so I'm not sure 6 to 8 inches of soil will be enough. I would see if you could create at least a few inches more with some kind of raised bed and then mulch very deep!

Yea I am going to add 3 inches of grade and then mound 3", and then mulch, might get it high enough I hope

Raised bed should do quite well, as long as the area drains well. I have something similar where someone buried a lot of gravel. I piled a mix of manure, clay, perlite to about 3 ft high. Have 10 roses in that area growing well

Since you are in zone 10 , you can grow roses on Fortuniana rootstock . Its roots grow superficially near the surface and never go deep in the ground like other rootstocks . in fact the roots grow several feet parallel to the ground .

K & M roses , Cool Roses and Nelson's Roses all sell Fortuinana based roses .

Pink rose oh, that is a fantastic suggestion to add to all the others on this thread! :-)

Great excellent advice. I will look into this. Also any opinions on what type of compost/amendment to mix into my existing soil? All holes are dug, I just need to mix something in with it. Soil is loan with some decomposed granite in it. Any good stuff at box store or I can by anything near me by the yard.

If you want to jump start the rose growth then add some cow manure to the bottom of the hole then fill it with a good organic garden soil . personally I use kellog's from Home Depot .