I actually grow roses and Azaleas together.

They only do “ok” because neither are in recommended conditions. I am trying to make it work by having climbing roses wrap around a tree trunk with azaleas at their feet.

I chose Encore azaleas because they can handle more sun than most. The roses are growing well but not flowering as much as they would in full sun.

In my limited experience, your situation is very workable as long as you water enough.

for reference, I have 3 roses and 2 azaleas planted in a span of 4-5ft.

no one advised it as a good idea but I wanted to try

May I ask where you are? Just generally, not an exact address. Your location will make a difference in how to answer your question.

Kes Z

Thanks for reminding me I added this. I am in zone 5/ north NY

In my experience 2.5hours of sun is enough for roses. Roots from removed trees will rot over time so that’s not a problem, just more work when you try to dig holes. We recently removed some big roots and had to use reciprocal saw plus lots of digging.

If you are worried about competition from roots of maple or other shrubs how about raised planters?

I like this site, I appreciate your kindness sharing your comments, link, ideas and experience. I'm taking it all in very helpful.

The rised Bed/planters is another option it just might have to be very high and wide due to my choice of roses which seem to need more space.It's also why The Generous Gardener and others space hoggers were crossed from the list maybe for later trials :)

JC how are your roses doing?

sbrklyn would there be some type that do better, any roses in particular? The nursery lady told me they wouldn't be very healthy + flower poorly

Roses are one of those plants seen hanging on after a habitation has been abandoned for a long time - sometimes the big old rose bush is just about the only thing left to indicate somebody once lived there. So in addition to what is stated at the article I linked to viewing the roses you are interested in as these weak and delicate things that will just fade away because the planting site may have some imperfections is not in line with the established pattern. Otherwise if you search Garden Web using the words roses and shade in combination a ton of threads talking about these two elements in combination will come up for you.

@garden nest 101 Z5 northeast i just took these 2 min ago

The tree roots probably do cause water competition, but my biggest concern is shade.

The climbers are starting their 3rd year so I should have a good indication of how they are doing in the next 6 weeks.

They are growing slowly but surely. Flowering just “ok”.

You are right we can remedy water but not shade; but it looks like you have some sunlight since grass grows there. These roses I'm ordering are said to grow 2 feet in 6 month so I'm hoping I get flowers this year, I hope you do too :)

Thanks so much for sharing the pictures.

Embothrium I have read some roses are tough survivors those are the kind we wish to have. Thanks so much for the info.

Sorry I meant to write that 2.5 hours of sun is NOT enough for roses. If you really want to try Desdemona and Bolero are two roses that I had some luck with in shade. They are both compact especially Bolero. Olivia had decent repeat as well.

For insects I used blue and yellow sticky pads last year. Caught loads of insects. Not pretty to look at so I‘m waiting for the roses to leaf out a bit more before hanging the sticky boards this year.

sbrklyn: Oh that's what you meant, so I was told.

I appreciate you rose suggestion; reading some great reviews both very fragrant and hardy. I see Bolero is zone 6a it might make it here. Desdemona seems so popular, both beautiful; they're in my list now ):

I'll try the sticky pads for sure, really hope it works here. Thanks so much!.