For many years, my small roses struggled to cope with the harsh climate and competition from my bigger ground covering and bush roses. In addition, the clematises simply run over the small roses. Finally, I took out some of my small roses and planted them in the pots last year. They overwintered in the enclosed porch. They look very happy now, in full bloom.
I started with:
- Petite Knock-out
- Pink Flower Carpet
- Apple Blossom Flower Carpet
- Oso Easy Double Pink

This spring I also planted International Herald Tribune in a pot, and the rose responded with a spray of flowers right away. I am going to replant Double Knockout in a pot too. Furthermore, I could not resist the red hue of Oso Urban Legend, so I bought it yesterday.

What is your experience with roses in pots? Positive or negative? Do you fertilize them? How often? Please advise.

I grow >200 of my 250 roses in pots. Most of them grow permanently in 15 gallon pots, which is the upper limit of my ability to process them, since I'm an old lady! By process, I mean that maybe every 5 years, I pull them out and shave the roots a couple of inches on all sides and replace with fresh potting soil. They do very well. I'm fortunate that I live in a mild climate. Regular fertilizing is very important in pots. I use a combination of Osmocote plus, organics, and MiracleGro. How often depends on what you use. For example, if you use only MiracleGro, you'd ideally fertilize them half strength twice a month. Osmocote and organics can be used less often.

I grow several of my smaller roses in pots. They do very well. The most important thing I have found is to keep them watered good. I use Espoma Plant Tone (1/2 cup per pot) once a month. I also make sure each pot has a good layer of Mini Pine Bark Nuggets or Pine Needles cut to fit in the pots in them.

KenNEGA said: I grow several of my smaller roses in pots. They do very well. The most important thing I have found is to keep them watered good. I use Espoma Plant Tone (1/2 cup per pot) once a month. I also make sure each pot has a good layer of Mini Pine Bark Nuggets or Pine Needles cut to fit in the pots in them.

Your roses look great, Ken. Very pretty.

Hello Susan and Ken
Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and experience. My roses that were planted in the pots are doing really well this year. I haven't started feeding them yet because I wanted them to recover first, but I will certainly start adding some organic fertilizer in July.
Petite Knockout pleasantly surprised me this year. This was a "pity buy" because the rose was dry, and the flowers looked miserable, much smaller than the leaves, and the whole plant looked unbalanced. However, it was my first rose to bloom this year. The size of the flowers is just right, and they have some serious staying power.

Here is Oso Easy Double Pink, which I also buy out of pity last year and planted in the pot. This rose likes to cascade

Here is one of my favourite roses ever - International Herald Tribune. It was suffering in the shade for a long time, so several weeks ago, I planted it in a pot. Poor thing responded right away by giving me a spray of flowers. By the way, I like single flowers with visible stamens and pistils, and I especially like those strokes of white in rose flowers.


Flower Carpet Supreme Pink is still recovering, but it already has one bloom. I hope that Flower Carpet Apple Blossom will also fully recover.

I could not resist and bought two small roses to plant them in pots.
Oso Urban Legend love that shade of red


And Yukon Sun it did look sunny, even before I read the name on the tag


These roses were already on sale. I might buy two or three more

Yes, buy some more! They're beautiful and they're perfect for container gardening.

I would buy a couple of small white roses for the terrace where I am creating a moon garden. Perhaps Oso Drift White and Flower Carpet White. They stay small However, I cannot have that many because they must overwinter in the enclosed porch. I might not have enough room for all of them.

Someone wrote that their roses planted in pots can overwinter outside, in Zone 6b. I would definitely explore this.

Yes, all of mine did including small cuttings which I kept near the house. We were -7F with extremely cold wind chill to -50F and many of my planted inground roses were knocked completely back for the first time ever. I did bring in the cuttings during these temps and pulled the pots near the house, but by the Spring I no longer did this even in the 20 and teens, except for the cuttings. It was an epiphany.

Jasmin said: I would buy a couple of small white roses for the terrace where I am creating a moon garden. Perhaps Oso Drift White and Flower Carpet White. They stay small However, I cannot have that many because they must overwinter in the enclosed porch. I might not have enough room for all of them.

Someone wrote that their roses planted in pots can overwinter outside, in Zone 6b. I would definitely explore this.

Jasmin, I would highly recommend Jacqueline du pre rose, which, is white, semi single/double and smells heavenly. I just planted two of these at the beginning of May and I've had 14 blooms so far with more buds on the plants. I don't have a pic of the bloom, but, I hope this link will work. If not, the thread Rose Identification has two nice pics of her.

https://garden.org/pics/2021-0...

Thank you very much for all your comments.

Varporac, I also found that 20F (-6.6C) and teens are not a big deal for my roses and many other plants in pots. I keep outside the roses, mums, and hardy terrestrial Bletilla orchids till almost 14F (-10C), but if these temperatures are prolonged for more than a couple of days, or if they continue dropping (e.g., down to -25C or -13F), I bring them in. I wonder if I could protect them somehow, for example, cover them with leaves, and keep them outside.

Patricia, Jacqueline du pre rose is a lovely rose I haven't seen it in our garden centers, but I'll try to find it

Bear in mind that the primary goal of providing roses with winter protection is to keep the lower portion of the plant uniformly cold throughout the coldest winter months. That may seem counter-intuitive to some gardeners until they realize that some of the worst cold damage is due to plant tissues alternating between freezing and thawing temperatures, over and over again. So the goal is to minimize this occurence, rather than to prevent a plant from getting cold to begin with. It's much like using an insulated thermos to keep a cold beverage cold, instead of letting it warm up.

Jasmin said: Thank you very much for all your comments.

Varporac, I also found that 20F (-6.6C) and teens are not a big deal for my roses and many other plants in pots. I keep them outside the roses, mums, and hardy terrestrial Blatilla orchids till almost 14F (-10C), but if these temperatures are prolonged for more than a couple of days, or if they continue dropping (e.g., down to -25C or -13F), I bring them in. I wonder if I could protect them somehow, for example, cover them with leaves, and keep them outside.

Patricia, Jacqueline du pre rose is a lovely rose I haven't seen it in our garden centers, but I'll try to find it

Heirloom Roses carries it and Rogue Rose Nursery does too. It's winter hardy enough for your zone. It's my favorite rose.

It's also grown on its own roots at both nurseries, which means that even if you were to have significant die-back during a particularly severe winter, there wouldn't be a bud union that dies. Instead, it would be possible for new growth to emerge from the original roots, if they survived below ground.

Found it Rouge Valley Roses:
https://roguevalleyroses.com/r...

However, they say "height 4-6 feet". Does it really get that big? 4-6 feet is too big for a pot.

For future reference
https://www.rose.org/single-po...

Jasmin said: Found it Rouge Valley Roses:
https://roguevalleyroses.com/r...

However, they say "height 4-6 feet". Does it really get that big? 4-6 feet is too big for a pot.

In my garden it grew 4 feet and I'm in a warmer zone than yours. Also, you could prune it if it gets too tall. I planted two JDP in May and they are about 2 feet give and inch or two right now. I suppose it's not the best container rose to buy, just a rose I love.

Editing.....When I said it grew JDP, I forgot to add I had this rose about 25 years ago...long story why I had to pull my roses out and just started over in May of this year. She was in a lousy spot, too much shade, and she still did well.

Jasmin said: Found it Rouge Valley Roses:
https://roguevalleyroses.com/r...

However, they say "height 4-6 feet". Does it really get that big? 4-6 feet is too big for a pot.

Jasmin--If the pot is large enough *ie, 30 gal. or wine/whisky 1/2 barrel) , or if it isn't and it ends up anchoring itself to the ground through the drainage holes, 4-6 ft. isn't too big. I have several right now and they seem to be doing fine.

reh0622 said: Jasmin--If the pot is large enough *ie, 30 gal. or wine/whisky 1/2 barrel) , or if it isn't and it ends up anchoring itself to the ground through the drainage holes, 4-6 ft. isn't too big. I have several right now and they seem to be doing fine.

Peter Schneider grew it in his zone 5 rose farm and he said it grew to 3 feet. That's a good height for a container.

Re: Jacqueline Du Pre, Rogue Valley Roses...

You said:
"However, they say "height 4-6 feet". Does it really get that big? 4-6 feet is too big for a pot."

Reply: Jasmin, I have grown about 125 rose varieties in pots the past 5-6 years, many of them are 4-6' as stated on the tag. If they are bands, (quart sized) upon purchase, I generally grow them in a 2 gallon size pot for a season. The next spring, the roots will have filled the pot. Then I take that size and pot up to about a 5 -7 gallon pot. The third season, they can graduate to a 20" barrel, that's about a 20 gallon size. I have purchased multiple resin whisky barrels from the Better Homes and Gardens brand at Walmart online, because they are durable and attractive and well priced ($18.99, I've got them on sale for as little as $11.99). They also sell a smaller 16" barrel for $10, which is a great intermediate size, plus Home Depot and Lowe's online also sell this style of barrel. I don't have the space to have ALL of my roses in the large barrels, so many are currently staying in a 5-7 gallon size pot, and are very happy. (Note: I drill lots of LARGE holes in the bottom for drainage, drainage is CRUCIAL).

Regarding the 4-6' size of rose, at least half of my current 80 pot roses are that stated size. I don't grow ramblers, or rampant growers, or large climbers. The important thing is that I always do a hard prune in the spring for ALL my roses (exception: my 2 Golden Gate climbers). If the rose reached 4' maturity the previous year, I will bring the entire plant down to 18" -24" and thin out the interior canes, crossing canes, dead or diseased canes, canes smaller than a pencil width, etc. I bring my miniatures or patio roses down more, to a 6-12" height. Ben Hanna, the owner of Heirloom, has a Youtube video that shows the radical spring prune of a shrub rose. This type of pruning is ideal for pots, because even the full sized roses will stay mannerly throughout a season. If I ever get huge gangly canes from a plant (I call them rogue canes, LOL), it's generally only one at a time, so I just let it bloom out, then snip it off where it's in line with the rest of the bush. Remember: YOU ARE THE BOSS, the Rose Mommy, the Director of this beautiful flower show, and as the Boss-Mommy-Director, YOU get to mold and fashion the shape and growth habits of your rose tribe.

You may think that growing roses in pots limits your selection to the smaller patio types of roses, but I have not limited myself to that AT ALL during the course of my container journey, and my roses have done splendidly. The important thing is that container grown roses need more care. Regular deadheading, shaping, snipping off the bad leaves, thinning out when required, liquid fertilizer ONLY, and of course, watering. Many of them also need full sun, even in pots. The sun is very strong here in NM in the high desert, and originally I held many of my potted roses back in shadier areas, thinking they couldn't take it, but they languished there, and didn't reach full potential. I have most everything in either full sun now, or at least 6 hours, and all of my pot roses have been far more happy and productive.

Is container rose growing more challenging? YES, I would say it is. But I have found it to be a consuming passion, and well worth it.