There's nothing better than always having fresh cut roses in the house. I've never done it before, so here is my question- What rose is the most fragrant and can also be grown in a container?

Here's a list of some roses that are suitable for containers. I used Heirloom Roses for my search but you will find better prices at other rose nurseries. I put down fragrance and pot friendly as 2 criteria.

http://www.heirloomroses.com/r...

Amanda, you're awesome!

High Country Gardens has some also.

Strong fragrance: http://www.highcountryroses.co...
Moderate fragrance: http://www.highcountryroses.co...

It also helps when the descriptions mention suitability as a cut flower.

Debbie, Welcome to the world of growing roses. They can be easy to grow. And it's easy to get addicted. But they can also be challenging. A lot depends on your expectations and your willingness to experiment.

As always, Porkpal's terse message cuts to the heart of the matter.

There are many issues to be considered here. One is that cut flowers, if they are to survive as cut flowers must have thick petals. Otherwise they wilt quickly. Another is that it is taken as a cardinal rule that flowers with thin petals release fragrance quickly, and hence are more fragrant. A third is that when we think of cut flowers being roses, we are thinking of large flowers with long stems, which typically means hybrid tea roses. A fourth is that growing hybrid tea roses in containers means using large containers and being a complete maniac about their daily wellbeing.

In terms of fragrant hybrid tea roses, what first comes to mind is The McCartney rose, Papa Meilland, New Zealand, Double Delight and Pope John Paul II. But since none of these has survived my ministrations as a gardener for a full 12 months, I must defer to other gardeners on their care and their suitability as cut flowers.

I do think that your location near the coast means that roses should do well so long as they are immune to powdery mildew, and they get adequate care.

You are going to grow roses, hmmm , as Monty Python used to say: RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY!

...or just do what I do; find one you like, make sure it is suitable for you zone, find a good spot for it, drop it in the hole, water well and remember to fertilise once it starts growing! The end!

(OK, maybe there is a bit more to it, especially if you are looking to grow something special, but it does not need to be rocket (roses?) science (I hope!) And yes, I have quite a few roses and they grow and bloom just fine! )

Thank you all for the info. I really didn't have any expectations, I guess- except that I thought it would be nice to cut whenever I wanted to put somewhere in the house. Ok, they don't necessarily need to smell pretty, just look the part. I saw some beautiful ones at Home depot... One was lavender color, and there was an orange to red gradient. Stunning.

I am currently growing Sheila's perfume in a large (10 gallon-ish) pot. I am very happy with it so far--and it hasn't even bloomed.

The form it's taking, the vibrancy of the new leaves, everything about it so far has pleased me. I got it from an online company called Heirloom Roses and they shipped it like it was a precious diamond or something. The buds have formed so hopefully there will be flowers soon!

I love Heirloom Roses plant catalogue. And the roses they send out today have a vigor that they lacked just five or six years ago. One might consider their prices dear, but just this year I mentally moved them into the "You get what you pay for" column and ordered several times during sales. Here's a Belle Epoque growing in a pot that arrived just a few weeks ago from them.



Foliage is something we often take for granted with roses; but some roses are beautiful for their foliage, and the flowers are just the icing on the cake. They are a bit obscure today, but Pearl Drift and City of York both have really pretty glossy foliage that looks good with their white flowers. The bright golden flowered South Africa has delightful foliage, too. There are a lot of hybrid tea roses that accent their flowers with deep purplish new foliage. Right now in my garden Brigadoon, Rainbow Sorbet, Peter Frankenfield, Chris Evert, and Gemini all have some.

I try hard to get fragrance in roses, and this has pushed me in the direction of David Austin roses. Graham Thomas is a monster, but trained on a wall or fence can be glorious. Golden Celebration is nice. And for soft, complex colors Jubilee Celbration. Sheila's Perfume is reputed to be highly fragrant. And it's persistent if not vigorous. I had one growing in the shadow of Blush Noisette for a few years. I moved it to where it will get some sunlight and it's doing better. No blooms yet. Penny Lane builds up slowly in the same way and it's highly fragrant. Of course you almost cannot go wrong starting with a Double Delight. It may be a cliche, but for good reason.

I agree that sometimes just diving in is the right thing to do - especially if one can do it with rather modest expectations. My bet is that virtually any hybrid tea rose will grow well in Ventura County. The number of great choices in roses today is mind-boggling - much more so than when I started growing roses in the 1990s.