So pretty, such a beautiful aroma, but pot friendly? How have people gone with roses in pots before and any tips?
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3 months ago
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Rambling about Roses
Signs seem to be pointing towards the purchase/acquiring of a rose. I spotted the most amazing tea rose at the markets the other day. It was a mottled purple and white and smelled quite lovely. There was also this rose collection as the centre piece for my cousin/friend's wedding (it is rather odd when you know the bride and groom from two very separate areas of your life, one a relative, one from university work.)
So pretty, such a beautiful aroma, but pot friendly? How have people gone with roses in pots before and any tips?
So pretty, such a beautiful aroma, but pot friendly? How have people gone with roses in pots before and any tips?
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I have never had much success with roses in pots, though I have only tried miniature and patio sized roses. My sister, however, had a beautiful collection of miniatures which thrived in full sun in pots. She did put a lot of time in though - vigilantly watering, feeding, spraying, and changing the potting mix every year. The spraying regime was important, as I recall, as they were otherwise prone to all sorts of bug and fungal problems.
Prue
One great option to think about is a standard rose (ie, Lollipop on a stick). Last year I cared for a friend's potted yellow Friesia standard rose and it produced the most gorgeous, fragrant yellow blooms. Standards allow you the widest choice of flower colours and fragrances, in a manageable size of plant.
Otherwise, growing roses in pots is regarded as quite a challenge, but you've done so well with vegies you'll do roses beautifully, I am sure.
My magazine did a rose book last June, and in the section on best roses for pots, the author, Elizabeth Swane, said the best roses for pots (that were not stanards) included:
Miniature or patio roses such as Little Chap and Rockabye Baby
Low-growing shrub roses such as Bonica and White Meidiland.
The Flower Carpet roses are also good in pots, but most of them don't have much fragrance.
The minimum size for a pot is 30cm diameter for mini roses, and 45cm for bush roses.
But my tip would be to check out roses grown as standards.
Potted roses needs to be pruned, failing to do so, you'd end up with long bamboo-like stems that look ugly and don't flower a lot!
First, all roses are high maintenance, even when grown in the ground. They require lots of fertilizing, spraying for pests, and do not like to dry out between watering. Also, don't skimp on the pot size. If you haven't been scared away yet, mix up special soil for your rose of 1/3 good potting mix, 1/3 aged compost, and 1/3 aged manure.
If you don't crowd your rose, don't pour water directly on its leaves, and prune it correctly, you should be able to avoid mildews and the like on the leaves.
Thanks everyone for the great, and detailed advice! I think this might be an impulse buy, then become part of the carefully tended section of the balcony. Because the garden is right there (in fact it is so close to the living space that a snail crawled into my bedroom, EWWWWWWW) it is easy to tend to things that are a bit fragile.
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