F. J. Lindheimer
I have always had an affinity for roses. Some of my fondest memories of going to my grandmother’s house as a child were going out with her and trimming off roses to fill the many vases and brandy snifters that she kept around just for roses. I am not certain but I believe she had Chrysler Imperial roses which have a distinct citrus note to their scent and gorgeous, velvety red petals. The bushes were taller than I was. As the years went by my grandparents were unable to tend them and eventually the plants were removed.
It was a sad day when I came to visit and found them gone after my grandmother had passed on. I had always associated her with roses, and now even that was gone as well. One of the few items that I felt it ever so important to bring back with me after my grandmother’s passing was her rose clippers which my grandfather had kept out on the patio where they had always been. They are very rusty after years of such exposure but they still work, and could possibly be cleaned up some but sentimentality has me leaving them as they are.
Several weeks ago my husband and I made a trip to the Antique Rose Emporium in San Antonio, Texas. It’s a gorgeous place, really. There you’ll find literal acres of roses and other plants. The last time I went I came home with a Souvenir d St. Anne, lured by its rather unique cinnamon-y undertones. Unfortunately the Souvenir de St. Anne’s wasn’t really meant for container life, let alone being moved three times with the last being to a place with little direct sunlight.
After a few years I now once again live in a place that can get a good 6 hours of direct sunlight – something roses almost MUST have to thrive. Living in an apartment though means that my options for planting in the ground are somewhat limited, and so I chose the F.J. Lindheimer. This bush will remain compact and so it is perfect for growing in a container.
How to Plant a Container Rosebush
1. Select your rose
I’ve learned in life that when shopping for certain things, it’s best to go to places that specialize in those things. This is especially true of plants. Take a walk through your local home improvement or box store’s garden center on any day but a Saturday or Sunday when they’ve put out fresh plants for the weekend warrior gardeners, and you’ll see a very, very sad sight. It’s a graveyard waiting to happen. The vast majority of employees at these kinds of places have far more retail experience than they do knowledge of plants, soils, fertilizers and the like.
When it comes to roses, then, it’s probably no surprise that my go-to place is the Antique Rose Emporium in San Antonio, Texas. They’re done shipping for the year, but for those of us who are local it’s a year-round rose bonanza. They also have a second shop in Brenham if you happen to be out touring the Blue Bell factory and have time to swing by to pick up a rose bush. Unlike a big box store, roses are the Emporium’s main livelihood. The plants are watered, deadheaded, pruned and tended to as necessary just as plants at any dedicated nursery are. Additionally the roses at the Emporium are generally of hardier stock, not the froo-froo designer modern roses that tend to need babying.
Once you’ve found a local or online supplier, start thinking about what you’re going to do with your rose. Almost all roses need full sun. Part-shade just won’t cut it. There are a very few that will tolerate it, but they might not really thrive. You’ll also need to select a type of rose that will remain compact, growing to the 3-4ft range rather than anything that climbs or rambles. The Emporium has made this easy by having a section dedicated to roses you can grow in containers.
2. Select your pot
Big. That’s the main thing you’ll need to keep in mind when selecting your pot. Remember that a plant will put out just about as much below ground as it does above. Half-wine barrels are good for planting roses, and about as small as you want to go if you’re going to plant in a pot, but they’re heavy as is terra cotta. I settled for plastic. Today’s plastic pots are often of good enough quality to pass for more expensive stone pots if you buy a good quality plastic pot. While you may want to buy your plants at a nursery, pots will be much more expensive so now it’s time to go back to the home improvement store, or even to a discount shop like Big Lots if you have one nearby.
3. Prepare your pot
Once you’ve got your holes drilled, give your pot a good rinsing out just to get any bugs or whatnot that might have accumulated inside while it was sitting in the store.
Drainage is key to your rose’s survival. Without drainage, water will settle to the bottom of the pot and, if it’s not made of terra cotta, just sit there. Water will seep through an unglazed terra cotta pot, but not quickly enough to provide adequate drainage. This is the other advantage of plastic pots. One single dime-sized drain hole won’t cut it. I took my plastic pot, turned it upside down, and drilled five large holes in the bottom.
Good drainage doesn’t stop with holes! It’s important to keep the soil from running through said holes or from compacting into them and plugging them up. Adding a layer of filler to the bottom of your pot will improve drainage as well as lightening your pot. There are several ways to go about this, from the expensive to the practically free. While I do like a product called Better Than Rocks, I didn’t have any on hand. What I did have is packing peanuts, so I threw a couple of inches into the bottom of my pot. Should you ever decide to re-pot your rosebush the peanuts can present a bit of a mess. To avoid this, just wrap them up in netting such as the kind that a bag of oranges or potatoes comes in.
If you’re using packing peanuts, make sure that they aren’t the kind made of biodegradable starch by soaking a couple in a glass of water for awhile and seeing if they dissolve. Needless to say, dissolving peanuts aren’t particularly helpful. You can also use crushed plastic milk jugs, bottles, etc. Just make sure to put the lids on so they don’t fill with water or soil. Rocks can also be used, but of course they’ll make your pot even heavier.
4. Fill with soil
After getting a layer of drainage material settled in, it’s time to partially fill your pot with dirt. Choose a good quality, nutrient-rich potting soil. Put enough soil in so that when you place your rosebush’s root ball on top, the root ball has about 3-4 inches of clearance to the top edge of the pot. Remove your rosebush carefully from its container and loosen the roots slightly if needed. If you’ve bought your plant from a good quality nursery it probably will not be “rootbound” (meaning the roots haven’t grown in a tight webbing around the inside of the pot) and you can skip this step. Place your root ball in the pot and fill in around the edges and about 1/2″ over the top of the rootball. DO NOT PACK.
5. Water it in
Once your rosebush is in place, water your pot. The soil will compact slightly and you can now add more soil on top if needed. Do not come too high up the rose bush’s main canes.
6. Top Dress
Add a layer of good wood mulch. This will help keep your soil from drying out too quickly and is invaluable in dry, hot climates. Mulch will also help keep down weeds by making it harder for weed seeds to get to the dirt below. About 1″ of mulch, just enough to thoroughly cover the soil, is enough. If you have dogs, DO NOT use the “cocoa mulch” as this is toxic to dogs.
7. Deadhead and prune lightly
Now that everything else is in place it’s time for a little shaping. Look for any rose hips where blooms have come and gone. Trim these off with a pair of garden clippers. Some people clip down to the first set of leaves, others go all the way to the first set of large leaves. The further down you trim, the more compact and bushy your rosebush will eventually become. Deadheading your roses encourages new growth and more blooms. Look for areas where canes are rubbing against each other and trim here, as well, but for now try and be gentle about it.
8. Water regularly
Plants need to be watered regularly when first transplanted. They have undergone quite a lot of stress during the process and some withering is normal. Just trim off any leaves that turn yellow as they appear. Keep the soil moist to encourage root development with regular deep waterings for the first week. After that you can cut back.
Every now and then give your roses some extra food. This can be either in the form of food stakes or the kind added to their water. Read the package directions and follow them carefully. Some people like to dust their roses with Sevin dust to keep the bugs away but I’ve never really had many problems in that area and so have refrained.