If you don’t have the luxury of owning a huge garden, you can still enjoy growing roses in limiting spaces. How? By growing them in containers of course.
Many of the modern roses such as Blue Moon, Amber Queen, Southampton, Ingrid Bergman and many more can be grown in containers and the best thing about container gardening is that you can move them around easily.
Before you grow roses in containers, make sure that you first check out the expected height as well as the spread. Choosing a container that is too small will not only make it harder for your roses to grow but it will also mean double work for you.
Heavy stone containers are perfect because they are water and air permeable so you don’t need to worry about water clogging. They are also heavy enough to withstand strong wind so the risk of your roses being blown over is quite negligible.
You are free to use plastic containers of course but make sure you place them on a balcony or a place where they won’t become waterlogged if it rains or overheat if the weather is hot.
Be sure to water your roses regularly and feed it with rose fertilizer or liquid feed. Since roses in containers will do best in compost, you want to make sure that compost is always free of weeds which will rob the nutrients in the soil. You will also need to change the compost every year by scraping the top layer and replacing it with new compost.
Below are the step by step instructions for growing roses in containers:
First, you want to cover the base of the container with stones or rubbles to improve the overall drainage system as well as stability. Next, add in the compost and mix in some garden compost and leaf mould for extra drainage.
When you have filled half of the container with the soil mix, you want to position the rose in the middle of the container. Check the planting depth. Make sure you cover the graft union of the rose. You will also need to provide a gap of 1 inch between the surface of the compost and teh edge of the container for watering purpose.
After easing the rose from its pot, you would use a fork to tease out some of the roots so that the rose can establish itself better and faster with the new soil and container.
Backfill the container with more compost and use the appropriate fertilizer to improve the fertility, preferably a slow releasing one. Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions so that you do not over or under fertilize.
Finally, after watering it, top dress it with a layer of grit. If you take good care of it, the roses will flourish.
