Container roses in terra cotta pots?

[Rajah]

Had a question for the rose experts...

This weekend, my mom and I went up to the Antique Rose Emporium about 3 hours north-west of here and picked up 4 roses for my back yard. (DH should watch what he says when he says "I like roses" and "why don't we have any roses" and "you should get some roses". LOL! I take him seriously! )

Three of those are going in the ground (Dame De Couer (a red) , Katy Road Pink (um... guess. LOL!), and Lafter (a peach/orange/yellow)). The fourth, a Valentine (gee, guess the color. LOL!) says it's ideal for a container rose so I shopped around and found a nice large (17" diameter, not quite that deep) terra cotta pot at Lowe's this evening. The Valentine is supposed to get about 4", and the roses are a good 3" - 4" diameter set in clusters.

Well, the lady at Lowe's recommended *painting* the inside of the terra cotta pot so the pot wouldn't "steal the moisture" from the rose. My mom on the other hand thinks that's contrary to what she's been taught when planting roses in pots.

So... what do y'all think?

This is my first attempt at growing roses more than the miniatures I've gotten at valentine's day. Those never lasted very long for me, so I'm hoping these will do better. I've got the miracle grow rose food for them, and will plant the Valentine in the miracle grow rose soil. My mom's had really good luck with her Dame De Couer and Katy Road Pink down here so hopefully they'll do well for us, too.

 

[marydmjj]

Rajah, you sound like you've been bitten hard!

Terra cotta is very porous and will continually absorb the water from the plant. It also does not like freezing temps and will crack easily. Terra cotta isn't too bad where I live because it doesn't get scorching hot. For you, at the very least you should submerge the pot in water for a while so it can absorb the max before you put the rose in it. Then you will need to keep the rose well watered. I think painting the inside of the pot would be a good idea for your area. Seems like anything you can do to conserve water in the soil would be good.

 

[DebºoºS]

Rose fever has struck again, I love it!

I agree with Mary (as usual) roses really love to soak up water and terra cotta in TX sounds like a water challenge. On the other hand they don't like wet feet either so a coated pot without drain holes wouldn't work either.

This is what I do for my deck roses. A light colored plastic pot with drain holes inside the clay pot. As a liner. At the bottom of the terra cotta a few stones for the plastic to sit on and excess water to gather in. Then on top sphagnum moss to cover the the soil, pot rim and retain some of the moisture. Sounds heavy, it is. Get one of those wheelie things to move it around on or tip it on it's side and roll it around for the best exposure.

You might also try adding some of the new soil with moisture beads in it. It's great stuff, I'm using it in all of my potted plants now.

Happy gardening! Don't forget we want pics posted!!!!