Clay or ceramic may freeze and break if you have cold winters. Size 20"-24" in diameter is a good place to start. The roots may need winter protection, since they are more vulnerable in a pot than in the ground. Do you have an unheated dark basement or dark garage that stays in the 20s F all winter where you could store them? Use a good quality potting soil and fertilize regularly during the growing season, since fertilizer washes out of pots pretty quickly. Stop fertilizing a few weeks before the end of the growing season because tender new growth will be killed by frost anyway, so why encourage it?

Soiless seed starting mixture weighs less if you have to move the pots inside. Use a light weight pot. I don't think a potted rose will survive the winter outdoors (rugosas maybe). Here is a link to an informative article about growing roses in pots. Don't use the saucer or your rose will get root rot.

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Roses in Containers

I have grown Abbaye de Cluny in a pot and she did amazingly well. I always put my roses in the biggest pot I can afford and I really like the faux terra cotta either plastic or fiber glass.

We line the bottom of the pot with weed barrier or screen if necessary, it helps keep soil in the pot where it belongs and doesn't slowly wash away.

Abbaye is a favorite of ours and in my husbands favorite list.

Good luck!!!