I would say YES Carol. Of course it would be better without them, but we have roses planted where cedar roots have matted after our plantings. We are surrounded by Cedar trees. They look great, but the shallow roots are a pain. We still manage to grow roses. In some areas where they are bad, and we want to plant new roses, my husband just chops through them like yours did with the Aspens and amends the soil

Hope you are enjoying your new place. Which roses did you plant?? Or is that too many for you to answer??? :)
Cheers, Pauline

Here is a link that might be useful: My rose blog

Ah, the neighbors' trees and their greedy roots. If they are established trees, I would bring in soil, and make a raised bed or berm there to give the roses a head start.

becky - the fence is chain link, so I think a raised bed wouldn't work - the soil wouldn't stay in the bed. Or do you think we should brick in the back of the bed too - but that probably wouldn't work either - probably it would sag against the fence.

Pauline - it's nice to know that roses can be grown with shallow tree roots around. It takes even longer to dig the holes here than it did in our last house where we had TONS of heavy clay.

My roses (some will be in pots and overwintered in garage)

Rouge Royale
Daybreaker
About Face
Falstaff
Frederick Mistral
Heritage
Valencia
Aromatherapy
Apricot Candy
Lemon Zest
Golden Zest
Prairie Sunrise
John Davis
Cherry Parfait
Gold Medal
Graham Thomas
Enchanted Evening
Sweetness
Betty White
Pope John Paul II
Veteran's Honor
Julia Child
Honey Perfume
Golden Celebration
Elle
Sharifa Asma
Tournament of Roses
Big Purple
Kimberlina
Heaven on Earth

Anything zone 6 or higher will be overwintered in the garage.

These ones I know for sure can be overwintered here, because they made it through Edmonton winters before:

Daybreaker
About Face
John Davis
Cherry Parfait
Graham Thomas
Julia Child
Honey Perfume
Golden Celebration
Tournament of Roses

Anyone have any advice on the other roses as to which ones I'll need to put in the garage?

Thanks!!

Carol

Carol,

If the bed is pretty wide, can you just kind of slope it down toward the fence? Kind of more like a berm than a raised bed. It would work better with a wide growing area. We made berms in our front yard because of giant Modesto ash trees, and the roses there really took off in the root-free soil on the berm.

I have to admit that I have a pet peeve about invasive tree roots, especially when it's the neighbors' trees. But you don't want to get me started.

becky - I hate tree roots too. In fact trees, themselves, bother me. They rain down caterpillars, block the sun, throw their roots everywhere. Well, I like trees, just not around my roses! :)

I'm not sure I get what you mean - it sounds more like a raised bed or a backwards berm? How much higher than the grass should it be???

:) Thanks!