My FM is planted in the ground, I just got him last year and he's already over 6 ft. tall and 4 ft. wide. He deinitely needs plenty of space.

It's a big rose. The one in our garden is over 6 feet tall, and about 5 feet wide with canes as thick as my thumb. But I have a container grown version which I have managed to keep under control with pruning. Yours is root bound, and is already in a good sized pot. You can pot it up the next size now.

But what really needs to be done is that each spring, as it breaks dormancy - i.e. new leaves start to unfurl - prune it down by removing all canes that are small, weak canes or 3 years or older. I usually prefer to have about 3-5 canes remaining, and these, I shorten to a third of their original.

Next, remove the root ball from it's container, scrape some of the soil off, and shorten the long roots that are encircling the root ball. You should end up with a smaller root ball than when you started, which should allow you to add fresh potting media and still use the same sized container.

The idea is to thin out the top growth and prune the root ball at the same time - same principle as for maintaining a bonsai tree.

Lowes & HD now sell a look alike version of 1/2 whisky barrel made of plastic. That should be decent size to hold big Fred. DonÂt forget to drill holes on the side wall near the bottom.

Seems like it would save a lot of trouble to just put that big boy in the ground.

Thank you all for such good advice. I want to leave it in a pot if possible because, as I said before, I've got a lot more concrete around the pool than I have sunny garden beds--and I've never had a big success with roses in the garden as I do in pots. Freddie is such a show stopper that I'd hate to lose him by putting him in the ground. (Show stopper when the thrips and the JB's aren't eating him alive. . . .)

I have grown most of my roses in pots. Cactus-joe's advice works in keeping roses in pots longterm. Basically "the bonsai" treatment. I am not strong enough to lift my big plants, so instead of removing them and chopping the roots, I just slice the ball right in the pot and remove the outer chunks. I then refill it with soil. I am supposed to do this every three years, but I have gotten lazy with some of them and got away with four years. This of course will depend on how fast your plants grow.

I have a Frederic M too. Love the rose. Can't believe it's always fragrant no matter what time of day. And rain resistant too (probably one of the few that can stand my west coast rain climate).

oshenar and cactusjoe--Can this chopping of the roots be done now or do I wait for fall--or for spring? Veda

oshenar-- thanks for that smart suggestion about trimming the ball in the pot.

Odd, though, my FM is not rain resistant. It frequently gets rotten spots or pink spots. Between that and the thrips, the whole first flush is often ruined.

michaelg - the suggestion was given to me by someone at this forum years ago so I can't claim the credit ;). My Frederic usually emerges from the rain unblemished, while my other plant blooms rot away. Maybe it's the combination with thrips on your case? Making the petals weaker? Thrips so far has not been a bother here (knock on wood).

Vedazu - I have never tried this thing any other time except spring when the plants are leafing out. But I would assume that fall will be fine too when the plant is dormant. It's basically the same idea as when you are transplanting roses, because you are creating the same kind of disturbance (ie. root loss, loss of top growth to pruning, etc). From the consensus that I have read in this forum, the best time to "transplant" roses would be fall or spring.

oshenar-- Yes, I think thrips bites may become sites for botryis infection, so maybe that's the reason for our different experience.

Has anybody tried this rose on its own roots? Is it just as big as one on Dr. Huey roots? My David Austins are blooming more with less tall growth once I removed them from their Dr. Huey roots. I know not everyone can or wants to do this because of winter issues but has anyone in a warm winter area tried this rose on its own roots. I was curious if it was as bloomed as well or better this way. I would prefer a smaller more compact shrub if I didn't have to sacrifice the flowers.

Thanks all of you for this great advice on growing roses in pots. I've been wondering what I should do/when I should do it. I'm printing this out and saving it as well.

Carol

You are far braver than I to try and grow a full grown FM in a pot. My bush is huge by the end of summer despite judicious pruning in July to try and control the monster.
I love the blooms and their fragrance however, and wouldn't mind being able to mobilize it if it were in a pot. I just don't think it is really feasible. This would have to be one heavy sucker to hold a fully grown FM bush with all the soil etc...it would take.
John

John,
Our container grown FM is maintained at a height of 3' max and is in a 7 gallon container. The container is on castors - it's too heavy to lift by muyself. In your zone 5b, moving these large containers into winter protection can be an issue.

kittymoonbeam,
I tried rooting this rose, but it does not seem to root easily.

Thanks cactus joe, I think I'll leave it alone. It's doing well there