They are medallion hybrids from lowes

I may try a compost and manure and plant in the ground and hope for the best.

Otherwise break my back building a raised bed. The only thing I was afraid was they may not do so well in the winter.

The idea of putting in the garage is a good idea... But my garage is a ways way from my back yard.

Yep I'm in a pickle.. Here's the idea of the brick concrete I thought I may use.

I don't think the bed has to be too big... But just still worried about the cold winters we been getting.

Hi Jennifer: Same here, my zone 5a winter wasn't good for my raised beds. Even when I plant roses far from the edge, they still dry out, and die through the winter. Roses don't die in water-logged conditions, but they die easily through a dry & cold spell. After I lost at least 10 roses in raised beds through my zone 5a winter, it's NOT a good idea.

It took only 1 hour to dig & provide excellent drainage, but countless hours with raised bed. My neighbor has a huge raised-bed made with blocks just like your picture. But the grass crept through the cracks of the rocks into the bed, and he had to use a weed-whacker to cut down those knee-high grass. After that he used tons of Round-up in between the cracks to stop the grass & weeds. It's end-less work with raised beds.

It's easier to dig out big stones at the bottom, which impedes drainage, than build a raised-bed. Clay is great for roses, and red-lava-rocks help with more blooms. I never get 10 buds per branch, until I top-dress with red-lava-rocks. Below is Crown Princess Magareta, with 10 buds per branch:

Just went to Lowes .... Black cinders are smaller than red cinders ... how different could they be as far a benefits? The red cinders are 1/2" to an 1" as far as I can tell. Black ones are noticeably smaller.

Hi msgirl: Black absorbs heat more than red. Red is higher in iron. In very alkaline or very acidic soil, iron is often NOT available. More than a decade ago, I buried red-lava-rocks in the ground .. once it gets wet it break-down easily. But when it's dry, it resists de-composition.

I'm supposed to be getting some David Austins next week, so am looking at the Anthurium Mix they have, which is a mixture of 30% fern, 30% wood shavings and 40% of the black lava rocks, 5/8" to mix with some MG Nature's Choice Potting Mix ... would you recommend anything else?

FYI, the one DA that is at the Urban Garden Center here, Crocus Rose, has maybe 2" blooms (according to help me find, they average 3.5"). At the rose shows I've been to, there are only 2-3 entries of DAs (usually Abraham Darby) so I am a bit apprehensive about spending the monies for bareroot DA's that might not do so well here.

Hi Msgirl: That mix sounds great with the word "rich", yes roses like rich soil. Roses like wood shavings (retains water), black-lava-rocks is good stuff for blooming. My neighbor uses black-lava-rock for mulching, and her roses have more blooms than leaves. I wonder what's the pH of that potting mix? If your roses are grafted, most likely it's from Dr. Huey (grown in CA). Dr. Huey LIKES IT ALKALINE, and Dr. Huey is more prone to mildew & black spots than own-root roses.

I used to spend hours researching on Austin roses that do well in drought & heat. I'm very lazy in watering, plus our summer heat can get up to 90 to 100. Roses that bloom well in hot sun (100 degree) at the rose park: Double-delight, Julia Child.

Austin roses that bloom well in the heat & full-sun: Christopher Marlowe, Mary Magdalene (white), Evelyn, Bishop Castle, Sophie's rose, Tess of the Ubervilles, Crown Princess Magareta, Darcy Bussell, Jude the Obscure. Crocus rose is the least-liked among Austin, only one cold-zoner likes that one. Evelyn can take the heat best .. mine was blooming full-sun at 100 degrees.

Roses with lots of petals like Crown Princess Magareta demand lots of potassium & calcium. CPM used to be stingy 1st year, only 2 blooms .. then Rosie in English rose forum told me to give it potassium. Second & Third year it improved with soluble potassium & gypsum. 4th year I dumped tons of red-lava-rock, since I'm tired of giving it soluble sulfate of potash. That worked : tons of blooms ... up to 10 buds per stem.

Abraham Darby blooms well with rain-water, but very stingy with alkaline tap water at the rose park.

I am supposed to get Queen of Sweden, Claire Austin, Tranquility, The Pilgrim -- none on your list of those that do well in the sun. I'm this close to buying granular gypsum to throw in the pot for when I do plant the DA's ... would you suggest that? Or just get soluble and mix it with Late Bloom Mix from K4L to do as soil drench after three bloom cycles?

How would you test the anthurium mix? Just do a run off of the water? I used my friend's Kelway ph meter but she's taken it back now.

I'm a bit nervous, this would be my second batch of bareroots and the first batch weren't that successful.

So plan for bareroot new pots: MG Nature Care potting soil, anthurium mix, perlite, N'rich, lava rock, small amounts of randoms (coffee grounds, Rosetone, Marine Cuisine) ... using the bigger chunks of lava rock as mulch to keep soil in pots

1/4 of recommended dosage of Fertilome Root Stimulator

I'm probably going to do this mixture to replenish the soil in the bigger pots too. I want to make sure I use up all the fertilizer stuff before I can justify buying more fertilizer stuff. :)

Granular gypsum mixed in the pot is great for roses ... about 1/2 cup per 2 gallon of soil. Gypsum won't raise your pH like lime, so lime would be a better choice if your soil-mix is acidic. Last year I FORGOT to mix gypsum into my pots .. and roses were slow to bloom & stingy & poor root growth. Previous year I mixed into pots and I got HUGE ROOT-BALLS, sooner. I watched 4 you-tube on hydroponics-experiment where the guy showed how BIG the root-ball of lettuce by sufficient potassium, calcium, and lesser amount of magnesium. Magnesium is cheap to get, Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) is sold $1.29 at Walmart, but one needs very little of that. Magnesium is a minor-nutrient, versus potassium, nitrogen, and calcium are MAJOR nutrients.

There's the myth: phosphorus for blooming, I already tried that, I bought high-phosphorus SOLUBLE chemical fertilizer, and it was a big disaster. I will never do that again.

Queen of Sweden? I gave that to Seaweed. Queen of Sweden is best in partial shade & cool weather. It's a healthy rose, but it gets very tall, 6 feet in my zone 5a, probably taller in your zone 11. It's stingy on blooms, and the blooms are small & not much scent, plus the color get washed out to pale pink. I love Sharifa Asma since it's small & compact, less than 1 foot, perfect for pot. Sharifa Asma takes my breath away with the beauty & huge bloom, plus amazing fragrance. Queen of Sweden doesn't have any of those attributes. Sharifa Asma does well in full-sun & demand less water than Queen of Sweden). Carding Mill is another that can take full-sun well & gorgeous big blooms & nice branching ... Queen of Sweden is more like a super-tall straight-up hybrid tea. If I have to grow roses in pots & full sun, here's my ranking from best to worst:

1. Sharifa Asma or the Alnwick rose 2) Carding Mill 3) Wise Portia or Tamora 4) Jude the Obscure and last is Queen of Sweden. I would place Abraham Darby before Q of Sweden, because Abraham Darby has bigger blooms, better color, and better scent.

Argh, I just promised myself I wouldn't buy any more then what I currently have. I'll keep your list of what you recommend in mind if(but probably when) some of my current roses expire.

I don't want to mess with too many powders right now, so was hoping for a granular application ... what do you think about Supersweet, would that work? It's $7.00 but I actually don't need 25 lbs.

Looks good to me, good price too, cheaper than Kelp4Less. Lily Miller is a good brand, I used their products before on my fruit trees (Amazing results !!). Are your roses grafted on Dr. Huey? Dr. Huey rootstock likes it alkaline, plus it can survive dryness well, but they do get big in pots, esp. Austin roses. I listed Austin roses for pots according to their size, Jude the Obscure GRAFTED get really tall, over 7 feet at my zone 5a rose park in late fall.

I don't mean to be rude but this was my info column...msdorkgirl...I keep getting emails and its info for you. Please start your own page thanks!

Sorry if I stepped on your toes, won't do it again.