That is a great question Pippa.

I planted an Heirloom in the Fall and I don't think it has gotten direct sun since. I am hoping it makes it.

I asked this question last year and I believe the consensus was sun exposure doesn't matter if the rose is dormant or at least not actively growing. I'll try to find my post. However if anyone knows otherwise I'm all ears.

I’ve got a climber in a spot that doesn’t get much sun at certain times of the year while it’s still short and I’ve been experimenting with reflecting light at the shady times. It seems to be helping but i’m not sure.

Glad I'm not the only one wondering about this. My spot is on the north side of the house but not right up against it. So in summer when the sun is higher it does get full sun but the sun is quite low in winter so the house casts shade in that spot most of the time then.

My situation exactly with a northern wall. I think the feeling was that they just need sun during the growing. Here in the north we can put them in a coal Cellar to go dormant over the winter so they get zero sun then and they do just fine when we bring them out in the spring.

I found my post ! https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/4647811/what-is-considered-shade-for-roses

OK that makes sense. If a rose can continue to live well in a dark garage or root cellar I guess it can be just fine without Winter Sun.

In the colder zones, my experience on the north side of my house has less to do with the sun exposure and more to do with winter hardiness. Even extended out a good 6-8' from the northern wall of my house, that bed of roses is a virtual zone 4 in my zone 5 Nebraska and I have to plant roses there that are extra winter hardy. I spent a few seasons discovering that as I watched the bulbs bloom at different cycles depending on what side of the house they were planted on. I haven't noticed a lot of difference in volume of bloom for the roses on the north and east sides of the houses in these colder virtual zones, but that may be because the roses in the virtual zone 4 have surviving cane because they're hardier so they bloom earlier than the wimpy ones on the south side of the house.

So my advice is to pick roses that are hardy there more than roses that can tolerate shade. For sun exposure, I agree that the sun during the growing season is the most important. The wind however is year long and that has an impact on winter survival.

Cynthia

Cynthia, That is so true! I have the same experience with my hybrid musts. I ended up just moving them to the front of the bed and planting hydrangeas in the back. I figured why fight mother nature, but then again the bed was very deep and I had that option.