Congratulations on your roses and the extremely pretty view!!! No advice, except to check out Bargain Hunt and Ollie's if you have them nearby. They often have great large pots including glazed ceramic quite cheap. Ollie's also has a great organic fertilizer similar to rose-tone that I like.

Mustbnuts, what great information on growing in pots.

Your yard is beautiful!

Thanks!

I don’t have much to add to mustbnuts excellent advice, except for to make sure that whatever container you use drains well. Re the potting soil, it might not be necessary, but adding extra perlite or pumice never hurts, and improves drainage & can help keep the soil in the pot from compacting. (I’m not familiar with the brand of soil you mentioned.)

Also, if you plan to put the pot on a deck or patio, put something under it - either a plant dolly like mustbnuts described, or a couple of bricks or pot feet of some sort, that can support a large, heavy pot. This will help with drainage, help keep the bottom of the pot cool if the patio heats up in the sun, and will also reduce staining under the pot.

Also, GJ & GC can be large plants, so you may need to eventually cut them back and/or prune heavily.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

Mustbnuts - I love, love looking at pictures of your backyard!!!

Beautiful beautiful home and view. I only grow Benjamin Britten of the roses you purchased. He is a favorite in my garden. I am gardening in Northwest Alabama zone 7b and with winter and summer pruning Benjamin gets to be 7 feet tall twice a year. He would be a wonderful climber here. If you have a spot in the ground he sure could use it. Lovely roses either way. If it stays nice in a pot please update I would love to try it also.

Benjamin Britten. The color is very difficult to photograph, it is way more beautiful in person. It also smells divine.

After being pruned to 3 feet in February he is this tall in July.

@mustbnuts your garden is glorious. I love it!

You could maybe see if your local hardware store has 44gallon drums or barrels that you could cut in half and punch holes in the ends to use as pots? I've done dwarf fruit trees very successfully in half barrels. (If you don't like the look of them, you could get some outdoor paint and let the kids decorate?!)

What a great idea, joey. As I've mentioned in another post, I've built (often using just glue) rudimentary Versailles tubs that can easily be removed to move the plants around the yard or for Winter storage. When painted they look just as good as expensive ones. BBstores used to cut the wood to my specs, but I don't know what they would do now.

Joey, I wonder if that might let me grow some dwarf fruit trees in my walnut filled yard since so many types aren't juglone tolerant. Do you have to root prune your trees to keep them happy in the barrels?

Vaporvac, I think your Versailles tubs are a great idea! How did you make yours removable - hinges and pins, screws? I wonder if composite boards could be used for maximum weather resistance and less need to paint/touch up; because let's face it, that's time we could spend on our roses!

Dottie, your part of Zone 7 stills sees freezes, right? I've always read that you need roses two zones hardier than yours for them to really survive a winter in pots outside. Given that, your roses might be kept manageable by Old Man Winter. Own-root plants might stay smaller than grafted ones; I've only got 'Golden Celebration' OR of the ones you list; it only got about three feet tall last summer, it's second full year (in fairness, I do think it had more surviving cane after this winter than last). I'm in a colder zone though, and one prone to late spring freezes.

Mustbenuts is right about ceramic - unless you get the frost proof ones (which are expensive enough I have no experience with them). They do make some good looking composite/poly ones now though.

Everyone's yards look so good! I hope my roses look nearly that nice!

I use large black plastic nursery pots because they are inexpensive, but they aren't much to look at. For the first year that I had Gertrude Jekyll in zone 8B she was in a big pot. The following year I planted her out, so I can't say how she would do if kept in a pot for a long time, but for at least a year she was fine. If you had a half barrel I'm sure you could grow Gertrude Jekyll in it for years.

ac91z6 I didn't have to root prune the fruit trees, I think like you said about the difference in pots vs in the ground keeping them small helped with that. It wasn't a super cold area but we always got a few good hard frosts over the winter. They fruited beautifully so I was happy.

ac91, you could try figs also! I'm doing that this year thanks to the kindness of a fellow forum member. The Versailles tubs are a constantly evolving thing. The first ones were did not open as the plants within were small enough to remove from the top. They were so jacked up I used painted golf balls as the finials! Noone ever noticed! LOL!!! The removable ones have a rebate in the corner piece so one or two sides can slip out. I store mine for the winter so they don't need much touch up, but I'm all ears for an all seasons wood. This year I'm hoping to add some decorative molding on the sides. If I ever use Joey's idea, I think I'd go all out and get some hinges and a latch. That would look hot! :0D

Please note they do not have bottoms so are strictly a decorative surround.

Thank you so much for all the information! @dianela7analabama, wow, BB gets huge for you - also, the statute surrounded by roses is beautifully romantic! If it gets that big for me, I'll need to plant in the ground after the first season. @mustbnuts zone 9 sunset 9, your patio is a dream and inspires me to consider doing SO MUCH MORE with my patio...over time. :)

Based on what I've heard here, I've decided to plant the Gertrude Jekyll in the flower bed. I will pot Golden Celebration and Benjamin Britton with the expectation that I will extend the flower bed to the area right behind the pots and can transfer the roses to the ground for next year, if they are getting too big or otherwise not doing great in the pots. I bought bone meal to add to the potting soil and fish fertilizer to use every 2 weeks or so (thank goodness the garden centers/feed stores around here are taking phone orders for curbisde pick-up).

I'm looking at Bloem 20" planters on Amazon, one is 14.5" high and the other is 17" high. (I have a smaller one already that I like.) Big enough?

https://www.amazon.com/Bloem-DC20-46-Cotta-Planter-20-Inch/dp/B00GUBDF6Y/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1W1BZC325FRSI&dchild=1&keywords=bloem+planter+20+inch&qid=1586178504&sprefix=bloem+planter%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/Bloem-Terra-Planter-Living-Green/dp/B003IPH0BG/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1W1BZC325FRSI&dchild=1&keywords=bloem+planter+20+inch&qid=1586178504&sprefix=bloem+planter%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-5

I have a couple of 16" nursery pots from fruit trees I bought this spring, but I think that will be too small. I love the look of Versailles planters, so I may try to get creative with that in the future, although I'm not very handy.

Get the biggest one you can afford. Your plants will thank you for it.

Update: after considering the cost of potting mix and pots, I decided to go ahead and plant all in the ground. I expanded my flower bed, putting down cardboard, compost, and mulch and amended the roses' holes generously. Not ideal, but done. I have nepeta and Russian sage to transplant from elsewhere and plan to add snapdragons.

Gertrude Jekyll was already quite tall, so I planted her nearby in my rear mixed border between an azaelea and clematis. I confirmed that she can get 8-10' in my area, so I'll buy a support later if needed. After a couple of days, she's starting to bloom and the scent is amazing!

Thanks again for the advice!

That will be a great combination. You can sit out watch them all bloom together!

That looks great!!! I have roses in pots & I enjoy them, but if you have the space, they tend to be happier & much lower maintenance in the ground.

It will be fun to watch the area fill out & grow!