Does DA keep the two plants in the containers long term or is this technique because they want to be able to treat them more like annuals and switch them out frequently? I could maybe see doing this with a smaller less bushy DA like Munstead Wood in a half whisky or wine barrel. So long as you fertilize and water a lot it seems like it would work for the smaller ones but others would quickly fill out even a half wine barrel with just one plant, especially if grafted.

Most of the US gets much hotter than England and this makes DAs grow a lot bigger here generally speaking if they aren’t in an area that gets much winter die back. Even in the relatively cool PNW where I and librarian_gardner are has DAs get bigger than they do in England.

I remember when Austin recommended planting three of the same rose fairly close together to give the impression, I guess, of fullness and size. Here, that would be disastrous, because my Austins grow so huge, partly because of what Heather says. It's hotter and sunnier here, and our winters are pretty mild, too. Because it's dry there is no blackspot. All these factors are a recipe for growing big roses. I can't imagine squeezing two Austins into a pot. Diane

I got it. The reason I asked is because I got a second Munstead when the one I got last year did barely OK in its first season and basically failed to grow in the second current season.

I transferred it in a large container where I have my other roses on the deck. It began growing but still slowly and it is staying small.

Since I love that MW color senseless, I wanted to have a second just in case this one doesn't do well over the long term.

In the meantime, I would love to have them one next to the other for more mass color (when they get there eventually).

But I think it's wise to have them in separate pots next to each other, not two in one.

Maybe it works for them in the UK, momentarily, but I can't see this turning out well here for the long term.

I have quite a few years experience with growing two Munstead, and they are among the slower if not slowest Austin growers in my garden. But they do get there. It's hard to have patience--I don't. But I'd rather have Munstead than that enormous PAoK thug that I couldn't control, and finally took out after trying to deal with her for several years. So patience with Munstead because for me it's tops. Just takes more time. Diane

Some online nurseries use multiple cuttings in one container. I had many gallon size roses delivered from Old Chamblee's Roses when Mark Chamblee, now retired and sold nursery, was in charge of propagation. Mark ran the place pretty ship shape. I remember getting some roses with three cuttings in the gallon pots, and quite frequently.

The Rose Rosette Diseased Quietness I dug out the fall of 2022, which was about 12 years old, having a massive crown, was actually three cuttings touching each other. As the bush grew it seemed oblivious to that situation and grew into a really nice bush. Would the Quietness have been as massive if it started as a one cutting bush? Hard to say. I think no. The multiple cutting beginning made the bush more massive.

I asked Mark about his practice of using multiple cuttings during propagation, and he said the bushes do just fine that way.

I think the principle Mark employed was:

1.) Have a fuller bush, with more curb appeal to his customers.

2.) Streamline his work load. I believe he started his cuttings in gallon pots. If three cuttings are used, and one doesn't take, you will still have a nice bush. If two cuttings don't take, you will still get a nice bush, but perhaps such one cutting 'take,' bushes were put aside to grow up a little longer before being sold. The additional time making for a bush just about equivalent to a multiple cutting bush.

3.) If Mark made exclusively one cutting bushes started in gallon pots, then those that didn't take meant more labor=time sorting through them to pull out the no takes. Using multiple cuttings in the original pot just about guarantees that all pots in the batch end up with a sellable bush.

4.) Notoriously weak takers are made up for this by putting multiple cuttings of them in the propagating gallon pot. You will still get a take and subsequent sellable bush if only one of the multiple cuttings take.

Of course, what I am mulling over above may be just my take, but it makes sense to me.

Moses

@dianela7analabama

I just ordered PAoK, since those huge blooms and that pink are hard to resist.

Did you have her in the ground or a pot?

A container would restrict her growth, you would think. No?

Artist, my climate is different, but I put mine in the ground right away. It was a gift, and good-sized.
PAOK does very well here in afternoon shade. Her colors varies — orange in bud, coral at first, paler pink later. In her heat, we get more pink than coral.
She lasts a week in the vase.
She does sprout octopus canes sometimes, but I try to keep them trimmed. She takes a vacation through most of the summer (June-mid-October), but comes roaring back with a generous fall flush.
She isn’t more than 3’ tall here, in her third year, but again - shade.
Enjoy.

I could never put 2 Austins in a container here..they would choke each other out or bust out of the container lol.

I had PAoK in a container and it still got 6ft tall and 5ft wide. I have one in the ground now, as of last summer. She is already getting huge. I might have her too close to Earth Angel who went gangbusters.

PAOK is healthy here (no spray) and makes giant cupcake blooms.

My climate probably has no direct equivalent with any in the US, but I have warm springs and very hot summers with plenty of days of 100F+. I have three trios of grafted roses in the ground - Munstead Wood, Lady Emma Hamilton and Julia Child. The first two are easy to keep to about 3x3ft and the last 4x4ft. Given JC can grow huge, it seems to be self-regulating grown in a trio and hasn’t outgrown it’s space in over 5 years.

I’ve never tried more than one rose in a pot but some UK rose friends do so successfully, as of course does DA. I can see how multiple own root cuttings would work, as Moses says, but perhaps less so grafted on a US rootstocks such as Huey or Fort. I have an own root cutting of Munstead in a smallish pot that does really well and would think three cuttings of it in a large pot would be perfectly feasible and look fabulous.

Of my trio of MWs, two grew well from the start but one has always remained smaller and less vigourous. It could have been a poorer specimen or bad graft but equally could be because it’s at the front of the triangle in a south-facing border, so subject to harsher, drier conditions.

Why do you think the own root would do better in these conditions than those grafted on rootstocks? Is it because they would be developing their roots together…or stay smaller?

Hi Artist, well only because MW grafted seems to be more vigorous than own root, so squeezing a grafted threesome in a pot might be too much, so my guess is they would stay smaller own root. I hear rootstocks such as Huey are pretty boisterous to boot, but I would be tempted to try three own root. Some things just work that shouldn’t - I have a Mme. Isaac Pereire in a large pot, against all advice and common sense, but it does fine!