If you can't move them I would definitely try baby pools or large reservoirs under each rose. I've done this before and it worked out well. Actually the roses look better than they often do!

My advice Lily, is to pay him good. 1/4 before you go and 3/4 when you get back. Call him every day to check up on him. Tell him that you will call so that he knows that in order to get paid his 3/4, he must report in (answer your call). Have it all, every instruction, in writing.

Plan B is to involve his parent(s). If you judge them to be responsible I think my advice will work best for you.

Moses

I am actually in a similar situation and left all my potted plants on a timed watering schedule.

basically all you need to do, is to:

1) Line all your pots next to eachotber.

2) get a cheapo soaker hose from any big box store

3) connect it to an automatic watering timer.

Its pretty simple, reliable and cost effective method.

Good luck

As a teen my first job was babysitting the kids of a few of my teachers. If I could keep other little humans alive, this kid can keep the roses alive. It'll be okay! Kiddie pools could work but is $$ and a lot of plastic to purchase. Talk to him in person beforehand, walk him through your garden and show him, physically doing it in front of him, how long to water each rose and how. Text him the watering schedule, text him maybe every other day while you're gone with friendly reminders. It's gonna be fine. It's an easy job! :)

I have a lot of potted roses and mine are now on a watering system. But before then I had two primary methods: pot nanny and saucers. But you have somebody watering them already and as long as you teach him the basics…slow and steady,water early in the morning if possible…they’ll be fine. A pot nanny may help to prevent stress in case he is a bit too fast or the heat is real bad but probably isn’t necessary. They’ll live at least. I had saucers for excess water but I found it attracted a lot of bugs (we had bad mosquitoes last year oddly) and it evaporated quickly.

Here the pot nanny I like

B SEPOR Ceramic Plant Waterer Set of 6 Pack Terracotta Self Watering Spikes,Wine Bottle Plant Watering Devices for Vacation (6Pack) https://a.co/d/4Z8YUr1

Moses nailed it. To reiterate and/or add to what Moses said: pay him very well (and give him a deposit), demonstrate to him exactly how to water them and which ones, ask him what time he gets up and ask him to do it first thing (send him a text reminder). Even if you were planning to ask him to do it every other day, have him do it every day.

I taught teenagers for 33 years, and they can be pretty great :-D

Lilyfinch, during past heatwaves did you have to water every day? If so, maybe this teen should also? Or maybe water once daily, twice every other day just in case?

I had my husband water while I was out of town for 5 weeks and while the spirit was willing (and I sent lots of reminders) he didn't water as often as it needed. I totally relied on the kiddie pools for the pots put in the shade and if there's a little water in the bottom of the pool they can tide over an irregular watering schedule. Water crystals in the pot (like SoilMoist) also help a lot.

Moses' advice is sound as always but it still can depend on the teen. I contracted a teen to mow our lawn while we were gone for 2 weeks and even with texting him and his mom (both of whom we know well) and withholding all the payment till the end, he left it till the last day of the 2 weeks and the other neighbors were gently wondering if they should mow our jungle.

I'm all for multiple backup systems. I find I still use the kiddie pools as holding pens for my pot ghetto till I have time to plant.

Cynthia

One of my friends’ boyfriend told her she needed to place a little yellow flag by each plant she needed him to water by hand while she was away. He even bought her a pack of 20 flags to make it easy. She bought another 500 flags and used them all up! 🤣

Thank you everyone for all the suggestions!

I’m terrified to leave a hose on with no supervision ( ask me why lol ) we have had a broken water situation before and the bill would be to the heavens if that happened here . So I am leery of the automatic system as a diy project !

His mother did come over with him to learn everything as well but she’s also not a gardener . I wrote out a long instructions for him to refer back to ( he’s also letting our dog out , I suppose the care for our dog is more important lol ) .

I just worry bc I am babysitting someone’s plants while they deal with a divorce and I would hate to lose any of hers too .

Today I moved everything I could under the porch and I did a super watering t this am and I’ll do it again tonite and once again before we leave in the morning.

I wanted to get baby pools but my husband protested due to all my other things taking up space lol .

I do plan to text him to check in of course and o think we are paying well but it’s mostly for the dog lol . Fingers crossed it’s all well when we get back !