Climbing rose: Is it OK to plant a climber in a trough-shaped planter?

Hi

[ Newbie to this forum, BTW! ]

I have a query to all you rose aficionados out there!

I need to know if a climbing rose we've just bought can be planted - and will then grow healthily - in a planter. And particularly if a trough-shaped planter would do.

(Obviously I would rather use soil if I could but our garden has run out of bedding-space! )

So I have to use a planter because the rose will be on a patio. The rose will be climbing up a trellis on a 6-foot fence so we cannot move it once it starts growing. It is important therefore that we get the choice of planter correct, right from the beginning!

BTW, the rose is a climber, pink, & is called 'High Hopes'. (Which we have for the plant, too! LOL! )

I want to use a trough planter rather than a tall one because of the possibly unwieldy nature of a tall planter. I am thinking of a trough planter which would be sized approx. 60cm (length) x 28cm (width) x 26cm (height). (The patio itself only has so much space so can't hold a planter much bigger than that.)

So, is it ok for climbing rose roots to grow outwards rather than downwards? I am concerned as I know that some plant roots need to go down, usually to access water or to gain a hold to enable them to be sturdy above ground. We don't want to stop the plant spreading it roots.

I think this long-&-shallow'ish shape of planter might?! be OK for the soil required for a rose, because the volume of soil is the same as for a tall planter. But can anyone confirm this??

We are aware that the rose will need more watering than if it were in the landsoil, as it can't draw extra water from groundsoil. But this is about as far as our knowledge-base takes us!

We are relative novices to gardening, & have only planted 1 other climber rose (an 'Iceberg') since we started teaching ourselves gardening. That has been a bit of a hit & miss - though gladly more of a hit. But as it was planted from the very start in groundsoil (not a planter); so our experience with the 'Iceberg' cannot help us with this container query.

If a trough-shape WILL do, is a length of 60cms long (etc.) a big enough planter for such a climbing rose??

If it is instead advisable to have to use a taller planter, then we do have a tall - c. 60cm (height) - zinc planter going unused; so would that work at all?? It's a square-topped planter i.e. 30cm (width) x 30cm (length), and tapers only very slightly at the base.

All help appreciated!

 

Welcome to Gardeners Corner!!!

I grow roses in tubs but they are only small patio roses, your rose is a 10ft climber!! Personally, I think the rose might survive in your containers but it wouldn't thrive!!! The roots on climbing roses go particularly deep. Not sure what your options might be other than growing a different rose on the patio? with a much larger pot a bush rose would do much better.

Val

 

im going to stick my neck out here half barrel size minimum for a shrub rose so what's that 60cmx60cmx60cm. a climber of that height will struggle in a container. in my novice opinion please try and find a place in soil for it please

 

I grow quite a few Roses in planters but they are quite large containers. A trough planter of the size you mention would very quickly become far too small for any decent sized Rose, so I don't think it would be suitable.

Climbing Roses in containers can quite easily be moved or re-potted (after a good prune) because they won't attach themselves to the trellis - you will need to tie them in It will soon revert to it's previous height.

If you are going to put such a large Rose in a planter, I would go for something at least 60 cm in diameter by the same height. Even then, you may need to repot or root prune after a few years.

 

Thanks everyone, for all your advice.

e.g.

​

(I didn't know any of the above points! So I've learnt something new = gr8!)

It has been most helpful advice from you all - espec. as the non-rose gardening forums (to whom I had initially looked for advice) said that pots would suffice!

That's why I registered at this forum, as I wanted to make the most of the plant so needed the advice of rose fans (!)

As my 'High Hopes' is already budding in the prettiest pink ever - 2 buds, 1 on each of 2 stems - and is still in its pot - I am going to have to make a decision to where to plant it ASAP.

I will try to keep the forum advised as to the rose's development.

Thanks!

 

[ Quick update @ August 2014 : ]

Just an update: Happy news! We saw some very promising red-tips in the spring (April), and fortunately these turned out really well: here are some pics of our potted(!) rose as seen this summer.

I attach the 3 photos here; these include a pic of the pot we ended up utilising as an immediate (temporary!) option :







(BTW these pics were taken back in July; this is the first opportunity I've had this year to upload the photos! )

We are quite 'chuffed' that the blooms turned out so well! especially as we haven't - yet?! LOL!! - got around to re-potting the rose into a permanent container. And it has been a hot!! summer, too.

BTW thanks for all your advice; & yes it has been a bit difficult to keep it watered in its pot but we have done our best.

So we are happy with a good start for 2014 . . Hoping to get some more success next year! By which point we might have found the time to get that larger & permanent container!

 

Hi wiseowl - thanks for your posting! :-)

Re your helpful points:

(A) CONTAINER - Trug:
(i) Yes it does have drainage holes (we drilled! these into the bottom of the trug)

(ii) No it's not raised; would 4 red house-bricks under the base of the trug do the trick? (As we have no time to shop so this "temporary" ,-) trug will have to remain in usage till we get a bigger pot in spring 2015.)

(iii) Yes it does have drainage (bark chips, I seem to remember, as that was what we had available).

(iv) re the container itself: Yes, we are hoping to get a larger/deeper container than this green plastic trug. And of a stronger material too as we were never happy with the plkastic being too bendy.
The trug was only utilised as a temporary solution to re-pot the rose last year, i.e. as an 'emergency' option, as it was all we had to hand and - being larger & stronger than the shop's plastic pot - was at least an immediate improvement!
The trug has worked very well in so far as at least allowing the rose to grow, as by the end of last year the rose had clambered nearly up to the top of the 6foot garden fence, & had developed outwards too, with more branches/shoots; and it's still growing this year.
But, as the trug is only 30cm (height) x 40cm (diameter), by next year! ,-) we might have finally found the time to get that larger & permanent container. Fingers crossed! :-)

(v) You say "Cannot get air flow its in the wrong position": how can we improve upon this? (BTW, the rocks in front of the trug as just because there's a SLIGHT tilt to the ground-surface here, so the stones are just to act as a 'brake' so that this bendy trug doesn't flop forward at all.)

(B) DISEASE - Black spot: Yes I had a feeling those marks might have been that, so thanks for confirming it. Yikes! What will remedy this? What is a good "nutrient" to use?

If I had more time in the day I'd spend it on the garden, but work & family get in the way - LOL!

from
ASunnyAspect