Movable feast for the eyes
HELEN RICHARDS says she’s not a perfect gardener, but visitors to her Valley Village home might disagree. Every spring, her 85 rose bushes burst into bloom -- all types, all colors and all in containers.
Richards’ reason for planting her roses in pots is simple: Given the patio, swimming pool, poor soil and sprawling tree roots, she has no good ground to garden. A decade of collecting and caring for roses this way has taught her a number of benefits -- and a few tricks for making the flowers flourish.
It doesn’t hurt that she was taught by the masters: renowned rosarian and author Tommy Cairns and his partner, Luis Desamero, whom Richards met through the Tinseltown Rose Society. The couple’s Studio City garden houses an astonishing 1,000 roses, most of them miniatures in pots -- pots on pavement, pots on benches, pots in planter beds, pots hanging in baskets.
“It’s like painting a canvas,” Cairns says. “Filling in spaces, adding colors where you want them. It’s a lot of work but a nice hobby.”
By keeping roses in containers, Cairns and Desamero say, gardeners have complete control of soil, water and fertilizer. The plants are easier to elevate, which makes them easier to clean. Because the soil (and, therefore, the roots) warm up more quickly in pots than in the ground, container plants flower earlier in the year and their bloom cycles are faster. And if the unspeakable should happen -- a plant becomes diseased -- it easily can be whisked away to isolation.
Successfully growing container roses depends greatly on plant selection. Richards’ collection runs the gamut, but the best varieties for pots are naturally compact and rounded, says rose breeder Tom Carruth of Weeks Roses in Upland. He suggests miniatures, floribundas and shrub types with neat foliage and abundant flowers.
Carruth’s butter yellow floribunda ‘Julia Child’ -- an award-winning hybrid released this year -- forms a 2-foot ball with foliage to the ground. The fragrance is sweet, he says, “like licorice candy.” Clustered flowers cover the plant, and it’s a fast repeat bloomer.
Once you have chosen the plant, look for wide pots that will provide optimal horizontal spread. “Roses don’t have tap roots,” Cairns says. Miniatures will grow in 12-inch-wide pots. Larger types need 16- to 18-inch pots.
Wood and unglazed ceramic pots are porous, allowing soil to dry out quickly -- a problem for potted roses in warm, dry weather. Richards favors terra cotta-colored plastic pots with matching saucers. “They crack after a few years in the sun but don’t weigh as much as real clay,” she says.
For their large plants, Cairns and Desamero like black plastic 7-gallon nursery “squats” with handles. They are wide, light, inexpensive and easy to move, and though they are hardly beauties themselves, once the roses show their colors, who cares?
Oregon-based hybridizer Ping Lim of Bailey Nurseries likes to develop “easy” roses so that people will grow more of them. ‘Rainbow Sorbet,’ his award-winning, disease-resistant, multihued variety released this year, has fine heritage. One parent is ‘Playboy,’ a stunner with gold-centered bright orange blossoms.
“ ‘Playboy’ is a wonderful container rose with a sweet fruity fragrance,” says Kathy DuPree, Glendale gardener and Tinseltown Rose Society vice president. She adds that the plant is compact and rounded with glossy foliage and lots of clusters of flowers.
“ ‘Playgirl’ is nice too,” she says. “It’s neon pink with gold stamens and free-flowering.” Her collection includes about 175 roses, 40 of which are in pots. Though most roses require at least six hours of sun each day, DuPree’s ‘Playboy’ and ‘Playgirl’ have grown well in part shade.
Miniature tree roses, or “standards,” are cute in containers, DuPree says. She keeps a pair as sentries by her front door. The trees are miniatures and micro-minis grafted onto 12-, 18- or 24-inch trunks. Most look like lollipops.
“They’re great little accents,” Carruth says. “And they’re easier for companion planting. Shove some annual color around them to make a nice double-decker pot for the patio.”
To avoid root competition, he adds, stick with annuals and shallow-rooted perennials.
Dupree sometimes puts in low, trailing annuals below her roses -- “plants that need the same watering. ‘Johnny Jump Ups,’ other violas and petunias. Just enough to cover the soil and trail over the edge.”
It’s no revelation that roses flower well in containers. You see rows of them in glorious bloom at nurseries -- proof that roses are tough, adaptable and hard-wired to flower.
“If you consider what we do to them,” hybridizer Carruth says, “they’re truly amazing plants.”
Lili Singer can be reached at home@latimes.com.
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How to keep ‘em blooming
Tips on caring for container roses:
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Repotting: Do it every three or four years. During the dormant period, knock the plant out of the pot and take off all the soil. Trim roots and repot in fresh soil.
Soil preparation: Though some gardeners disagree, rose breeder Tom Carruth suggests mixing a bit of garden soil with the potting mix. “It helps them with the transition from light nursery soil,” he says.
Watering: The soil surface should be checked daily, especially during heat waves, and watered thoroughly when the top inch or two is dry. Empty water from saucers.
Fertilizing: Feeding is essential during the growing season. High-phosphorus formulas promote flowering. Rosarians Tommy Cairns and Luis Desamero apply a water-soluble 8-10-8 (phosphorus is the middle number) fertilizer at half-strength, every two weeks.
Pruning: Prune plants lightly after each bloom cycle, spring through October, and cut back quite severely in January or February.
-- Lili Singer
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Top rose choices for containment
The best roses for containers are naturally compact and disease-resistant. Here is a rainbow of top-notch choices by Tommy Cairns and other local rosarians:
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Miniatures: ‘Baby Grand’ (pink), ‘Bee’s Knees’ (deep pink and golden yellow), ‘Gizmo’ (scarlet with white eye), ‘Hot Tamale’ (orange-red with gold reverse), ‘Jilly Jewel’ (medium pink), ‘Luis Desamero’ (pale yellow), ‘X-Rated’ (white and pink bicolor)
Floribundas: ‘Blueberry Hill’ (lilac), ‘Ebb Tide’ ( true purple), ‘Julia Child’ (golden yellow), ‘Playboy’ (brilliant orange with gold stamens), ‘Playgirl’ (hot pink with gold centers), ‘Rainbow Sorbet’ (yellow, orange and red blend), ‘Sno Cone’ (white with red edges), ‘Sunsprite’ (lemon yellow), ‘Topsy Turvy’ (scarlet-white bicolor with dark red foliage), ‘Trumpeter’ (vermillion)
Shrubs: ‘Flower Carpet’ (pink, red, yellow or white), ‘Iceberg’ (white, brilliant pink or burgundy), ‘Pillow Fight’ (white with honey scent), ‘Tamora’ (apricot), ‘Weeping China Doll’ (pink)
Criteria: Look for miniature roses in 4-inch, 6-inch and 1-gallon pots, and larger varieties in 3-gallon and 5-gallon pots. Small roses sold at supermarkets are bred for one shot of color, not extended life in the garden.
Resources
Nurseries: Among the sources recommended by rosarians: Burkard Nurseries in Pasadena (www.burkardnurseries.com), Marina del Rey Garden Center (www.marinagardencenter.com), San Gabriel Nursery & Florist in San Gabriel (www.sgnursery.com), Otto & Sons Nursery in Fillmore (www.ottoandsons-nursery.com), which specializes in roses, and Laguna Hills Nursery in Lake Forest (www.lagunahillsnursery.com).
Mail order: Sources include Nor’East Miniature Roses in Arroyo Grande, Calif. (www.noreast-miniroses.com), and Sequoia Nursery in Visalia (www.sequoianursery.com).
-- Lili Singer
