Mini-Roses in a Container (for a rose novice)

[ButterflyGarden]

Someone gave me a lovely container that says "flowers" on it. It has good drainage and would look lovely with some of those mini roses. I've never grown roses before but I'm thinking about giving it a try. Anything I should know? Any advice?

[Kisal]

How large is the container? I could never keep mini roses alive, until I learned to immediately transplant them into 10" or 12" containers and keep them outdoors year round.

They have the same cultural needs as regular roses, and haven't magically transformed into houseplants simply because they've been bred to be smaller. BTW, mine usually reach a height of between 12" and 15", with an equal spread. The flowers are about 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter.

They are beautiful, though, and I love them.

[ButterflyGarden]

Do you know the volume of a 10'' container? It's an unusual size and we use volume as the industry standard here.

[Kisal]

A 10" container holds 2 1/2 gallons of growing medium. A 12" container holds 3 gallons of growing medium. Now, I'm curious about where you're located.

Every U.S. nursery I've ever dealt with sells the standard plastic nursery containers by both diameter measured across the top, as well as by volume. In fact, both measurements are molded onto the bottom of the plastic containers. Containers of 5 gallons and larger are usually sold by volume only, though.

But decorative containers are always sold by diameter measured across the top. Since you commented on the attractiveness of your container, I expected it would most likely be clay or ceramic and be marked in inches. Apparently, my bad.

[ButterflyGarden]

I live in Jerusalem, Israel. Here, they sell containers by the liter. The container I have is actually made of wood. It has two separate growing sections each about 2 liters. It looks like that would be too small for roses. Any idea what I can put in it instead? I want to put it outside on my balcony. I could just put herbs in it but I was hoping to put flowers in it since it says flowers on it.

[ButterflyGarden]

Btw, 2 liters is about half a gallon.

[Kisal]

Yes, I'm familiar with the metric system.

[ButterflyGarden]

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you are not. I've gotten so used to metric that I had to double check before I posted.

[Kisal]

That's just one of the many ways in which it helps our members to know the general area where one is located. Had I known you were in a country that used metric measurements, I would have used them in my answer to your question. It also helps us to understand the temperatures and water supply your plants must cope with, and it helps us focus our research, should you ever request an ID for an insect or a plant disease.

[ButterflyGarden]

Ok, I added my location to my profile.