Comments on: Rose Container Ideas for Windy Balcony Gardens

By: Container Gardening Guide for Spring 2009

Container Gardening Guide for Spring 2009 — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:25:37 +0000

[...] Rose Container Recipes: Two detailed ideas for using roses in a container design and several more ideas to help you incorporate roses into your balcony garden. [...]

By: Spring Container Gardening Guide

Spring Container Gardening Guide — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 18:52:41 +0000

[...] Rose Container Recipes: Two detailed ideas for using roses in a container design and several more ideas to help you incorporate roses into your balcony garden. [...]

By: Fern

Fern — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:42:42 +0000

SFaith–Except sweet alyssum and roses like different amounts of water. Roses are water hogs and sweet alyssum like things a bit drier.

By: SFaith

SFaith — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:22:12 +0000

Sweet alyssum would be a good substitute for the lobelia. It’s easy to grow from seed and has the added bonus of being fragrant.

By: Fern

Fern — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:04:16 +0000

Marilyn — Good point about balancing water with sunshine. Sometimes container grown plants can be more susceptible to pests because the plants are stressed by a pot that is too small or soil that has been depleted of all its nutrients. Stressed out plants are prime targets for pests. It may also be that beneficial bugs and birds that would normally keep spider mites in check are busy in the part of your garden that is more densely planted and ignore the pots on your patio.

By: Marilyn

Marilyn — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:42:11 +0000

Fern, I like this post. Roses are wonderful plants. I would add that roses while they like water, they cannot have wet soggy roots. So drainage is very important. Roses like sunshine…but pots dry out quickly. So the balance between drainage and moisture can be tricky in pots. Also, for some reason, the roses that I have grown in pots were more plagued by spiders.

By: Fern

Fern — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:41:29 +0000

Zach — I drew them by hand with a sharpie marker and then used Photoshop to color them in and add photos of the real plants.

Gen — Good point about using a dwarf variety. Thanks for the specific recommendations! I know this is not the best thing to do, but I often buy a plant that is a little smaller then I want, enjoy it while it is growing into the ideal size, and then replant it in my parents garden when it gets too big.

By: Adriana

Adriana — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:54:42 +0000

These combos are so beautiful!

By: Genevieve

Genevieve — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:38:45 +0000

I like the drawings too, and the little collages of photos! Awesome. I have to figure out how to do that.

The Flax is a great choice for part shade and wind. It will tolerate most abuses, and it goes so well with anything! I love all the varieties available. I’d take care to get a dwarf for a pot, though – ‘Tom Thumb’, ‘Platt’s Black’, ‘Jack Spratt’… The regular bronze ones can be monsters, at least in my climate (your mileage may vary).

By: Zach

Zach — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:05:08 +0000

Good ideas. And I like your drawings. What did you use to create them?