dave weil wrote in message . ..
On 8 Mar 2004 13:40:58 -0800, (Dan Gannon) wrote:

I think fragrant miniatures have great potential, for use in planters
and pots, both indoors and outdoors.

I wanted to commend you on taking my "berating" in a positive spirit.
You're probably less defensive than *I* would have been.

Thanks, Dave. Actually, I think you weren't that harsh. Believe me,
I've seen worse. :-)

I didn't really want to respond to your response point by point, but I
*did* want to respond to this point.

Someone else alluded to this, but I think that you really shouldn't
consider roses of any kind as an indoor plant. Sure, one might have
limited success, but roses are really outdoor plants. The biggest
problem isn't light - as you alluded to, lighting can be duplicated.
The problem is that roses don't *generally* like to live in the same
environment that most humans enjoy. They like open air and *generally*
higher daytime temperatures than humans like. They don't particularly
like to have their roots confined and they are easily affected by
spider mites in "placid" air conditions (not to be confused with "air
conditioning"). I suspect that they are genetically programmed to
respond to the normal differences between day and night temperatures
as well.

I think there's truth to what you're saying. But I think it's
possible to keep a miniature rose as a houseplant indefinitely, for
three basic reasons:
1) Years ago, I successfully kept a miniature rose indoors for 3
years, before planting it outdoors. Granted, it grew more and
produced more blooms outdoors, but it did pretty well indoors, after I
learned how to control fungal infections.
2) I'm basically an optimist
3) I'm an experimenter (which feeds into #2)

But (I hear you say now), that's the same as orchids, right? Well,
sorta. However, orchids are different in that they are almost
succulents and can withstand spider mites for a little longer than the
paper thin leaves of miniature roses. Plus, they seem a little more
suited to the kinds of climates that humans find comfortable (in that
you can actually use lights to create little micro-climates - but
again, circulation is key for them as well).

There are certain places where you might be able to easily grow roses
"indoors". I'm thinking of Southern California or Hawaiian rooms that
might involve walled in porches and the like (you know, those
wonderful homes that don't need air conditioning and you can leave
open year round if yu choose). but for the average apartment dweller,
I think it would be a stuggle to keep an indoor miniature rose happy
for very long. Sure, you can have success for weeks or even months at
a time, I suppose, but really, to be successful, the plant needs to
breath fresh outdoor air instead of canned, recirculating air
conditioned air, even if it's humidified. This is just a guess on my
part.

Perhaps, some research could be done to genetically breed strains of
roses that are tolerant of indoor conditions. Since there are roses
that grow in cooler climates, perhaps they could be developed to like
similar temperatures to indoor conditions.

That could be useful. When I grew that rose indoors for 3 years, it
was in front of a huge, south-facing window. That area got quite cold
in the winter, sometimes even below freezing, and pretty warm in the
summer. Also, sometimes we opened the windows or took it outside, to
give it some direct sunlight and fresh air.

Oh yeah, the conversation around here is very cyclical, just like
gardening is. We are about to get an increased volume of postings as
people get out and putz around with their roses during growing season.
We are now on the cusp of going from virtually no postings to an
explosion of interest in gabbing about the hobby. Still, this is a
fairly mature newsgroup (in terms of age - I know that *I'm* not
particularly mature g). That means that many subjects are old hat
and have been rehashed many times. So, a lot of the conversation in
the coming months will be connected with helping newbies to the hobby
and talking about new varieties. This doesn't mean that we don't like
talking about roses though.

I see what you're saying. I hadn't really been considering that sort
of thing. As for maturity, I think it's often overrated, anyway. ;-)

Well, now I think I'll retire to thoughts of pruning, fertilizing and
wish-list making...

Sounds like fun to me!

Dan