Just bought some David Austin roses. I want them going over the front door.
As I dont have border space is it OK for them to be put into a half barrel?
I ask because I am wondering about the frost. I am in Lancashire.

Thanks Sam

Yes - but you will need to provide them with good rich manure and lots of feeding. Roses like to have depth in a container.

Frost is not a problem unless we have a really cold winter [like those 40 years ago] when you must protect the roots by wrapping up the pot. Since roses are pruned after the frosts, I would not worry too much about the bit above ground.

"Samantha Booth" wrote in message
...
Just bought some David Austin roses. I want them going over the front
door. As I dont have border space is it OK for them to be put into a half
barrel? I ask because I am wondering about the frost. I am in Lancashire.

They will experience the same frost as they would if they were planted in
the soil, but you will need to feed them and keep them well watered.
I have several roses I got from my friend in Germany - she told to keep them
in buckets or they would go crazy, so I did. One of them is now 12 feet
high, and I kept tying the shoots on to the mesh fence behind it. It's
covered in blooms at the moment, more than fifty.
She told me not to feed them, but how can you not give them a little blood
fish and bone, eh?

She "rescued" these old roses by taking cuttings in the no-man's land that
was opened up when the Berlin Wall went down. A couple of pimpernifolia
(sp?) and some others are now residing here.