Roses are great plants for growing in containers. but they need different care than roses grown in the ground in a few important ways.

• More frequent watering: Potting soils dry out faster than regular garden soil, so you must water roses growing in potting soil more often. In really hot weather, your roses may need water more than once a day. Never let your roses dry out completely. You can check to see whether a container is getting dry a couple of ways:

Stick your finger in the soil. If the top few inches are bone dry, you should water.

Lift or tip the container on its side. If the container is on the dry side, it will be very light.

• More thorough watering: Wetting dry potting soil can be tricky. Sometimes the rootball (the soil held together by the roots) of the rose shrinks a bit and pulls away from the sides of the pot as it dries. So when you water, all the water rushes down the space along the side of the pot without wetting the soil. To overcome this problem, make sure that you fill the top of the pot with water more than once so that the rootball can absorb water and expand. In fact, you should do so anyway to be sure that the rootball is thoroughly wet with each watering.
• More frequent fertilizing: The frequent watering that container-grown roses need leaches nutrients from the soil, so you need to fertilize container roses more often than in-ground roses — at least every two weeks. Liquid or water-soluble fertilizers are easiest to use and get the nutrients right down to the roots. A complete fertilizer, which includes chelated iron and other micronutrients, is best.