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Putting a container in a flower bed

B3B3 Posts: 25,301
in Plants
I'm going to move a large terracotta container with a large, mature tess of the d's rose in it (container and all) onto an empty space in a flower bed but I'm dithering over whether or not to put a plate or something under it.
The plate would stop the roots going into the soil and hold onto the water but maybe contact with the soil would allow it to soak up moisture or maybe it would leach it out. And then there's the possible ant nest issue
As you see, I'm all of a dither
Any advice would be welcome.

In London. Keen but lazy.

Posts

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 13,760
    I'm afraid my only thought,is why not plant it out? Probably not much help.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • Joyce21Joyce21 Posts: 15,489
    B3, in one of my beds I have a pot with a ground cover rose in it.  I have sat the pot on top of a broken slab as I don't want the roots to go down through the pot and into the soil. 
    SW Scotland
  • B3B3 Posts: 25,301
    It's awful fussy about too much sun so I want to see how it goes. It's happy in very light shade but it's getting in the way.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,391
    Bad idea to put pots straight on bare soil as the drainage hole(s) will soon get blocked by the roots or just sticky soil, as I think you already suspect.  Can you put 2-3 bricks or similar under it? 
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • B3B3 Posts: 25,301
    Fate has lent a hand, Bob and provided a compromise.
    We put it on an old dinner plate which promptly smashed so drainage won't be a problem and we can move her if she sulks.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,189
    I moved a Tess of the D's rose from a west facing trellis position to a pot so we could remove the trellis to let a mini digger thru.   The pot was placed up against the south facing house wall and she thrived and grew much better than before so we left her in her pot for over a year.   

    We put the trellis panel back afterwards but Tess was eventually re-planted in the back garden against a south facing trellis and with a shelter belt behind to stop cold winter winds and she did very well.  Lovely rose.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • B3B3 Posts: 25,301
    edited June 2018
    Yes. She was a couple of years in the wrong place and looking sickly and diseased. I'd lost patience.  I cut her back to sticks and moved her . She was on the way out when I got round to it!
    Literally,within six weeks she was produceng healthy leaves and flowers. 
    Another thing I'd done wrong was to allow things like geranium s and toadflax  to self seed in the container. 
    In London. Keen but lazy.
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