Question
QUESTION: Dear Lynette,
I live in a hilly area near Florence, in Italy. Iwant to plant 2 or 3 banksiae 'Lutea' roses or banksia banksia roses to cover a south east facing pergola.The pergola is on a roof terrace so I will have to plant the roses in big containers. Do you think the roses will survive and grow to cover the pergola (about 4m by 4m) if they are not planted in the ground?If not are there other climbing roses or other climbers that will grow in these conditions?I'm looking for something that is evergreen.
Thank you very much for your help!

ANSWER: The main reason some climbers don't grow s large in containers is because they don't like warm roots. Plain soil tends to pack down, get hot and the roots are pinched plus water doesn't always get to them.  But if the container is big enough, has some sort of mulch in the soil such as compost,ground bark, leaves etc  then there should be no problems. It would be ideal if the containers could be placed in the shade. However Lady Banks is very tolerable rose and you should have no problems. Use a slow release fertilizer so the salts don't build up like the dry quick acting fertilizers and this will keep the soil sweet. As for the size...there are reports in the southern United States of the Lady growing in old homesteads with no pruning or watering etc up to 50 feet. I would expect around 30 feet. Lady Banks tends to grow like a large haystack and gets into a tangled mess quickly. If you can, try and guide the first main growth canes to where you want it to head by attaching it if possible.

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QUESTION: Thank you so much for your very helpful answer. I'll follow all your suggestions, the only problem is that there is no shade on the terrace, if I somehow shade the container will this help?

meryn

Answer
I garden in Canada where it rains a lot. I forget about gardeners who grow in  sunny climates. Sigh. The alternative to shade would be the soil mixture that has in it particles such as bark that will hold onto the water and keep the soil cooler. So anything that you can gather up as debris around the garden and mix in with the soil would certainly help. As I said , the Lady is a tough old bird and has survived in many areas of neglect where there would be no watering and hot soil, so I really wouldn't worry. Your pergola will be beautiful when they bloom. You probably already know, but this rose blooms on second and third year wood. Which means lots of leaves the first year or two and then loads of flowers.