For those of you with porches, balconies and fire escapes, remember that roses grow well in containers, too. The next factor in successful rose culture is choosing the proper placement for your rose bush. Roses should receive at least six full hours of sun each day. The soil should be slightly acidic, but the most important factor is that the soil is well drained. In preparing your planting site, it is possible to improve drainage by terracing a slope, creating a raised bed or simply adding a soil amendment such as vermiculite.
Roses also prefer a loamy soil.
They love compost, peat moss or manure plus one part builder's sand. Dig a hole five to six inches wider and as deep as the container in which the rose is growing. Remove the plant from the container without disturbing the root ball, reposition it in the hole, and backfill. Water the plant thoroughly, wait for the soil to settle, fill the hole with additional soil, and water again. Make any final adjustments to the plant's position while the soil is still wet and soupy.