Hi Margaret, I have a big container collection from amassing various types over the years, they are all either resin or heavy duty platic, I have never planted in the black nursery pots because they are not decorative enough, and many are on the thin side, so they don't provide enough insulation. I no longer grow anything in terra cotta, because NM is too hot, and also the pots get monstrously heavy. I have purchased the majority of my pots at Home Depot over the years, they have better pricing than Lowe's, and also Walmart has quite a few each season that are a good size and also tend to go on sale. It gets expensive to add a pot each time there is a new rose, so I'm always looking for a good deal on something that would be a good rose container. I have a range of colors: terra cotta, green, blue, teal, brown, bronze, taupe, and an attractive black series from Home Depot that has a kind of glaze-wash over it (either silver or bronze) . I know that black is supposed to be verboten b/c of supposedly absorbing more heat, but I haven't noticed that my roses perform differently in a black vs lighter shade pot. Also, in the past couple of years I have purchased 20 inch resin whisky barrels from Walmart under the Better Homes and Gardens brand that my roses seem to thrive in. They hold quite a large volume of soil and look nice. They are the priciest pots I have purchased, they retail at $18.99. I wouldn't do the wooden whisky barrels, as they rot out quickly and are too heavy. I drill a LOT of LARGE holes at the bottom of each pot in order to ensure good drainage. I have a large drill bit that I go to town with! In the past, I wasn't using a large enough drill bit, and not doing enough holes. It's crucial to avoid root rot. My container roses are fed (ideally) every 3 weeks during the season, even during hot weather. They keep churning out the blooms and performing, even under tough conditions. I do a lot of maintenance pruning to keep them groomed and on their toes, plus water, water, water! It's obviously more high maintenance than in-ground roses, esspecially those on irrigation. Interestingly, Jack Ortega, president of the Santa Fe NM rose society, gave a lecture on showing roses this year, and mentioned irrigation vs hand watering. He said that all his 230 roses were on irrigation, but that when a couple of zones were out for repair, he had to hand water for about 6 weeks. He noted that the deep hand watering resulted in more vibrant, productive roses vs the irrigation-only roses, that never get the true deep watering. So now he supplements his irrgated roses with deep waterings. Whew, I seem to have gone off on quite a tangent, after a simple question about black pots!! All the Best, Claire aka ParisRoseLady
PS: Margaret, I just noticed that you are from Australia, so all those details about Home Depot, etc are most likely redundant to you over there, however I just left it in b/c some folks in North America might read this and it would be relevant to them...