Question
I live in the Northern California Valley zone 9. I recently received one of these and was told they are hard to grow here. Is this true? Do you have any suggestions to assist is helping it be a successful planting?

Answer
Sterling Silver can be fussy but there are a few tips on what to do to get it started right. The problem with growing Sterling Silver, is that it takes a couple of years before it starts to make a nice size bush. So if you baby it in the beginning, it will reward you.
When you plant the rose, plant it about 6 inches below the soil level. Then if you get a cold spell that the rose doesn't like. it will only dieback to 6 inches. Plant it not in full sun but where it won't get the high noon and afternoon sun. A rose will do quite well in your area with 6 hours of full sunshine. Next place some sort of mulch such as wood chips, compost or any mulch you can get in your area. Roses love cool, damp roots and a mulch gives them that. Don't use commercial fertilizer on the rose for the first two years. Use a liquid fish fertilizer at the rate of 1 tablespoons mixed in with 2 quarts of water every month until the fall cools down.  Finally during your coldest months pile the mulch all around the base of the rose to about 6 inches on top. This will ensure the rose will go through the winter.
By the third spring your rose will take off and you can treat it like any other rose in your garden. Mauve roses are not the most vigorous or the strongest of the rose colours but of all the mauve roses, Sterling Silver is by far the best even though it was basically bred for the florist trade but the demand was so great it was then offered as a garden rose. The flowers are the best shaped and it has a strong Damask fragrance. Because it isn't a vigorous rose, never prune it back hard just no more than about a quarter of the total bush from the top. Sterling Silver also doesn't like to be sprayed so if it gets black spot simply use 1 tablespoon of baking soda to 2 quarts of water. This won't cure the black spot because it is in the air just will keep in in check. Insects will have to be hand picked off. If Japanese beetles arrived, place a thin gauze like material over the bush and tie it around the base canes as these insects don't stay around for long.  But it will only grow to around 2 1/2 feet tall and in the first 2 years will be stingy with it's blooms. Again the secret is getting the rose through the first two years but it is well worth the effort.