Question
Hi Lynnette,
I am starting to look into planting roses in my garden in Kihei, Maui, HI. Kihei has a very dry and hot climate - almost desert-like, especially during the summer. I am not sure if the roses would be able to handle this kind of climate? Do they need any particular kind of soil? How often should they be watered? Do they need a lot of shade? During what seasons do they bloom? Does the color play any role?
I look forward to your response,
Isa Hansen

Answer
To start with you should know what basic type of soil you have as roses prefer acid soil. If you have clay then that should be made lighter with any type of material which will make the drainage better. If your soil is very alkaline, then it must be made more acid as the roses will suffer fro not be able to take up vital nutrients. A simple and cheap soil testing kit is really all you need or even a phone call to your local Department of Agricultural will inform you exactly what your soil is like and what you can do to adjust it to suit the rose needs. Once you have the soil under control then the next step is where to plant the roses. I know the books say that roses need all day sunshine, but there are different intensities of sunshine. Where you are the sun is very intense so two hours of your sun is equal to say 6 hours of sun in Seattle. So it would be a wisdom to place your roses where they don't get sun from noon to mid afternoon. If you don' have shade then if possible, build a barrier or lattice type barrier to filter the sun all day. Once you have those conditions it will make growing roses much easier.
First dig an extra large hole and then use any type of mulch you can get in your area. make the filling 1/3 mulch, 1/3 compost or leaves, grass etc from the garden and finally 1/3 own soil. Don't add any fertilizer as it will burn your rose roots in the heat. Plant the rose bush with the union lump near or just under the top of the soil, then place a 4 to 6 inch mulch all around the base. Finally dig a trench about 2 feet away from the base  around the rose as this is how you will water the plant. You want the rose to make good roots and watering in the trench encourages the root to go to the water. Water every 5 days using about a bucket of water or if you see the leaves starting to wilt a little and only water in the later afternoon when the sun starts to go down.
When the rose has started to leaf out, use a foliar spray of 1 tablespoon fish fertilizer to 4 quarts of water. Only do this in the early morning so the leaves will dry off before it gets really hot. Using liquid fertilizer in hot gardens helps the rose roots to take up the nutrients as high heat tends to put rose roots under stress and then they can't use any fertilizer. Dry fertilizer always has a chance of burning the rose roots and therefore killing the frail little feeder roots. Then when temperature reach 80 and over switch monthly to half strength any rose fertilizer that is a liquid. After temperatures go over 90 stop all fertilizing altogether as the rose will go under stress and not be able to take up the fertilizer and at this stage it needs mainly water every 5 days filling the trough up to the brim. Roses in your area will have better blooms in spring and fall and may stop blooming if the temperature goes high enough to put them under stress. You just have to ride out the times when the roses are not happy and enjoy them in the spring and fall when they will bloom well and have loads of flowers on them.
The other aspect to growing roses in high heat is how to select the best types. Roses which have thicker petals do better when temperatures are high in mid summer. A lot of petals tend to not open well in high heat,so  those with fewer do better. Also glossy leaves are better for high heat.
Here is a list of a few roses that do well in places that have high heat summer.
Fabulous
Golden Celebration
Julia Child
Marilyn Monroe
Let Freedom Ring
St. Patrick
Veterans Honor