Your desk lamp will be fine. Try a "systemc" pesticide. You just water it in and forget about it. No more weekly plant baths. You could even leave it outdoors all winter, more than likely. Mini's survive here in zone 5 all winter. Try to propogate it with a cutting. Gives your itchy green thumbs something fun to do during the Winter. Then plant your cutting outside this Spring and leave it. Then you'll find out if it's hardy. If you're in z7 I wouldn't be a bit worried.

Mini's tend to be very hardy. About 25 years ago I gave my mom an orange mini. It was a mail order. I still have not been able to see it blooming, but she pointed it out to me every time I visited. She planted it outside in the spring. No effort was made for winter protection. The last time I saw it in winter, it was a shrub about 4 feet tall. She lived in Utah, near Provo. It gets cold there.

Well, so far so goo...I hope I am not jinxing myself. I have left the rose in the south facing window and found a lightstrip from one of my 10 gallon aquariums that I am not using. I had the spiral mini flourescent bulbs already in it, so I stood it on it's end next to the rose. I leave that on from 6:45am when I get up until usually 8 or 9PM when I think to turn it off and close the blinds. I have kept up with the rinsing once a week for mites (I don't want to use pesticides since my cat may just decide to nibble it)and have left it on the pebble tray with water. I have also been misting it twice a day to keep some extra humidity. It seems happy enough and has not only kept blooming but has put out new growth and new buds. This little things just makes me so happy! Do you think it would be okay to give it some plant food (Miracle-Gro for houseplants?)until I get some new rose food?

Thanks!
-Amy

It may take more than a once a week rinsing for spider mites. Watch out if it seems to be wilting because that's often the first sign those little beasties move in. Also lighter colored dots on the foliage which indicates they're sucking out juice from the under side. Twice a week would probably do them in.

Thanks for the tip--I knew I had it too easy. Those little dry spots started appearing just a few days after your post. I am now rinsing that baby every morning just for good measure. Okay...how many more weeks until spring now...? :)

-Amy

I'm so glad I found this message, because I just got a potted mini by mail as a gift and want to plant it in the spring. I am a newbie (I have two minis I planted last year). This may be a dumb question, but what is a pebble tray, just a tray with pebbles and water in which you place the potted rose? Also, what if it gets rootbound because the pot is too small? What is wrong if the buds turn black (it's a red rose)?

a pebble tray is just what you said..... a deep tray with pebbles and water in it. the pebbles hold the container out of the watert to keep the roots from being water-logged, and as the water evaporates, it provides extra humidity for the plant......

Thanks, lefty317, for the info. I decided to follow some directions from another thread, How to Save a Potted Rose, and immerse the pot in a pail of water every three or four days for a few minutes. So far it seems to be doing real good. I don't know if it is getting the humidity it needs, though, because it is very dry here now in Denver. Maybe doing the tray also wouldn't hurt. What do you think? I also have it under fluorescent lights.