Train to Tame – How to Keep Your Climbing Rose Under Control
Few sights are as spectacular as a climbing rose in full bloom covering the side of a house like a grand work of art, or merrily rambling along a picket fence in a cloud of color and fragrance. Since climbing roses can take several years to reach maturity, and since they are often key elements in the overall scheme of the garden, it’s important to start out with the best rose to succeed in your garden, before you invest all the time and space. There are five main parameters to consider when choosing a climbing rose: size, shade tolerance, disease resistance, rebloom, and aesthetics (color, fragrance, etc.). Of course, it should be so beautiful it makes your heart sing every time you look at it!
The first step is to determine how much room the rose will have to climb or ramble. Do you want a monster vine that will climb 30 feet, up onto the roof? Or do you need a delicate, well-mannered rose to cover a six-foot arbor over the garden gate? Many people make the mistake of choosing a rose they happen to like even though it wants to grow 25 feet or more, thinking they can keep it cut back to fit a five-foot trellis. This simply will not work. The constant pruning needed to keep it under control will butcher the plant, prevent it from blooming, and exhaust the gardener. If you’re looking for an eight-foot climber, but you love Climbing Cecile Brunner (which has been known to rip the front porches off houses with it’s large mass), you’d be better substituting a smaller but similar rose, like Blush Noisette or the Hybrid Musk Bubble Bath.
Once you’ve determined the ideal size for your rose, the next thing to consider is the amount of sunlight that will reach the site. Although most roses need full sun and heat to bloom and stay healthy, there are a few climbers that will thrive in partial shade. In general, though there are exceptions, the white, and light pink, and light yellow roses can tolerate more shade, while the reds, oranges, and stronger colors need more sun. Most of the Hybrid Musk Roses (which can be trained as small 6′-10′ climbers), including Buff Beauty, Lavender Lassie, Kathleen, and Cornelia, will tolerate up to a half day of shade. The wrong rose will stubbornly refuse to bloom if there’s not enough sun. If the spot is too dark, a rose may not be your best choice.
Even if you like to spray your roses, it can be very difficult to reach all the leaves on a climber that’s tall and massive, so starting out with a healthy variety can save you a great deal of trouble. It’s also important to choose disease resistant varieties if you’re planning to grow the rose along a wall (which greatly reduces air circulation), or if you’re planning to grow it in partial shade. Roses on a chain link fence or on top of a pergola in full sun will have fewer fungal problems than roses on a north wall, which will need to be chosen with great care. There are several varieties, particularly the Noisettes like Madame Alfred Carrière, which acquire disease resistance with age: a few years patience will pay off.
Many climbing roses, particularly the old Ramblers, bloom only once in the spring, while others will continue to bloom spring through fall. If this rose is going to be the star attraction in a small garden, you probably want to choose one that will perform for more than a month or two. But if you have room, many of the once-bloomers are so beautiful they’re worth growing for their annual spring show. For the most part, the exceptionally large (over 20′) climbers like Belle of Portugal, Kiftsgate, Lady Banks, and Félicité et Perpétue put more of their energy into vertical growth and less into flowers, so they are once-blooming. There are a few exceptions that are large but repeat flowering, such as the gorgeous, healthy, white Sombreuil, which can climb 25′ or more. Many climbing roses will repeat with much greater frequency if given adequate water, fertilizer and sunlight.
Color is a matter of individual taste. Most garden centers can give you list of over 70 varieties of climbing roses sorted by color, which will also indicates, for each type: fragrance, shade tolerance, rebloom, and size. This can help you quickly narrow your search to a manageable number of possibilities. At this point, the most important consideration is choosing a rose that you’ll love and enjoy for many years to come.
To keep your climbing roses under control after planting a climbing rose, leave it un-pruned for 2 or 3 years. It takes a while for the plants to become established. During this period, do general grooming and remove all dead, diseased or injured wood and the spent flowers. Tie new canes into position on a trellis or support. In a few years, the plant will consist of only long canes and from these branches; you will get the laterals that produce flowers. Varieties differ in how they produce canes; some throw out new canes each year from the base of the plant while others build up a more woody structure and produce new canes from higher on the plant. Your objective should be to encourage new growth of the flowering laterals and to stimulate production of new canes.
For annual dormant pruning, remove only the old and unproductive wood. Then, cut back to two or three buds and all of the laterals that bore flowers during the preceding season. Canes that grow in the wrong direction should be trained, and removed only if they are uncooperative.