Training Climbing Roses
What is the name of the very fragrant sweet smelling pale pink garden roses?
My parent’s garden was filled with these roses when I was a little girl and I want to plant the same ones to remember them…
The roses were trained climbing around the trellis. The flowers were pale pink and very fragrant and about the size of satsumas.
I also want to know if I can plant it in a large container to train around my front door on a trellis as its all concreted over on my balcony flat…
Please can someone help me?
2nd question first; yes you can grow the rose in a large container; if you are far enough that the container could freeze you will need to wrap it in something or do something to prevent it from freezing. in the ground freezing the root would not be that big a deal in a container it could make a difference.
as to the pink rose; it sounds like it is an heirloom rose, an old variety that is a bit harder to find. there are growers that specialize in Heirloom Roses google heirloom roses, read the descriptions and ask about the rose you describe, they will want the date your mother had the rose a 5 year span should be good.
Training Climbing Roses
Climbing Roses – How to Successfully Choose and Care for your Climbing Rose
Climbing roses add instant, old-school romance to your garden. They look equally at home in a traditional homestead, or can add softness to a more contemporary building. Simply put, roses take us back to a easier time of warm summers, home-grown vegetables and baking in the oven.
Climbing roses are also known as rambling or trailing roses. They cannot self-support so must be grown against some form of supportive structure, such as a garden arch, veranda or fence. Nowadays trellising can also be used as a support for roses, allowing you to grow your climbers anywhere you wish around your garden.
When planning your garden, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. Do you want your roses to climb vertically, for example across a porch, or horizontally along a fence, water tank etc. If you’re looking for height, then make sure you choose a rose that says ‘climbing’. Rambling roses, on the other hand, are great for spreading horizontally but don’t tend to climb up as well.
If you are growing your roses horizontally then they will tend to flower more, whereas those roses trained vertically rely on short, flowering spurs which grow off the main stem. Again, read the label to ensure you are buying a rose that suits your needs, or you are in for a frustrating couple of years while you curse your un-flowering rose.
As with other roses, climbing roses need between 6 to 7 hours of direct sunlight each day. If you plant your roses in the shade then they will simply fail to grow at anything other than a snail’s pace, and you will be playing in the garden with your great grandchildren before you achieve the coverage you want. If the area you have is in the shade, I strongly recommend you look for another climbing plant.
Unlike other rose types, you don’t need to prune your climbing roses, other than for shape or to remove dead wood. You actually want to encourage those long, green flexible canes that grow out from your plant. (Not cut them off, as I did in the beginning!) They will bear flowers in subsequent years and are easy and flexible to train.
If you do consider pruning, then focus on the extra or less vigorous canes that grow from the base of the plant. This is not where you want your plant focusing its energy.
If you’re like me, the most difficult thing about climbing roses is that they require patience. I usually have the final image in my mind when I buy my roses, and I just want to have my porch dripping with blooms straight away. However if you do employ a bit of patience for a year or two (frustrating, I know) then eventually you’ll be rewarded with a vigorous, fragrant, array of blooms.
About the Author
Fi McMurray is a garden enthusiast and author who has been gardening organically for 10 years. She has been involved with 2 award-winning gardens at the prestigious Ellerslie International Flower Show in Auckland, New Zealand.
Her latest book is “An Introduction to Successful Organic Gardening”, which joins her previous books “Successful Rose Gardening” and “Secrets to a Thriving Herb Garden”. You can find out more about Fi’s books at her website, www.fimcmurray.com
Fi lives north of Auckland, New Zealand, with her husband and two small children.
Super Dorothy roses??
How much light do they need? Can I train one to climb an east facing wall in Zone 9?
the name Dorothy is just the name the person who hybrid the color and type gave it. Dorothy is not a climber , but can be trained to a trellis . they like bone meal.They do like an eastern exposure. Sun in the morning and would prefer to be watered before 10am. prune to five leaves in fall.
Training Climbing and Rambling Roses onto Rebar