Growing Climbing Roses
There are so many different varieties of roses, red roses, yellow roses, white roses; all types used for so many different purposes.
Climbing roses, also known as pillars, ramblers, trailing roses and ever blooming roses (depending on how they grow) are truly stunning wrapped around archways, fences, or climbing water features. Unlike other species of rose, climbing roses don’t have their own support structure to hold onto surfaces and as a result are not considered true vines. Because of this, climbing roses require help from us to apply them to a structure that will support their growth.
Climbing roses have graced trellises, fences, arbors, pillars, walls, sheds as well as many other large and solid structures.
Growth and Structure
Roses trained to grow laterally often produce more blooms than climbing roses which are encouraged to grow vertically. Roses trained to grow upright develop short spurs or canes along their main stem which produce rose blooms.
Just like other rose species, climbing roses need approximately six to seven hours of direct unfiltered sunlight a day to survive. Shade tolerant roses need less light but still need four to five hours of direct sunlight a day, they are not immune to the shade they are just less resistant to it.
When introducing climbing roses to your garden, you will first need to identify the space they will fit into. Climbing roses range from seven feet in height to a massive thirty feet in height, so it’s important to establish the size of climbing rose you can cope with for both the interests of your garden and the rose you are adding. As well as this, you need to address whether the structure you will be adding the climbing rose to can cope with the size of rose you are planning on growing. It’s no good having a thirty foot climbing rose smothering a structure you can barely see.
Other elements to consider
You need to be aware that the climate of the area you live in will affect the size of your climbing roses. Also there are so many different types of climbing roses; you need to research which type(s) will best suit your garden. Ever bloomers are a variety of climbing rose that continues to bloom throughout the growing season, however spring bloomers, like their name suggests, only bloom in the spring.
Differences
Climbing roses don’t need pruning as much as other rose varieties. If they are pruned, they will struggle to bloom and as a result shouldn’t be pruned at all for the first two years. Most rose owners only prune their climbing roses every three to four years, pruning with caution and care, only removing small canes and old or less vigorous canes at the rose’s base. In doing this the full of life canes are encouraged to grow long and flexible which makes it easier to train the climbing rose to grow through and onto various structures.
Patience
The beauty of climbing roses lies in the patience of their owners. Time will pass and they will grow stronger every day, they may not bloom immediately, but when they do they will paint your garden with color and fill the air with fragrance.
