Roses!

Climbing

Pruning!

Roses!

“There is no such thing as a climbing rose. All roses are shrubs which boost themselves through shrubs and trees by means of their hooked prickles”

Graham Stuart Thomas (1980)

Rosa ‘Dr. W Van Fleet’ (1910) (Van Fleet)*

Breeding;( R. wichurana x ‘Safrano’)x ‘Souvenir du President Carnot’

Elegant buds, wavy petals, withstands wet weather 10cms wide.

Strongly scented, long strong stems, good for cutting

A one month season with sporadic flowering later.

Red hips. Polished disease resistant foliage. Vigorous to 5 metres

*Van Fleet ; an eminent American Rosarian. Breeder of Wichurana hybrids

PRUNING: AESTHETIC

Rosa ‘Adelaide D’Orleans’ (Jacques) (1826)

Breeding: Rosa sempervirens x ‘Parsons Pink’

• Vigorous, lax trailing habit

• Famous archway at Montisfont Abbey

• Once flowering but for a month

• Envy of my neighbours

• Sister of Félicité-Perpétue

PRUNING: AS A RAMBLER

Rosa ‘Compassion’ (Harkness) (1972)

“A fine variety”, beautifully shaped, forty petals, apricot pink, outstanding scent, perfuse flowerer, new shoots freely from base. “Best on a pillar against a white wall.”

Vigorous to 3m. But • Will not cover the back of a house • Damaged by rain

PRUNING: AESTHETIC

Rosa ‘Etoile de Hollande’ (Climbing)(Leenders) (1931)

H.T. Sport “Sometimes recommended as the best of climbing roses for clothing a wall”

Hanging flowers of velvety red, richly fragrant, summer flush impressive, steady bloomer from Spring to Autumn, vigorous to 7m But

• Autumn flush unpredictable

PRUNING: AESTHETIC

Rosa ‘Iceberg’ Climbing (Cant) (1968) H.T. Sport

“The best white floribunda ever bred”

Strongly scented, vigorous to 5m, spectacular first flowering, never without 1 or 2 flowers for the rest of the year, glossy foliage

• My Christmas rose

• “One of the finest sports of recent years”

PRUNING: AESTHETIC

Rosa filipes ‘Kiftsgate’ (1954)

“A rambling giant of a rose”

Sheds, old trees, can be treated as an enormous bush, height 10m, an enormous cascade of small fragrant flowers

PRUNING: DOUBLE DECKER BUSES AND BONFIRES (this was Mum's approach to this rose which she grew up the big sycamore at the end of the garden at Auckland Drive - next to where the bonfire was and overhanging Eckington Road! - Ed)

Rosa ‘Mermaid’ (W. Paul)(1918)

“Eye catching blooms” “One of the finest of all climbers”

Single soft, fresh, yellow petals around a brush of golden stamens, West to south facing, brittle, thorny stems, height 10-12m, lightly scented, late season and through to Autumn. Harder than the species, withstands shades But

• Not profuse flowering

• Slow to get going

• Resents root disturbance

PRUNING: AESTHETIC

Rosa ‘Mme Alfred Carriere’ (Joseph Schwartz) (1879)

“She is as vigorous as ever” “It’s ability to clothe a north face of a house has not been matched by many modern varieties”

Large fragrant blooms open regularly, “the noisettes are all American roses”, described as ‘worthless’ when it first came out.

One of the earliest in flower, seldom without flowers, wonderful sweet scent, hardy, few prickles, reaches 7-8m at Sissinghurst Castle

PRUNING: ONLY WHEN IN PATH OF THE LAWN KEEPER

Rosa ‘Mme Gregoire Staechelin’ (syn ‘Spanish Beauty’) (Dot) (1927)

“The most popular of the once flowering H.T. climbers”

Large pendulous, distinctly ruffled flowers, uniquely charming, quick and vigorous,

June season, large orange pink hips

PRUNING: AESTHETIC

Rosa mutabilis (syn ‘Tipo Ideale’)

Spectacular mass plantings at La Landriana nr Rome.

Orange buds open and fade to buff, then pink, then crimson

Young leaves are crimson, later bronze with a few bronze prickles.

Later leaves blueish. To 6m up a wall. Containers and chimney pots.

PRUNING: NONE AS YET

NB Sempervirens flowers on old wood

Rosa ‘Souvenir de Claudius Denoyel’ (Chambord) (1920)

Richly scented crimson velvet petals, slightly pendulous habit, a little later than Etoile De Hollande

But •

Blooms can be sparse

PRUNING: AESTHETIC

Rosa ‘Zephyrine Drouhin’ (Bizot)

“The thornless rose” “No climbing roses are naturally thornless”

Large flowered climber.

Hardy, thornless, strongly scented.

Early flowering cherry-pink flowers.

Height 2-4m, flowers regularly into Autumn

Can suffer from ‘dead legs’

PRUNING: ONLY TO DEAL WITH DEAD LEGS

REFERENCES: 1. Jack Harkness “Roses”

2. Harry Wheatcroft “How to Grow Better Roses” Wardlock Ltd, London 1974

3. Dr D.G. Hessayan “The New Rose Expert” Transworld Publishers Ltd, London 2003.

4. Charles Quest-Ritson. “Climbing Roses of the World”. Timber Press. Cambridge. UK