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Everyone loves climbing roses and the wonderful pictures we see everywhere make us want to take a chance that they will grow in our climates. In this article, I have put together some "food for thought" before you plant. |
We've all been there & done it. Seen a beautiful picture and couldn't resist it only to find that our dream rose might as well have been just that. It lasted one summer & then gone. Or is holding on starting over again from the roots every spring. That may do if l you were looking for was a small shrub rose but it certainly won't do if you wanted a climber! The rose is "Rambler Dorothy Perkin's White", by the way.) I'm not saying that it is impossible to grow less hardy climbers but it takes a lot of hard work to over winter them so that the canes will survive intact, with little winter kill. And after all that, there's no guarantee that you still will not loose it or have canes dead to the crown. Depending on the severity of the winter and the condition of the rose going into winter, even hardy climbers can suffer a lot of damage. When we read that the rose is hardy to say "zone 5", that does not mean that you will not loose a lot of wood to winter kill it simply means that under normal conditions the rose should not perish!. Keep in mind that you've bought this rose to climb, at least 6' or more, so it is imperative that it be hardy enough to keep it's canes so it can continue to grow higher from them. Another important note to know is if the climber or rambler your buying blooms on current years wood or previous years wood. Most modern day climbers do bloom on this years wood but many old climbers and ramblers do not. Many a gardener has come to me asking why their climber refuses to bloom for them. They've babied it and given it everything it needs and then some but still no blooms! After finding out the variety we discover that it blooms on last years wood . Alas, they've read it somewhere that you prune roses to a foot or so every fall and that's what they've done the rose continually dies back to the crown every winter. So where's the last years wood for the blooms to form on?? Fortunate for some they're problem was the their pruning. Not so fortunate for the poor gardener that has a rose just not hardy enough to cut the mustard. Hardiness, we find in the trade, is very hard for the average gardener to understand. Far too much emphasis is put on climatic zone ratings, holding them as gospel. Although in reality, they're the only thing we have to give us an idea of just how hardy the rose (or plant) is. The fact remains that we are dealing with living things and so many environmental factors come into place. Your neighbour can grow a "Golden Showers" climber while yours dies back to nothing every year. They're just across the street and you ask why? The most common answer is they have a "micro-climate and you don't. You may have cold prevailing winds that suck the moisture out of your canes & theirs may be naturally protected. This is just one example of the many factors that effect plants in regard to winter kill and amount of die-back
damage. That means they have to be hardy for your zone! Any less and you'll get too much die- back to get them to climb.! A harsh reality but true. |
Rambler Dorothy Perkins ( Longobardy's Gardens ) |
| Climbing Roses What to think about before purchasing them. |
