Climbing Roses Help

[blonde elf]

First of all, I know nothing about roses.... but I have a new arbor with a porch swing and I'd like to have a climbing rose on it. Do all climbing roses need to be cut back every spring? I remember my mom had a yellow climbing rose when I was a kid and she cut it down to the ground every spring - and it was quite a job getting it untangled from the trellis!

I'm looking for a fragrant climbing rose that doesn't need lots of pruning -- or to be cut down every spring. Color doesn't matter too much.

Can anyone suggest a few roses that meet this criteria?

Thank you!

(*~*)

[JaneG]

Funny you should post this. I was just on the web doing research on caring for climbing roses because I saw a beautiful one at a nursery and wanted to find out how hard climbing roses are to raise. (I don't have roses.)

From what I could tell, you can easily train the long canes by tying them to a support. None of the information I saw said anything about cutting them back entirely. Most of them said to just cut out the oldest canes as needed.

One thing that all the sites mentioned was that the long canes need to be trained to grow horizontally or coiled around their supports, because the blooms grow on vertical branches. If the canes are left to grow straight up you may only get blooms on the tops. If you angle them kind of sideways then they will get side branches all along them growing up with blooms on them. (Sorry if this sounds confusing, I didn't describe it very well.)

Now let's see if any of the rose experts come on here and have "real" advice for you!

[blonde elf]

Thanks, Jane! I've done only a little online research and never saw anything about the blooms growing only on vertical canes. Very interesting information.

I bought an Iceberg climbing rose - several websites mentioned how hardy it was - and that it was fragrant and a continuous bloomer. Just what I wanted! The best part was they had Iceberg climbers at Home Depot for only $4, so I saw that as a "sign" that I should buy one!

I planted the Iceberg, which is pure white, with a purple jackmanii clematis so they can intertwine with each other - which may be a mess come pruning time!

Laura (*~*)

[JaneG]

That sounds very pretty!! Good luck!

[DryGulch]

I took the longest, youngest cane on my John Cabot and pinned it into an upside down "U" shape. Instead of blooms at the top, I got a new vertical leader at every leaf joint, about 10, each was blessed with 8-10 buds in clusters. Very nice. I did the pinning in early April, cut out the old wood.

John Cabot is fragrant, needs no dead-heading and I never do anything special for winer care. It loes water and is a big feeder and reblooms. What's not to love there?

William Baffin is another.

[wishiwere]

And the fact that you are in our zones gives it even more credence! So how long have you had it? Sounds great!