Choosing vigorous climbing / rambling roses
I've got two spots I'd quite like to use for climbing roses.
One is up a 6 foot arch and can be planted into the ground, the other is a trellis against a wall that unfortunately has to be pot grown due to the patio layout. Ideally I'd like vigorous growth and repeat flowering for both, I'm not too fussed about colours.
I've chosen New Dawn for the arch and would appreciate any thoughts on whether this is a good choice for my needs and also any thoughts on a reliable supplier to get this from? Happy to spend a bit of dough on this one as it'll be an important focal point.
As for the pot / trellis combo, I was thinking either Perpetually Yours or Ena Harkness - in all honesty purely because there's a store nearby selling the bare roots for £5 (!) and Google tells me these should be quite vigorous. The grower is Chessums, I have no experience with them, so any advice welcome 
Quite enjoying spending this wet, grey day garden planning!
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This is what Harkness rose growers have to say about Ena:
https://www.roses.co.uk/ena-harkness-bare-root
I remember her from my childhood as a bush , not a climber, and can confirm the hanging heads and the scent. You might want something with more vigour.
We also had New Dawn which is a lovely rose and will grow even with some shade. It is very pretty and has a delicate rose scent. Make sure your arch is robust. Ours outlived its arch and I think was supporting it rather than the other way round
My current favourite climber is called Gardener's Glory. Is is clear yellow, very floriferous (still has a bud now!) and resistant to black spot.
I have had good service from Ashridge Nurseries and they have a good range of roses. You are still in time to get bare root ones which are much cheaper than pot grown.
Good hunting
New Dawn rose is a wonderful rose, but I fear it may be too big for your arch. If you do go for it, you need to bear in mind, you will need to prune back quite a bit every year. During the growing season, you may also need to snip the tips often when it starts to matures. Take a look at A shropshire lad by David Austin, the blooms a bit bigger but a better option for your arch size.
Container grown roses are just about tolerated in my books, but a climber, I have to say it will not work. Other forum members may have different opinions.
Finally, don't be tempted by offers, buy what you have researched. Don't be tempted by un-named roses from some supermarkets. You have no idea what you are really buying. The price for a £20 plus rose nowadays is not at all expensive. In fact, I often think too cheap. A well grown rose will last over 20 years. Divide that back by 20 years or even days and then think back how you could have wasted money on so many other things throughout those years.
Vigorous roses means they are going to need roots to support their fast growing nature, so not really ideal for containers. You are better going for a patio or ground cover type rose for the patio area.
Last edited: 27 January 2018 16:25:45
I have a golden showers on our shed, it started life in a large concrete tub by our bungalow, it flowers for absolutely months, has not long stopped. Rambling rector, zepherine druine. (maybe not spelt correctly!) I bought some bare root roses in Lidl, about 4 years ago, £1.99 for 5, I have 2 by a fence near me here and the other along a fence at the botom of our veg plot, all doing fine.We had a new dawn years ago over a large arch which did really well, I have one here, which isnt doing anywhere near as well.Cannot smell anything from this one, the last one had a gorgeous scent.Agree with Borderline though, maybe a small patio rose in a container.
Thank you for the advice, I'll have to think about something else for the trellis / pot combo!
I should mention that the arch has one side up against a new shed, so if I did try New Dawn, could I safely let it grow over the shed, or would that be likely to damage the structure? If so, I do love the look of A Shropshire Lad and it sounds like it ticks all the boxes.
I also like Golden Showers, came across it in my research too
. There's actually a fence panel I would like to train something over, would this be happy clinging to a fence?
Was considering using Ashridge Nurseries, so pleased to see you very had positive experiences, very reassuring!
I used Ashbridge Nurseries for lavender last year and they came beautifully packaged and protected and were superb plants.
New Dawn would go over your shed roof too. I'd actually still suggest something slightly more modest in size though, as your arch may not hold the weight of it when fully grown. I would recommend the interesting newer mixed ramblers/climbers--'Open Arms' is a particular favourite and very beautiful; 'Little Rambler' is also good. Another that would be good in your circumstances is 'Francis E. Lester'. I get a lot of roses from Peter Beales and find them very good. 'The Generous Gardener', another Austin rose, is very healthy with the most wonderful scent. For oranges try 'Buff Beauty' or 'Ghislaine de Feligonde'. Austin does some very nice yellows such as 'Malvern Hills'.
As for your pot and trellis combination, try to get as large a pot as you can, because a healthy rose always requires a really well developed root system. And then, many roses that are sold as shrubs or even ground cover will perfectly happily climb a modest trellis. If it's sunny, a wonderful old rose that repeat flowers a lot and smells amazing is 'Blush Noisette'. A really interesting one which changes colours beautifully is 'Mutabilis'. You might also try something like the old Hybrid Musk roses 'Moonlight' or Cornelia. Here is a link to some of the Peter Beales climbers, though these are all a bit large for your pot.
https://www.classicroses.co.uk/roses/climbing-roses.html?p=1&pbr_height_range=573
Cambridgerose thank you so much! What a wealth of knowledge and a very helpful link
lots to consider. One last question - I quite like the look of Gertrude Jekyll, but is it particularly vigorous? I'd quite like to get a good amount of growth this year as I've spent a few years waiting for my other arch to reward me with it's slow to get going Jasmine!
Gertude Jekyll, does smell lovelly, there is one inbetween us and next door on a trellis, but its not a repeat flowerer, which you said you wanted. I know a lot of folk on here hate rambling rector, but he needs to be kept in check, hes over an arch, but its a big very sturdy arm, made of half logs. The roses wont hurt your arch or shed, our get a light prune early then a serious prune in spring, plent of well rotten manure. The golden showers doesnt show any signs of rust or any other pests it just keeps on going.
I have Gertrude not grown as a climber, scent is spectacular, it grows in s west /north facing corner& flowers well, it's about 8 feet tall my new sawn isn't that vigorous, scent is quite light, the other climber I have that isn't very big is times past , ive only had it one summer& it's seeming very slow to get going , but it has a fair amount of shade, the firm& scent are lovely, i use either David audtin of a brilliant local rose nursery
Sorry for all the typos using phone