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Please recommend a red rose for the front of our house

a_good_brewa_good_brew Posts: 46
in Garden design
Hi everyone.

I'm looking for recommendations for a red rose to grow on the front of our house.  I'd like it to be a climber (not rambler) and to have good health and to be large, i.e. to reach at least 3 m high and spread 4 m wide.

I've heard that Etoile d'Hollande is very good.

The wall is North West facing.  Our old house had exactly the same front of house aspect and we grew Adelaide d'Orleans on there.  It was beautiful, but being a rambler required a lot of maintenance.

Posts

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited November 2023
    Etoile and Crimson Glory are both similar, large and good. Highly scented, both.  This is a mix of CG and Etoile. They love a lot of water and have bloomed throughout this year as it's been damper. My challenge has to stay on top of training and reining them in. 

    Once established, and if in full sun, I think they will bloom well over a long period, but if covering a house they might be hard to dead head. Without regular dead heading you will get a series of shorter flushes, but still lovely to have. I don't find the scent "wafty" and it's best to stick my nose right in to inhale. They make good cut flowers. Perhaps good to train a few canes at nose level so you don't miss the perfume altogther.





    As your house wall is north-facing I might suggest getting a climber that is happier in partial shade. There are no reds good for shade that I know of.

    Generous Gardener is said to be ok for shade and is strongly scented.


  • RubytooRubytoo Posts: 1,630
    edited November 2023
    Some years ago we had Etoile d'Hollande in the same position, North west, but in a border with a 6 foot fence and a large conifer almost overhead. It did surprisingly well. And pretty similar to what Pansyface has described.

    If it is the colour you are looking for or the lovely bunches you get with a rambler.
    Rambling Rosie is a repeat flowering red rambler, and one or two growers suggest it is okay on a North facing position. As you are North west, it might be worth a try if you are looking for the flower type of a rambler. It is not particularly tall but might be an advantage even on a house wall making it more manageable.

    We grow Perennial blue here on North -west ish it gets evening sun.
    I know you are going to say blue?
    It is not, although supposed to be a lilac / blue colour, it starts off with nice little red blooms and "fades" to almost lilac/blue.
    Can't really describe the colour.
    It is a more modern repeat flowering rambler so has the lovely bunches of flowers.
    It also has a nice scent. And ours has a relatively low thorn count.
    https://www.thefragrantrosecompany.co.uk/perennial-blue-rose

     The link is just because it has some good pictures of it.
    I got it to replace a lovely Veilchenblau. like your last rambler it was just too unmanageable for the space.
    Disliked Perennial blue at first but it grew on me :)

  • a_good_brewa_good_brew Posts: 46
    Thank you for all your comments.   I have a front fence too, and I think I will grow two ramblers together on it - one Adelaide d'Orleans and one Rambling Rosie.  Then I will try an Etoile d'Hollande on the house.


  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    please keep us posted on how it goes. Good luck!
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