Birthday Wish
Jay wt
Posts: 3
I have a somewhat narrow courtyard-type of garden designed with cobbled square shapes mingled with ordinary paving slabs. The space is broken by three old urns containing large privet balls, plus lavender, herbs and olive trees in strategic places. It's a pleasing but a basic, simple space which I really like.
I have done seemingly endless hours research to find a climbing rose that will be as much disease-free as possible and grow in a location which is light but which doesn't get any direct sun at any time of day and grows up to a maximum height of 2-3 metres. I prefer the large variety of bloom rather than having many small delicate looking ones.
Quite a few alternatives are available but they are all far too wide and bushy - protruding too much into scarce space. THE CRUNCH IS ..... finding a narrow growing type with all the characteristics above.
I will be turning 65 soon and have set a birthday wish for my climbing rose being planted by the end of April this year. IS THERE ONE? Please help.
Posts
..I can give you two, a yellow and a pink...
'Golden Showers'.... this is upright and not too many thorns... It flowers continuously.
'Mortimer Sackler'. likewise, and pretty in pink...
..it's best, if you can, to give a rose some support, even if only a pressure treated wooden pole concreted into the ground, so you can tie the rose to it... or an obelisk... otherwise you can prune off any wayward growing shoots that venture outwards too much... and train it that way.... however, with Golden Showers especially, I've grown it freestanding and it doesn't spread much beyond 5 foot by 8 or 10 foot tall.... it's a bit slow to start though.
'Mortimer Sackler' is quicker and mine is very upright although has an obelisk to help it....
best wishes,...
Galway Bay is a gorgeous one that doesn't mind a bit of shade http://www.classicroses.co.uk/products/roses/galway-bay/ There are lots of others on that site that would be suitable too - put your requirements into the search facility on the left hand side - you'll be best with a Modern Climber type rather than a rambler.
If you've got limited space it's important to train and tie in your climbing rose properly, otherwise you'll just get blooms at the top and to prevent it getting too bushy and wide. This video demonstrates it very well http://paulzimmermanroses.com/gardening/training-roses/training-climbing-roses-on-a-trellis/
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thank you so much for your advice. I shall certainly explore it thoroughly.
Kind regards
I have just watched the Paul Zimmerman video link suggested - extremely useful and very well presented and it's prepared this novice well. Thank you.