I can add to this that in France, where many of these roses originated, they will put a support over the plant and then take all the long shoots and wind them in a spiral, nearly horizontal, around and to the top. The individual shoots are allowed to cross over each other in a diamond pattern. You then get a tower of blossoms. They do this even for shrubs like Ispahan which have a gangly habit. I've seen this at Roseraie de l'Haye-des-Roses near Paris, but at Sissinghurst I noticed that they prune all their ORs quite a bit, leaving about 3' only of new cane and training that through a rose support.
wow am going to try winding long shoots on a few roses over supports, that sounds incredible, richard that is beautiful, what and when do you feed and prune?
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I can add to this that in France, where many of these roses originated, they will put a support over the plant and then take all the long shoots and wind them in a spiral, nearly horizontal, around and to the top. The individual shoots are allowed to cross over each other in a diamond pattern. You then get a tower of blossoms. They do this even for shrubs like Ispahan which have a gangly habit. I've seen this at Roseraie de l'Haye-des-Roses near Paris, but at Sissinghurst I noticed that they prune all their ORs quite a bit, leaving about 3' only of new cane and training that through a rose support.
wow am going to try winding long shoots on a few roses over supports, that sounds incredible, richard that is beautiful, what and when do you feed and prune?