Choosing a climbing rose
geum keenbutgreen
Posts: 508
Okaaaay. I haven't quite got my pergola yet, but we did buy a large ornamental iron arch to stand at the start of the pergola and lead into it. It's a biggie (probably 2.5 metres wide, ten feet tall).
I'd love some advice on a rose I can train around this structure as a real showpiece to the entrance. I'd like:
- light pink / pink & white (soft tones, not bright)
- fast growing
- repeat flowerer if poss
- ideally rosette type blooms
- not too thorny
Does anyone have any ideas? I like Paul's Himalayan Musk but think it might be a bit too heavy for this? I do have a big old pollarded tree nearby that I'm sure would take the weight of PHM though, so would use this one for growing through the tree if I can't use it on the arch.
Rose experts, I'm in your hands!
Posts
...you really don't want PHM unless you have acreage or large trees... it's much recommended but really, these days, I think gardeners want something rather better than a rose that flowers for about 3 weeks and then is a total mess for the other 49... if you can leave it up a tree or over an old stump...fair enough...
...I think you ought to be looking at repeat flowering ramblers or climbers in the David Austin range, like 'Lady of the Lake'... 'Albrighton Rambler'... 'A Shropshire Lad' [near thornless], or 'The Generous Gardener'.... all these fit your height and colour requirements..
...they take a couple of years to get going, one needs a little patience...
Thanks so much, I'll take a look at those!
Don't go for rambling rector unless you have a HUGE space to fill.
There are some lovely ones Marlorena recommended. With an arch, it is better to plant on both sides so they mix/ meet in the middle? Or just on one side? I guess with the former you'll get better more even coverage sooner... And the weight is better distributed?
if planting both sides, i imagine it would look better for the roses to be the same?
keenbutgreen.... I would always plant on both sides...it looks more uniform if you have the same rose at both ends as they will grow at the same pace and you'll get that mass of bloom at the same time... however, I don't always do as I recommend... this is an old photo but as you can see, it can be just as nice, I think, to mix roses up a bit...
..not in the photo but I also had a clematis for later colour.. I hope this gives you an idea that you can mix roses, providing they bloom at more or less the same time...I think colour contrast is important in this case..
Great, thank you!
oh, that is just beautiful......
It really is fabulous, isn't it?!
Here is my installed arch (sorry I'm pimping this all over the place!). Have ordered two 'A Shropshire Lad' roses to plant either side of it. I also have a Phyllis Bide currently residing in a pot which I'm going to let clamber over that big pollarded tree you can see to the left of the tree arch in the first shot. The tree to the right sits behind the seating area, and is has a jasmine on it - it's just starting to come out
Thanks for the advice!
What an idyllic spot
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Thanks Dove! You do get road noise sadly, as it's on the road side of the garden, but thank to the double thickness laurel hedge, at least it's private!