Thursday, May 2, 2013

Climbing Rose Tricks



There is a little trick to growing climbing roses the "right" way. By that I mean like the 'Royal Sunset' rose in the top picture with blooms all up and down the trellis holding it up. In the bottom picture you can see both the yellow 'Graham Thomas' rose and the light pinkish-white 'Sally Holmes' rose growing with their blooms so high you would need a ladder to get a good look at a flower (there is also a passion flower vine trying to choke out poor 'Sally'). Both these pictures are from my SJC backyard and the difference is the way the roses are trained. In order to get blooms from top to bottom, climbing rose canes need to be trained in a horizontal pattern back and forth up the trellis while the stems are still young and pliable. If allowed to grow the way they want to, which is straight up to the sky, your blooms will be sparse and at the very top of the trellis or arch like in the second picture. The 'Royal Sunset' rose is right outside my door and I was diligent in training them (there are actually two roses, one on either side of the window).  The others I was a bit distracted and they grew too fast for me and this is what I'm stuck with. The solution? I'm going to cut back the roses on the arch and start them over with daily inspections and lots of twine!

1 comment:

Angelika said...

Was für zauberhafte Rosen, hier blühen sie noch nicht.
Wundreschöne Fotos.

Liebe Grüße
Angelika