first time with climbing rose -- your advice?

[Ted Shoemaker]

Hello,

My wife came home this afternoon with a "Climbing America" rose. I've never tried roses before this week, and I usually have a gray thumb.

She wants to plant the Climbing America on an east-facing brick wall. Some websites say that we need to drill holes in the brick (if you've never done that, it's not the same as drilling in wood!), install hardware, run wires, etc. Really? That's a lot to do to a building that we don't own!

What happens if we just plant the climber beside the wall, and let it go? Okay, the Rose Police will tsk-tsk about it. What else will happen?

Thank you.

Ted Shoemaker

[Brooklyn1]

If you drill into the landlord's masonary wall you just may find yourself with a huge bill and needing a new place to live... I strongly suggest you don't. Instead buy a wooden trelis you can plant in the ground in front of the masonary wall, it will not only keep you with a roof over your head, it will look nice too.

[David E. Ross]

Climbing roses require support. They are not like ivy or some other vines that can cling to a wall.

I bought a masonry bit and used my ancient electric hand drill (bought in 1965) to drill holes in a concrete block wall. Yes, it was slow work. I inserted plastic anchors into the holes and then screwed in screw-eyes. I tied my climbing roses to the screw eyes.

A neighbor had his climbing roses grow almost to the eaves of his front porch, tying the long canes to the support posts of the porch overhang. Then he hung a dowel or plastic pipe from the eaves and tied the climbers to that.

You can also get a trellis and have the rose grow on that. If you go to and wait patiently through the slide show, you will see arched trellises with red roses (climbing 'Don Juan') in the foreground and white roses (climbing 'Lace Cascade') in the midground.

Note that roses generally need 6 or more hours of sun each day. Yours might not get enough sun on an east-facing wall.

[Billy]

It will eventually grow a stalk, and look much like any other rose. You could help it out with a trellis, store bought, or home made.

[Billy]

Forgot to mention, like the song says,"Roses love sunshine". It would probably be happier with a westerly, or southernly perspective, but you may wish to have Mr. Hare-Scott pronounce judgement on the eco-fringiness, or dogmatism of my observations.

"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments." - Janet Kilburn Phillips

America is not broke. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.

[Nad R]

Since the wife bought the rose, I would find a way to naturally get rid of that terrible insidious horrible plant. First find your neighbors Japanese Beatle trap and empty the container on the roses. Over fertilize the plant by "accident". Train the dog to pee on it every morning for an extra dog treat.

As you can see, I hate roses. Pruning and weeding around those pesky thorns. Need special gloves. The clippings of those thorns do not compost well. They attract Japanese Beatles. Your will need an arsenal of chemicals to keep them looking nice. People are getting away from those horrible plants. Great news that "jackson and perkins" roses company declared bankruptcy and some how still hanging around.

I hope you did not actually promise her a rose garden... Arguments over care will come next. Like me or the dog arguments.

And one more thing... Plant them in the shade next to the down spout gutter :)

[Billy]

[We are experiencing technical problems, the previous response should be back up shortly. In the mean time, don't panic, just run to the nearest exit.]

Nad, I'm not sure that you are clear on what a gardening group does. When a poster asks for help with growing a plant, you're not supposed to tell them how to put out a contract on it. He might decide it easier to keep the rose, and get rid of the wife. Oh, what a wicked web we weave . . .

Bush's 3rd term: Obama and another war

Coming soon to an impoverished country near you,

Bush's 4th term

America is not broke. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.

[Nad R]

He will find out eventually who is correct about this thorny subject :)

[Nad R]

Ok then, try this idea...

You do not need a trellis. It is possible to keep that rose to a manageable size like four to five feet high only each and every year. The plant will grow around two to three feet a year. One can prune the plant down, let's say to only one to two feet high in the fall. Cut the branches just above new side shoots. If shoots are coming out from the root stock, then cut the shoot off from the root stock.

Personally... Peonies are better than roses without the thorns :)

I say eradicate that species called the "Rose" from the earth.... Mugging going on... NOOOOO.... Then muffles... Then silence... :)

[Billy]

We have 2 climbimg roses. One has a large yellow rose that has produced a stalk, and, except for the fact that it throws off long canes, resembles a "normal" rose. The other climbing rose grows like a bramble with small pink roses. These are my wife's projects, and were planted several decades ago. I have no idea how they came to their present states.

"We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses." - Abraham Lincoln

America is not broke. The country is awash in wealth and cash. It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks and the portfolios of the uber-rich.

Thank Reaganomics/Thatcherism, a.k.a. Voodoo economics :O(

[Ted Shoemaker]

Wow! This group provides not only gardening advice, but also plant genocide (Nad R wants to exterminate roses from the planet), political diatribe (Billy posts an evergrowing list of anticapitalist sentiments), and advice about keeping the landlord happy (Brooklyn1 advises me not to poke holes in the exterior wall. Yeah, I'll agree with that!).

Hidden somewhere in there were good replies about growing roses.

What wasn't useful was entertaining; and what wasn't entertaining was useful.

I like this group.

Thank you for all responses.

Ted Shoemaker

P.S. I'm keeping the wife.

[Nad R]

Your Welcome :)

[Brooklyn1]