Climbing Roses
Climbing roses, as well as rambling and scrambling roses are among the easiest of garden plants to grow and there are many varieties. Charles Quest-Ritson's book Climbing Roses of the World describes no less than 1,600. Although climbers have been around for centuries, it is only over the last 100 years that they have been used as useful landscape plants. It is only when Garden designers Gertrude Jekyll and Edward Morley started to use climbing roses in their work in the early 1900s that they became fashionable.
There are several basic differences between climbers, ramblers and scramblers. Climbers are fairly stiff and unyielding in their growth habits. Some, especially the modern cultivators are repeat flowering and flower throughout the summer. Ramblers are more pliable and the majority flower just once each summer, usually in June or July. Scramblers are more vigorous than ramblers and like to clamber through the branches of large trees and cascade down.
One of the most famous climbing roses is Rosa Gloire de Dijon which was first grown in 1853. It belonged to a group of roses know as the Teas. It has a mass of buff apricot petals, a big blousy appearance and a wonderful scent. A group of roses closely related to the Teas are the Noisettes and one the best known of these is Madame Alfred Carriere which first appeared in 1879. It has a delicate texture of soft creamy-white petals but it is an extremely robust rose which will tolerate most situations.
Mermaid, bred from species Rosa bracteata by William Paul in 1918 is an unusual climbing rose. It has large, single, soft yellow flowers, with very pronounced honey-coloured stamens. Mermaid has many hooked thorns, well concealed by an abundance of bright green, glossy foliage. Mermaid is best grown against a wall and is one of the few climbing roses that will tolerate a north wall.
It is worth bearing in mind that some traditional shrub roses can be adapted as climbing roses. The continuous flowering, fragrant yellow rose Graham Thomas can gro up to 3.2 metres with support, as can Complicata, a beautiful soft pink single Gallica which is normally grown as a shrub. The old Bourbon Zephirine Drouhin, first gronw in 1868 is thornless and therefore ideal if your garden is used by children.
|