Hi Judith, She will accept just about any level of pruning you want to give her. I have a friend who grows her over an arbor successfully. I've kept her pruned to less than six feet in a client's front garden for many years, while her Larry Daniels to the side of the house is allowed to grow to eight feet. She'll flower where she wants, and usually most of the year here in SoCal. She can also be espalliered along a fence or wall successfully. She roots quite easily and grows perfectly in these parts own root.

I had three plants of her, but had to cut it back to one due to space. Mine grows against a south facing, white vinyl fence, just to the side and behind an enormous Kona hibiscus. I allow her to grow over the fence and spread as far as she wants to reduce reflected light off that danged fence. It reflects into the bedroom windows, not a good thing!

Just determine what you'd like her to be and do, then encourage her in the direction you want. She'll follow your lead. Great rose! Kim

I've read here on this forum that some people train it as a climber, but I grow mine as a tall free standing shrub. It seems happy to do that, and forms a graceful vase shape. Mine grows up to about 8 feet and I prune it back down to about 5 1/2 to 6 feet. I posted a picture on another thread but I'll repeat it here.

Here it is in full bloom, the large shrub behind the copper obelisk in the center of the picture. At this point (April or May) it is about 6 feet tall, but it will grow taller over the summer
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And here it is newly pruned.

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I understand that if you choose not to prune it, it will get even taller, at least, it will in some climates.

Rosefolly

OMG, I just got this rose from Bierkreek and boy am I glad I did! bart

Rosefolly, your photos are lovely! That is the shape I would like mine to grow into. Presently, it is just 2 long canes. I am wondering, will it grow new basals as it matures? Will epsom salts in spring encourage this? I am delighted to know it roots easily.......think I will try a couple tomorrow - I have a greenhouse.

That's why I sent her to Europe! She and her permutations are GORGEOUS, great roses and someone over there is going to be able to match them to something growing in a garden and give us a better idea WHO she may be. Absolutely! Prune her where you want her and she'll follow your lead. She will produce basals with time and pruning does encourage her. In looser soil, she will "sucker" just a little, not bamboo-like such as Gallicas or some species, but enough so you should be able to dig established ones for more plants (except for budded plants such as those from Bierkreek). If you love her, there are also Larry Daniels, Tina Marie and a lightly striped variant and I made sure to send all of them to Hans at Bierkreek. He also has Old Town Novato, which is probably not "related" but still a very good "found" rose from California. You will find photos of them all on Help Me Find. You can treat all of Grandmother's Hat's variants the same. She's wonderfully accommodating, no matter what color you have. Kim

Thanks!

Alameda, I don't use epsom salts -- not a good idea for my soil -- so I can't say what the results would be. I suspect that your GH will build up more basals over time. It's not one of those roses (like Chevy Chase) that produces a gazillion new canes each year, but it is also not one of those roses that produces a few canes in the beginning and you'd better cherish them because that's pretty much all you're ever going to get. I see several new ones each year and I generally take one or two old ones out each year.

As Kim says, it roots easily. I generally take some cuttings when I prune it each year and just push them in the ground below the plant, just a slight scrape of the cambrium but no rooting hormone. Several of the cuttings usually strike, and I have new plants to give away at my local plant exchange.

Rosefolly

We have grown Grandmother's Hat for 20 years or so. My DH loves it, so we must have a dozen plants, including two Tina Marie's.

In the beginning, we pruned ours like tall Grandifloras. But eventually settled on just leaving them alone. They grow as Folly's grow -- upright and gracefully spreading. In a decade or so, they can get a little nekkid for the lowest foot or two, but not unattractively so.

GramHat CAN blackspot some, but very, very rarely here, and only to a minor degree. If you deadhead her, she will hurry to produce another big flush, and will do so repeatedly through the year.

I have to admit, if I could grow only one rose, it would probably be this one.

Jeri

Reading all of this with great delight - I have a baby GH. We just moved it, as I had been overly optimistic about how many roses I could fit in one area. It was only in its first location about two months. To my astonishment, after we transplanted it it continued to produce new growth without a pause at all. I did prune it a little, and stuck some cuttings right into the dirt, having seen this recommendation from rosefolly before. All I did was put a cloche over the cuttings - I'll let you know what happens to them. Looking forward to seeing what it does in the Spring!

Jackie

She's a tough old lady, Jackie. A real survivor, which is the very best sort of rose, IMHO.

Jeri

Yummy, Rosefolly.

Alameda, I was wondering some of the same things, so thanks for starting this discussion.

Rosefolly, I feel like I've read many of your posts over the years on this forum, but I don't know if I remember seeing a shot of your garden. So pretty! Thanks for posting the photo showing the structure of the bare canes, too, very helpful.

Thanks for all the compliments. I do love my garden. When it is admired, I beam like a proud parent whose child is being praised.

I am thrilled with the glowing reports of GH! I am going to take a few cuttings to see if I can root them and make more. Loved seeing the beautiful photos - so nice to see how mine may turn out. I am going to check out the Larry Daniels and Tina also - if they are as good as GH, I will have to add them!

In my experience, they are identical other than flower color. Like having the various sports of Iceberg or Mary Rose. Same performance, just different colors. The nurseryman who discovered the other two sports had a 30' hedge of them which was spectacular. Kim

Kim, our Larry Daniels, rather badly virused, never grew well, and is gone. Too bad . . .

Our two Tina Marie's are as you describe -- just like GH, but for the bloom color. The one difference -- DH says that Tina is harder for him to start than GH.

Here is Tina Marie in chilly early spring weather -- looking quite pink.
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In hotter weather (as in Sacramento) it's definitely white.

Jeri