I don't have it but a friend from my rose society does and they grow it as a tall shrub and not a climber. It has very upright canes that stand on their own quite well. Of course we do get winter die back here that probably keeps it shorter anyway. But I would think that by dead heading yours deeply each time instead of just taking off the spent blooms you could probably keep it in bounds.

I grow Westerland here, where it would be happy to be either an upright shrub or a climber--the canes will stand up on their own but if I let them get very long they head off into a nearby willow tree and use that as support. I would think that you could keep it as a shrub by summer pruning or doing as Seil suggests and taking off excess growth when you dead-head. Then you can shorten any canes that are causing problems to the point where they are manageable.

My Westerland is quite vigorous and hardy. I just finished pruning it for the winter although I will give it the final pruning in April.

I think you can prune this rose any way you choose. You can make it a shrub or train it to climb.

If you want it to climb, you need to work on it when the canes are supple. Mature Westerland canes are very difficult to bend. The best effect is achieved when you can train the canes to grow horizontally.

You might want to try cutting some of the canes back hard to generate new growth that you can train in early summer.

I had three Westerlands, and they got out of hand as climbers. The canes became too rigid, and not at all flexible.

I moved them all together and lined them up in a bed. At first I thought the structure of all of them together was beautiful and dramatic. Then it got way out of hand, and I didn't have a clue what was going on within the rose. In my climate the three together became a monster that I really had to struggle with. I got rid of the whole thing, and chose some real climbers as well as some true roses that wanted to remain in one place.

I seem to recall that the Westerland thorns were not too nice. It was such a beautiful thing to see, and I cut it way back in the spring. They wanted to be big.

Sammy

Sammy, I can't even imagine the monster created by putting 3 Westerlands together!!!

And the thorns! One year, after pruning, I was trying to tie up one of those rigid thorny canes on the trellis attached to the fence. It slipped out of the tie and whipped around, scraping my face. Actually, it happened twice. I was afraid to look in the mirror... I expected to look like I'd been mauled by the claws of a bear. I had a few scratches above my eye and a really big bruise on my brow ---- from a rose! :)

Thank you all for your input. I've made my decision: I will keep it as a climber for another year but thin it out and remove the forward-growing canes so I can more easily reach the top-most canes when they need pruning. I'll give it all the coddling it wants this year, and see how it does. It needs more attention than I gave it last year, so I should give it a chance. Those blooms... that color, the scent! It's worth keeping for at least another year. :)