Hope someone from CA responds, but for my ignorant (& different climate zone)opinion:

Most once-bloomers are trimmed after bloom by trimming back the laterals that bloomed a bit. To get more blooms along the plant's 'legs' try spiraling the new-growth canes from the base as much as possible. The more near-horizontal you can train them to grow, the more lateral blooming shoots you'll get off of them. When allowed to go straight up only they tend to bloom only at the top, as you noted. If the plants aren't breaking out any new canes from the base you MIGHT want to remove 1-2 of the oldest woody main canes and/or fertilize with alfalfa pellets, which have a reputation for stimulating more basal breaks

You're lucky to have such old roses & they're lucky to have someone who appreciates them.

Good work, Blue girl. :-)

Jeri

Why, thank you, Jeri:)

woollady, in this thread, the last photo of the pretty red rose on a white arbor shows how its canes have been "spiraled", i.e. twisted back & forth instead of letting them grow straight up. And it has wonderful blooms throughout the growth. Check out photos of climbers that are posted & you'll recognize the training pattern.

Here is a link that might be useful: I love my climbers & ramblers thread with photos

There is a good possibility that your red climber is an old Dr. Huey and there's nothing wrong with that. He can put on a spectacular display! If that's what it is (a photo would help ID it) then you can probably prune him pretty low without much worry because he's a VERY vigorous grower! That's why he gets used as a root stock. But, like a lot of climbers, those bare bottom limbs are fairly common and will probably return. A lot of climbers do that because it takes a great deal of energy to send food up to the tips to leaf out and bloom. So to save some energy they stop producing leaves, laterals and blooms at the bottom.

The way you train it makes a difference too. By sending it up that arbor you've created a long vertical stretch that doesn't produce lateral growth so it doesn't bloom. The wider, more horizontal, you can spread the limbs the more laterals, so the more blooms, you will get. That's the point of trellises, to spread the canes out sideways to create those laterals. It's also what "pegging" does. By bending the canes around in a circular manner you create horizontal areas that will produce lateral limbs and blooms. That's what's happening on your arbor. The long straight stretch up to the top doesn't produce the limbs for blooms but when it gets up to the top it lies horizontally across the arbor and grows side canes that bloom. My best suggestion would be to leave it alone and plant something shorter at the bottom to cover the bare legs.

If your rose is Dr. Huey (see link), you can cut it all the way to the ground after the spring blooming period (NOT fall through spring) every year if you wish. This is a good idea if there are problems with foliar disease. If given adequate water and fertilizer, it will regrow long canes over the summer, allowing you to correct any pruning and training errors form the past. However, if you are not able to irrigate during the dry California summer, it may not be a good idea.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dr Huey

Prune it ONLY in the one or two months just after it has bloomed.

Here is a good you tube video from Paul Zimmerman on pruning & training climbers:

Here is a link that might be useful: ZIMMERMAN VIDEO

thank you all who answered my question.very detailed and easily understood.i think its going to be easier to get it to grow properly.and yes,it does look just like the dr.huey rose.you are all great!