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Climbing rose advice

dregae (IN, zone 6b)

14 years ago

I am trying to decide what climbing roses would be best for my area. I live on the ohio river in Jeffersonville Indiana. I have only lived here 2 and a half years, but the winters seem fairly mild, and summers are humid and we get lots of rain.

I am unsure what species would do best here. I prefer very vigourous climbers in pinks and whites. Any help and or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Dregae

PS. Where are the best place to purchase climbers??

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Comments (10)

york_rose
14 years ago
Well, since pinks & whites are the most common rose colors you'll have more choices than you can think about. :)
kentstar
14 years ago
How vigorous are you talking about? You could go with John Cabot or William Baffin for the pinks. Those are very hardy for your winters too.
Do you want them to bloom repeatedly, because many are one time bloomers that will bloom in spring.
I believe that karl_bapst_rosenut lives in Indiana. He may have better ideas about your climbers. He is very knowledgeable about roses.
I'm not sure about the white climbers. Alba Maxima may be good but I think it's a spring bloomer only. Maybe you could try climbing iceberg.
There are several great places to purchase climbing roses. Rogue Valley roses, Pickering nurseries, Heirloom roses, for starters.
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I'm sorry, but none of these make really good climbers for a true zone 4, unless you have a special sheltered yard . Even zone 5-ers can't imagine the difference in cane hardiness stepping down just that one more zone number. Ramblin' Red - wonderful red reblooming rose: not cane hardy in zone 4...and unfortunately neither are the other new roses by Bill Radler according to all reports. Dortmund - (the Kordes rose that Mikeber suggests) very pretty single flower with leaves that are shiny like holly: not cane hardy in zone 4. Prairie Princess...not a climber in zone 4, just a small shrub (because its canes are not winter hardy.) Awakening - beautiful rose, just not cane hardy in zone 4. Really, I've wasted years trying these 'almost' hardy climbers. If you plan on making a privacy screen out of that chain link fence, you need the hardiest roses you can find. That is the Canadian bred roses, no doubt about it. William Baffin, William Booth, John Davis, John Cabot, Henry Kelsey, Capt. Samuel Holland, Quadra, Alexander Mackenzie and the like - you can't go wrong with any of these. The suggestion of a large shrub is a good one as well opening the way for many, many cane hardy roses to choose from: rugosas, albas, gallicas, and large roses in the "shrub" class like Applejack, Marie Victorin, Wanderin' Wind to name a few. The best advice I can give you (unless you want to start your roses over and over each spring) is to be sure to look for roses that are **cane** hardy to zone 4 or lower, not just 'crown' hardy (which means that they will survive but have to re-grow.)
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Cori Ann , My husband got the wires half done last evening, but underestimated the amount of hardware he needed and has to make a trip back to the store this morning. (In Germany everything closes at 8:00) The wires are barely visible, so I’m happy. By the end of today I hope to have all tied up. In our area it rarely goes below about 30 degrees and when we get snow, it doesn’t stay more than a day or two. There are people around here successfully growing palm trees in their yards. My roses didn’t lose all their leaves. Do you mean you take the leaves off by hand? How do you do that? It sounds impossible now that I’ve seen your pictures.
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No need to dig out Joseph's Coat at present - if it's not hardy in your zone you'll need to dig out the root stock (assuming it's a grafted plant), but there's no harm seeing if it will survive in your zone. I have plenty of climbers that are just shrubs in my zone but they'll put out some nice blooms now and then and I don't expect more of them. The climbers more hardy for your zone are better to plan to be big, but you can always keep JC at their feet for the fun of it if you like. I've not gotten mine to survive except in a virtual zone 6 on the sunny side of my house, and even then it doesn't climb at all. Don't get frustrated by a rose that doesn't do what you like. A lot of the jaw dropping pictures are from zones a lot warmer than we are so we change our expectations accordingly for what our roses will do. As for why nurseries in your area sell roses that aren't suited for your zone, the charitable suggestion for a reason would be that customers see the pictures of those roses in other areas and ask for them. The less charitable answer could be that these are the ones mass marketed by rose vendors in California and other warm places, and the nurseries don't know enough about roses to question those sources. An even more mercenary reason could be that customers will keep coming back to replace a rose that's not hardy, but one that survives doesn't earn them any more income. The last reason really isn't something I think factors in for most nurseries - they want to sell what looks pretty and it's fairly easy to get a rose to look pretty in a greenhouse and impress customers. The truly hardy roses are stunning at a distance but some aren't all that impressive if you look at the individual flowers themselves. Cynthia
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That helps.
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dregae (IN, zone 6b)
Original Author
14 years ago
As far as how vigorous, I have a really bland porch that I would like to see covered in roses someday. But I don't want to waste my money on a pretty picture from some nursery. I have tried that before and ended up with 10 dead rose bushes. Lesson learned, now I really want to hear what has worked well for others. I have been looking around at pickering and heirloom roses, and actually did see the william baffin.

Thanks so much for the responses so far!!!

dregae
dregae (IN, zone 6b)
Original Author
14 years ago
Whoops forgot. I would prefer repeat bloomers, but a hardy plant first.

dregae
kentstar
14 years ago
Well, William Baffin isn't called T-Rex for nothing lol! I just planted him this past season. I can't wait to see what he can do!
Have you thought about maybe a clematis? How about Sweet Autumn Clematis? Definitely large enough! With fragrant, white, small flowers in the fall time.
kentstar
14 years ago
Well, William Baffin isn't called T-Rex for nothing lol! I just planted him this past season. I can't wait to see what he can do!
Have you thought about maybe a clematis? How about Sweet Autumn Clematis? Definitely large enough! With fragrant, white, small flowers in the fall time.
kentstar
14 years ago
Sorry bout the repeat posts oops! Forget the second two. Yikes!

Cathy
Zyperiris
14 years ago
Dregae, why don't you look up Roses unlimited and call Pat on the phone..or email. Her website is hard to use but she is very knowledgeable and she knows zones and what grows where! She has helped me alot
ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
14 years ago
A rose for a cooler winter climate that I've heard people rave about is the pink climber, Viking Queen. You can see it on Helpmefindroses. I think it's beautiful.

Ingrid
lisa33
14 years ago
I'm so glad you posted this! I am looking to grow a pale pink climber on my porch, too. One that I'm considering is New Dawn. It's supposed to be hardy to zone 4, so perhaps it would be a good choice for you.

Lisa

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