Lady Banks on a wooden swingset?

15 years ago

I fell in love with a rose at the zoo in Waco. They had 2 of them and they looked like small trees covered with gorgeous blooms. They weren't identified so we just looked hard at it so we could recognize it again. I went to Sears Grand a few days later and they had one there, labeled as a Lady Banks rose. I wanted it but didn't get it. I couldn't get it off my mind so a couple days later I went back to Sears for another reason and bought it.

I knew I had seen it mentioned on various gardenweb forums so thought it was a safe bet. But now I see it can be a little dominating and I have no clue how to get it in the form the zoo had it. I'm afraid to put it too near the fence in case the neighbors don't want to share it.

I was wondering if planting it next to a plain wooden swing set would work out. I have 3 girls that would love the fairy-tale look of it. But I wouldn't want it to impede the use of the playscape either. The swing set currently gets covered in Mourning Dove whitewash so the roses would be a definite improvement.

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Comments (10)

User
15 years ago
If you are prepared to live with the likelihood that you won't be able to find the swing set in three years, then yes, go for it!
melva
15 years ago
I think saying that Lady Banks can be a little dominating is a understatement...
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Kim, I hear what you are saying, but really it has not been a problem. These 2 roses have been on our house for over 20 years. During that time, once they fell down in a 100 MPH+ wind storm, and once we cut them down to about 7 ft high so that the house could be painted. In the first instance, we just (I say "we" - hah! It certainly helps to have a DH who is a contractor and owns 35 ft ladders!) put them back up, and the next Spring they bloomed more than ever. In the second instance, it took them only about 18 months to grow back to the roof - happy as clams. I am not one who thinks of squirrels as a problem - I like them. Who really uses these roses are the birds - I never let my DH prune or re-tie them up except in the late Fall when we are sure that all of the babies have fledged. Our climate is warm and dry in the summers, so the roses have not caused any sort rot type problems, and I think they actually provide some insulation against the sun. They are of course full of water, which is better than our wooden shingles which dry out. As to "massive amounts of dirt and debris" - no. My DH gets up there on his ladders once a year, takes out some of the weight, ties up the newer canes we are keeping, etc. However, (again, perhaps it is our climate - it gets very windy here in the winter storms) he has not found any debris except a few birds nests. The stuff he generates from his labor is almost all rose clippings, and almost all alive and green for that matter. When we had our house painted, he told me that on this side of the house the shingles were in much better shape than another side where there are no roses - that entire wall baked in the sun and had to be re-shingled (I immediately started to grow a tall rose bush on it to be helpful!). So, my experience is evidently different than yours - just wanted folks to know, hope you don't mind. Jackie
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Yes - it is a wonderful rose. As it has no thorns and very flexible long canes, you should be able to just train it horizontally along the fence. A shopping center near us planted 20 (!) of them, each just on a 2 1/2 ' tall by 3 ' wide trellis thing. I was sure they would eat the entire parking lot, but they keep them trimmed, and 10 years later each one is still just on its little trellis, looking like a truncated hedge. However, depending on how long your fence is, I would think you could do with just one or two plants! I have just one, and it goes 30-35 feet up my house, and is 15 feet wide. Be sure to do any pruning just after it stops blooming. Here we get a long flowering period, from Jan/Feb thru April/May. Where you are it would probably start blooming a bit later.
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Carolinakate, You've probably already transplanted your white Lady Banks; sorry I'm so late in seeing your post. But I wanted to tell you of my experience with them here in Atlanta. I have both white and yellow Lady Banks roses. One of each is growing on a chain link fence in my front yard. A second yellow one is growing on a trellis in the backyard. All three are doing great, growing by leaps and bounds - and I mean that literally. Although many books and magazine articles will tell you that roses can be grown in pots, I have had zero success with that. They may bloom, but they seem so much happier and healthier in the ground. I definitely agree that your rose wants to be in the ground, because Lady Banks roses grow so large that it's hard to imagine what kind of pot would be big enough. My white Lady Banks is on a south-facing four-foot-tall chain link fence almost directly underneath a very old oak tree. I think the trunk of the tree is not more than 4 feet away from the fence. And the base of the rose is planted directly in front of the tree trunk, because that happened to be the middle point of the length of fence. Thus, the rose gets some sun throughout the day, but it is almost always shaded to some extent by the branches of the oak tree. Those are high branches because the tree is so old. The most direct sun the rose gets is in the late afternoon. In just two years, the rose has grown to cover almost the entire fence, about 20 feet in either direction. The only pruning I have done is to remove twiggy growth at the base of the rose because it caught onto my lawn mower and was in the way. Otherwise, I just tie down alal the new growth about once a month. I have probably used 30 or 40 rolls of velcro plant tie by now, for each Lady Banks rose. I have never fertilized (afraid to). I definitely agree that you should never train - or allow - these rose branches to weave through the chain link fence. Not only would it make a mess, but I believe that eventually it would pull the fence up out of the ground. I trained the first long branches to the top of the fence. After that, I trained each new branch - it throws out new branches, about 7 feet or more long, after every rain - to the ones beneath it. I tie them down from both the front and the back of the fence, trying to keep about the same number of branches on each side for balance. I cannot emphasize enough to you how massive this rose will become, and how quickly. As I said, mine now spreads about 20 feet in two directions, and is over my head in a solid mass of branches (I'm 5'4" tall). If this keeps up, eventually I may have to start cutting the new branches off, or use a stepladder to tie them down. However, I'm afraid that cutting them back may just encourage the plant to throw out more. This white Lady Banks, much more so than my yellow ones which are a year older, has already created a solid screen between my house and the sidewalk in front. When my Lady Banks roses are in bloom, people stop their cars to look. It's quite a show. As far as bloom, I notice you are in North Carolina, so I wonder if perhaps your bloom this year was lost to a late frost or cold spell. It seems to me that my yellow Lady Banks roses are not nearly as susceptible to cold spring weather. Once they are covered in buds, those buds will open and make a great show even if it's still cold and windy. But I lost almost every bud on my white Lady Banks in its first spring when we had a late cold spell. One other thing you may already know is that these roses are extremely easy to propagate by cuttings. If you have the room, you could try one in each of the spots you've mentioned. I have a feeling that they all will do well.
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Fond memories of a Lady Banks the grandparents had meticulously trained over their lattice arbor in Oak Cliff inspired us to try it in a couple places when we moved to Dallas. First one I toasted trying to espalier it in a dry bed on a shadeless south facing brick wall... proving they can be easily killed given a brown enough thumb. Second one thrived with 6+ hours of summer sun on the north side of a wood fence for 9 or 10 years. We took it out when we converted the pool beds to deciduous/less dense plants to deal with drought and duck problems, though probably would have gone anyway due the growing effort needed to keep contained and looking good in the space we had for it. Would use it again in a minute in the right location.
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jerijen
15 years ago
White? Or Yaller?

You actually CAN cut them back, after they bloom (but it's a lot of work every year).
And I hope the swingset is BIG?

You might consider 'Purezza.' It looks like "White Lady Banks," but will repeat bloom. And I think it is a tad more restrained in size.

Here's a YOUNG Purezza:
{{gwi:237357}}

Jeri
jacqueline9CA
15 years ago
I agree with everyone above. I think an abandoned, unused wooden swingset would make a great support for a Lady Banks rose - within 4-5 years it would just look like a giant, beautiful mound, with no trace of the swingset visible. Probably not what you had in mind!

However, if you prune it carefully several times a year, you could keep it under control - there are several at my local supermarket which are restrained to 3 feet tall, 3 feet wide little metal trellises - they hedge clip them a lot, and the roses stay where they are supposed to, but it takes constant attention.

Jackie
battygardnr
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks everyone! It's a yellow one.

I was watching the Ashford Rose videos on youtube that were mentioned in another thread. They raised my confidence level on whether I will be able to control it. It might be false confidence but I think I will give it a go.

I would rather it take over my kids' swing then my neighbors' yards!
seattlesuze
15 years ago
I think it's perfect...as long as your kids will be moving out of childhood in the next four years! Have fun and keep us posted with photos. It's inevitably going to be beautiful and if I were swinging there, you could be sure I'd have a profusion of roses in my hair and lap.
patricianat
15 years ago
I have three Lady Banks and while they grow fast and are beautiful, I have not found them to be any "wilder" in growth than other roses. In fact, American Pillar ate one of my Lady Banks roses and I had to move it in order for it to continue growing. Otherwise, it was going to be strangulated by AP. Another one was growing with Veilchenblau and I considered their growth equal. I have another which is competing with Parade and Awakening, and although it has a 6-year jump on the others, they are catching up.
barbarag_happy
15 years ago
My old neighbors in Texas claim that my white Lady Banks engulfed the 2-1/2 car garage. Fortunately Mermaid was too far away, as she's quite capable of doing the same thing. I also hear that Fortune's Double Yellow is now two lots down the panel fence and working on a third... I haven't had to nerve to return to the neighborhood but if I do (dark glasses) I'll have a camera! Mermaid and FDL covered 3 panels each in two seasons...that's 24 feet. Growing in a area with no water. In Texas where it doesn't rain.
newtie
15 years ago
the Lady Banks commonly seen is of course the light yellow double -- no thorns, vigorous in the South, a once bloomer (blooms with Wisteria) and little if any scent. The white is said to be more fragrant, but perhaps it is the single white form, because i have the double white and it has no significant fragrance to my nose. A much better white once bloomer that is fragrant and has similar plant habit and vigor and better bloom size is Fortunia, which i much prefer to the double white lady banks. However fortunia does have a few thorns, but not many. The only Lady Banks i have not yet grown is the single white.
jerijen
15 years ago
i have the double white and it has no significant fragrance to my nose.

*** Fragrance is subjective.
I can sure smell R. banksia banksia! The smell lies floating in the air, when it is in full bloom.
And when we caught the "Tombstone Rose" in full bloom, you open an old squeaky screen door and walk out into a blanket of violet scent.
Yes. Fortuniana also has it.
And while I won't say I love Fortuniana more than R. banksia banksia -- I do say I love it equally.

Have you seen the big tree-climbing R. banksia normalis in the Sacramento City Cemetery? In full bloom, it is a Wonder For The Ages. :-)

Jeri

Lady Banks on a wooden swingset?

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