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Climbing rose supports on house, ideas?

15 years ago

As I write this there is a din of hammer blows all around me. We are getting new siding on the house. This is my chance for a plot for a future house eating Climbing rose. They will build a box on the side near the front corner of the house to attach the satellite dish. I am having them make the box about 6 inches longer (below dish) so I can have 3, four inch garden hooks installed there. I will use the hooks to anchor the top a some kind of trellis system. I was looking at plastic covered metal cable that could be hooked over and then anchored at ground level onto a trellis or stakes. What do you think? What are your experiences and/or ideas.

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Comments (2)

jacqueline9CA
15 years ago
That sounds fine for starters. However, I think it all depends on what rose you choose, and how you intend to grow it. If you really want a "house eating rose" (I have 3 of those climbing up my house) , I think there are 2 scenarios:

1) If you are very meticulous, and have plenty of time, you can take the rose down/ carefully prune it and put it back each year, and it would probably stay on the trellis.

2) I gave up on plan (1) above after the first large climber I planted (banksie lutea) ate the trellis and bounded up 15 feet higher than the trellis, and looked so beautiful I didn't want to really prune it hard to "keep it in bounds". So, we just pruned or tied up (with metal screw-in things that have screw bottoms, and circles on top to tie the rosees to) the long canes that developed every year. When it got really big and heavy my husband started using metal wire cables, attached to the house with more serious hardware. Some things to look out for if you use this plan - the rose will grow UNDER any downspouts or external plumbing pipes or electrical boxes, satellite dish supports, etc. to help it climb upwards, and mine actually grew under the eves (3 1/2 stories up), through the roof, and came out on top of the roof (blooming!). Obviously these tendencies have to be discouraged every year, or the rose will eventually dismantle the down spouts, satellite dish supports, etc. This is not that difficult, but you have to get after it each year. We love this system. We have birds nesting in the rose, and even a squirrels nest - we can watch the squirrels come & go out one of the third story windows, as they made their nest just below the window. Now they have babies, and it is like a nature show.

However, I realized that many rose gardeners out there would recoil in horror from the ideas in (2) above, so it really depends on what you want and like.

Jackie
wren_garden
Original Author
15 years ago
Jackie, It sounds beautiful. In my zone 5/6 the winter will help keep a climber in check to some degree. My DH would just hyperventilate at the thought of anything touching his satellite dish. It is up 2 stories so that should give a rose room. I will of course have to choose wisely. There is a Peggy Martin CL (thornless)being planted there in May. I will set her a bit away from the house for a future twiner with a more vigorous rose. I want to let her establish first. If she gets good height I may rethink a companion. What I have to decide now is the support system while I have the construction crew here. Wow something I don't have to do myself. Keep the ideas coming. Any pics would be great. Thanks! Elizabeth
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We had 2 roses growing up our 3 story wood shingled house all the way to the roof (and each about 20 feet wide) for 20 years. No problems with bugs whatsoever. Birds and squirrels made nests in the roses, but not bugs. My husband says that termites do not like light, and like to get into the wood right down where it is touching the dirt. So, he put some sort of non-wood siding as the first course under the lowest shingles, so that they are not touching the dirt. Those roses are shorter now (about 1 story high), but only because we had to have them cut back in order for the house to be painted. When they were removed from the top 2 stories, no bug problems were revealed. They are growing again, and I hope will be back up to the roof in a year or so. Oh, we also have 3 roses growing up the back of our house, also without any bug problems. People everywhere grow roses on wooden fences, if you think about it. So far I have never heard anyone complain about bug problems. So, if it was me, I would go for it! Jackie
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Central Connecticut? I gardened in zone 3 & 4 for many years before I moved warm. It will be fun to research how to do this. You can type in "climbing rose support help please" into the Houzz rectangle above, with the magnifying glass, for many thoughtful discussions. In this case, if you don't know the variety, and the plant is very young you have a challenge having it make it through the winter. Roses need very careful selection in zone 4 and many stores sell roses that will not make it in your area. You may have the best luck with mail order from Northland Rosarium or High Country Roses that could sell you very hardy plants like zone 3 that are climbers and would grow large enough to need a trellis. They usually ship in Spring. You will really enjoy this if you keep at it. Good luck!
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