Yes, depending on the rose, and how big it thinks it should get before it blooms. Do you know the name or type of your rose? I had a Belle Portugaise which grew 15 feet tall (over 4 years) before it produced its first bud! Jackie

We, here in Ontario, are forever reminded of how B.C. has no snow....you don't have to shovel rain. But, while snow is not thought of as something to admire---many people do wait for it and cant wait to get to the slopes...B.C. knows all about that what with Whistler raking in all the tourist dollars. Roses anywhere, everywhere, have common problems, from disease to winds, especially winter winds, that can dry out a plant in no time. So do put up a barrier to how winds might confront your rose bush. So too can winds dry out the soil--so make sure the plant goes into winter with lots of water--but not too much, roses don't like wet feet. Mound the plants up at least 12" with what you feel proper....soil, leaves, boughs...and don't remove the protection until all chance of frost has passed in the spring. Don't get antsy about a spell of warm weather in March which turns nasty again and have your plants succumb to the weather. Make sure the canes are tied together securely and to the trellis, post or fence you have them on. In the spring, separate the canes by how your hand and fingers are splayed out. That is how you want to have the canes grow and gives the best chance of sunlight to all parts of the plant. Don't do major pruning at this time --remove what is weak or damaged but otherwise, leave pruning for the spring. Open wounds on ends of canes can invite disease and freezes.

It depends on what you mean by shallow topsoil. If you mean shallow "good soil" with heavy clay or sand underneath it, it really pays to enhance your soil ahead of time before you put a rose in to make it happier, as Sam says. You can simply dump organics on top of the soil and the worms will eventually mix it in for you, but that isn't a short-term solution if there isn't much soil to work with. If the soil is shallow because there's rocks or tree roots or concrete or something else inorganic below it, that's a problem. Climbers need to have good root systems to support all that top growth, and while some of the roots grow sideways, the anchor roots tend to run deep in at least a few places. Also, if the soil is only a few inches deep, there isn't enough nutrition to support a rose of any sort. If you fill us in on details as well as approximately where you are, we can help more. Cynthia

Same as fragrancenutter. The twine allows you to direct the laterals where you want them to go. Over time the weather breaks the twine down for easy removal. The electrical cable, being copper, holds up forever. I pick up a small spool of Black #14 solid single strand house wiring from Home Depot. (500 ft. 14-Gauge Solid THHN Wire - Black) One nice thing about the wire is that you can bend it such that you can insert it on one side of the bush and have it curve around back to you as you feed it through the bush. Pruning shears cut it with ease.