It depends on the variety. Climbing roses (I'm including ramblers) are bred from different species and have various origins, some being sports of shrub roses; some are very lax, others quite stiff. I've been training the old Wichuriana rambler 'Leontine Gervais' onto the roof of a shed, and now that it has finally gotten to the top it has spread itself out luxuriously in the most prostrate fashion imaginable, and is also rooting in the organic debris that has collected on the tiled roof. On the other hand I'm growing plants of 'Cl. Papa Gontier' and 'Noella Nabonnand', both climbing Teas, as shrubs, though with how much ultimate success remains to be seen. The converse is also true: some roses conventionally grown as shrubs can be made to climb: I'm working on training the shrub Tea 'Archduke Joseph' through a persimmon, and the China 'Mutabilis', usually grown as a shrub, has been grown as a climber. Quite a few of the Pemberton Hybrid Musks can go either way, growing either as lax shrubs or as contained climbers.
Roses that grow in competition with large shrubs naturally tend to scramble up through them to reach the sun. The definition of a rose as shrub or climber isn't always rigid, and the habit of a rose depends in many cases on circumstances.
Melissa

This post was edited by melissa_thefarm on Wed, Mar 12, 14 at 14:50