Hi, I am growing Golden Celebration and Heritage as a climber and got my friend started on St Swithun. All are doing very well. There are several more that I know of that I would consider as climbers, also. Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Brother Cadfael for instance. Also any so calledan Octopus (christened by Garden Webbers) varieties.

I also have seen Abe Darby as a climber and that was pretty awesome.

In all these instances, I am talking about being trained on a 7'/8' fence. Also apart from Constance Spry which is a classified Austin Climber, there is also Shropshire Lad.

Hope this helps,
Pauline

Here is a link that might be useful: My Link

No. All my climbing DA's are the tall/climbing kind. I am growing Eglentyne, Flagstaff, Crown Princess M. and Abe Darbie. Golden Celebration is a bush so far and I will tie to a pillar if it starts to grow Octopus canes.

But my question is can anyone grow the climbers as bush in warm areas?

FJ

But my question is can anyone grow the climbers as bush in warm areas?

Sure, they are just a lot bigger than the average HT. My Golden Celebration is a big shrub that doesn't need support. It's just really large. Same with Abe Darby and Evelyn. Tea Clipper appears to be of the same growth habit as well.

We have grown Golden Celebration for many years, and we grow perhaps 6 plants of it as a hedge.
It is not a climber in our part of Southern California, but a big, arching Shrub.
It blooms for us as a "cropper," producing a new crop of buds quickly after deadheading.

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I think Brother Cadfael would make a decent climber, if pulled out horizontally (as on a fence) tho it was rather stiff.
I have seen Abraham Darby used as a climber successfully.
Evelyn, Graham Thomas, and The Pilgrim would all (in Southern California) probably be more successful as climbers than as bushes.
Othello, too -- tho I really don't care for it as a plant.

Jeri

Jeri

Pauline, thanks for your link. Your garden is a piece of heaven, really beautiful. I visited Victoria a while back, spent time at Buchart Gardens and didn't want to leave.

I do grow Abe Darby as a climber. I am considering Pat Austin which while not in the climbers category on the website, is called a 'small climber' when you link to her individual description. Shopshire lad is described as a pillar and not excedingly large so that might work too.

I just got to thinking about how many Austins in England have very different sizes and habits than in the states. I wondered if anyone had found Austins not designated as climbers could be trained that way. Jeri, if Evelyn wasn't a risk and was more reliable she would be the one. She seems more prized for her individual flowers than for her qualities as a free-flowering shrub.

"Free-Flowering" is not a description I'd have applied to Evelyn.
One rose at the top of a 12-ft cane is not my idea of "free flowering."

In California -- with our long hours of daylight -- Many Austins want to grow rather than bloom.
I don't have the patience to do battle with them over it.
If they don't want to bloom, they aren't going to live here.
Period.

Jeri

huttnem, thank you! much appreciated. See, you can grow many Austin's as climbers. Good luck!
Pauline

I'd second "Tess of the D'Urbervilles". I grow 3 here in my cold climate and they've got to be grazing 5.5', with no die-back after a terrible winter. They bloom well for me, too.

Graham Thomas is a "climber" for me here, too.

i'm in NE Ohio zone 5 and my pat austin put out a branch last summer that grew to 8 feet and the bloomed. when i sought info about this. many people told me that this was typical of austin roses. and to be sure to trim out the leggy branch if i didn't want the rose to become a climber.
at this point i haven't decided, but i already have 2 branches zooming up from the base again this year. i'm hopping these aren't suckers from a a graft. i'll have to wait and see.

but io think its possible to have austins that aren't advertised as 'climbers' become a climber if they send out
some giant branches like mine did. i'd gather it depends on the rose/location.

diggerb

I grow GC and CPM as climbers. They definitely work. I expect Heritage, Janet, Gertrude Jekyll and Abe Darby would too but I have no space so I keep them hard ("summer") pruned. I would try anything DA lists as a large shrub.
Masha

"In California -- with our long hours of daylight -- Many Austins want to grow rather than bloom." That's an important distinction. So if you are saying Jeri, that they grow at the expense of bloom -might fertilizing with a bud and bloom booster help counteract this effect?

Graham Thomas had to be a climber in my garden. It is already about 8 plus feet and just getting started. It is a rampant grower.
I had Abe as a climber but the tree grew up shading it and it was rust magnet. I no longer grow Abe.
I am thinking Christopher Marlowe could be a small climber as it outgrew its support last summer. But it is probably too bushy.
Jeri, I am sorry to hear about Evelyn not being a free-flowering rose. I just gave it a prime ground spot. We shall see.
Kathy

So if you are saying Jeri, that they grow at the expense of bloom

*** That's what it did here.
I do know some ARS people who prune these roses brutally after each flush, which gives them another flush.
But in my climate, few roses will tolerate that for more than a few years -- and I want my roses to live for decades.

-might fertilizing with a bud and bloom booster help counteract this effect?

*** Well, it's worth a try.
Personally, if I grew them again (which I won't) I would pull those long canes out horizontally along a fence or something. Then I should get a lot of blooming laterals.

I won't do this because it's too much work, and those roses want more water than I can afford to give them. But it's an approach that I think might succeed.

And, Kathy -- Maybe Evelyn will be a good bloomer for you.
The blooms ARE lovely, and to me, they smelled just like a really ripe peach, just pulled from the tree, and warmed by the sun.

Jeri