I'm in the city of Chicago. My own root ZD from Heirloom Roses is in it's 5th year and gets full sun. It grew a little the first year, a lot the second, and then exploded the third year. I didn't know anything about pruning and just cut it back heavily. It only bloomed a little in the 4th year as a result. This year I watched the Ashdown Roses videos on pruning (see below for picture of pruned roses). This year my ZD just started to bloom the other day (about 6 blooms - the first two to pop shown) and has hundreds of buds. I trimmed all the laterals to 12" and cut down a few canes (there are just so many!) completely at the ground. I trained the canes horizontally across the fence. I plan to prune the laterals (and new canes as needed) all summer just to keep it in control (middle picture is pre-bloom about a month ago). I'm not sure how that will affect bloom but otherwise it will overwhelm all the plants in the garden in front of it. Prior to planting the roses, I raised the whole garden (a six foot wide strip around my yard) up about a foot using cow manure, pine compost (my soil ph is high), garden soil that was there, top soil, and mushroom compost - holding it up with a short landscape wall of Home Depot interlocking pavers. I spent a small fortune on dirt. I fertilize a few times a year with granular organic rose fertilizer. Last year I used some Epsom Salts but this year I didn't have any. I sprayed in Feb. with a copper fungicide and put down copper dust around the dirt. I had bad black spot last year. The garden centers around here said everyone did. I mulch with cocoa shells. In Feb. I top dressed with the pine compost and cow manure before mulching last month. I have 3 other climbers (Jude the Obscure, a red one?, and Darlow's Enigma) across that same fence. They haven't yet bloomed this year. They were mostly all planted the same year (except the mystery red climber) and all bloom profusely and repeatedly but the first spring flush is the most intense. None of them are the monsters that ZD is. I've got 3 more bush roses in front of the climbers mixed in with my perennial and herb garden. It smells great in my yard.

I planted it last spring. It's doing quite well. I have it on the NW corner of my yard, hoping it will climb up my deck. It did get mildew, even though I spray my roses. It's also a blackspot magnet, but you probably don' thave to worry about that. I'm not sure about the chill. ZD did lose some canes to winter this year, even though we had a fairly mild winter. But it was it's first year. I would have had a nice spring flush, but the easter freeze zapped most of it. It has bloomed sporadically since. But right now, I'm concentrating on getting it tall and not putting it horizontal enough to maximize bloom. Hopefully next year.

This is what ZD does. You have a few choices. You could wait for it to bloom and then cut it back. Or you could do it now. I took mine down to about 8 canes. I removed all the laterals, even the ones that were longer than the original cane. Don't cut the length of the canes. ZD is a climber and should be trained laterally. You want to take canes out from the base. Don't be afraid to take out too much. Each time I do cut mine back, it puts out a bunch of new canes.

That's it! I'm definitely going to try growing this rose after seeing this post. It's so nice to see photos of the whole plant and especially showing the growth possibility over a timeframe. I've been reading about the early bloom, great fragrance of Zephirine Drouhin and the possibility of a repeat. Maybe it can be grown with another climber that can sort of take over if Zephirine Drouhin starts to get blackspot/need pruning back? PS That adorable little dog napping there is one of the sweetest pictures I've ever seen. The post is 3 years old but I just had to gush! And Tiffandrew that kitty on the bag is both hilarious and adorable too!!