Which climbing rose to plant along a driveway?

Katie (South Australia, Mediterranean climate)

11 years ago

Hello all! This is my first post although I have been reading bits and pieces on GardenWeb for a long time. I live in South Australia, but have chosen to post my rose question here because this rose forum seems much more active, I hope that's OK?

Recently I bought half a dozen climbing roses at a plant sale, very cheaply, and somewhat on impulse. To date, my rose experience is limited to the two dozen white Iceberg shrubs planted out the front of our house by the previous owner, and a few David Austin roses I planted myself to add in some colour to the Icebergs. I want to plant some climbing roses next and that is what I bought the other day. Roses do very well here and so far everything is very healthy and happy.

I have a few places in mind to plant my climbers, but the one I need help with is alongside our driveway where I want to put something tall to grow up the side of the house and under our bedroom windows which are about 10 feet high. Basically, my choice needs to be tall but easily trained to be quite flat so it doesn't take up too much driveway space and damage any cars! This wall faces West, which is my climate means it gets no morning sun, but plenty of afternoon sun and in Summer it will be blasting hot.

I have narrowed my bargain rose choice down to:

Crepuscule (350cm or about 11 feet)

Golden Showers (300cm or 10-12 feet)

Zephrine Drouhin (350 cm or 10-12 feet)

Pinkie (200cm or 6-8 feet)

Does anyone have any experience with these roses and can advice which would be best to plant to train to a narrow space?

Thank you! Looking forward to spending more time here in the future :)

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Comments (6)

altorama Ray
11 years ago
How cold do the winters get there?
altorama Ray
11 years ago
If you have very cold winters, maybe Golden Showers would be best, since you want it to get tall and would not want a lot of die-back in the winter.
Welcome to the forum!
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Krista_5NY
11 years ago
If you have a somewhat confined area for the rose where people and cars might come in close contact with it, I'd go with the thornless Zephirine Drouhin. It has pliable canes, the beautiful fragrance would be an added plus under your window.
jerijen
11 years ago
Unless powdery mildew is a problem in your climate (as it is here in Southern California) (which is why Zephirine Drouhin is rarely, if ever, seen in SoCal).

Jeri
Coastal Ventura Co., SoCal
imagardener2
11 years ago
I have Zepherine, Golden S. and Cl. Pinkie currently and used to have Crepuscule.
I agree with using Zepherine due to no thorns and Golden Showers is nearly thornless also. Cl. Pinkie has a few thorns but not that bad.

Your need to have it be narrow in growth takes Crepuscule out in my opinion. Before salty irrigation killed my Crepe. it grew in multiple directions and can be quite a large plant.

Climbing Pinkie is a winner in terms of being in bloom almost continually. My Cl. Pinkie is scentless although I've heard that others have fragrance, alas not mine. I have trained it against a trellis so it can be kept narrow, just takes pruning.

Golden Showers is also a fast bloomer but it does not hold onto it's blooms very long. That's the only negative for it in my book because it is a very lovely yellow with a nice scent. The stems are lax and easily trainable and kept narrow in growth. Lovely glossy green foliage almost year round (I'm in Florida).

I love Zepherine but it's been 3 years and she is very shy with blooms. I'm hoping she'll burst with blooms next spring, we'll see. My Zepr. requires pruning because it throws out horizontal canes wildly on all sides, could easily be 10' wide if not restrained. I've tried tying the canes to wrap around the pillar and am not successful, the ends die off even when tied lightly.

My suggestions: Golden Showers and Cl. Pinkie with a slight lean toward Pinkie because my neighbor is always raving about it and Golden Showers is right next to it unnoticed.

Good luck.

Denise
Katie (South Australia, Mediterranean climate)
Original Author
11 years ago
Altorama, winters here are not too bad. Cold and damp, averaging about 12 degrees celcius (53f) during the day and not usually below freezing at night (just occasionally.) I've seen powdery mildew plenty of times on my zucchinis, but never on the roses.

So, not Crepuscle then. Would it be silly to plant, say, Golden Showers and Zephrine into the same space to climb up together?

Thank you for your help so far :)

Which climbing rose to plant along a driveway?

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altorama Ray

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Which climbing rose to plant along a driveway?

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