Years ago when I lived in your zone, I had a big old Cecile Brunner and it needed deadheading constantly. Your plant just needs the old blooms cut off and it will just keep going and going etc. Maybe the smaller part of the bush will begin to shoot up also.

That thing looks like a triffid to me. Watch out for yourself.

Cecile Brunner is a once bloomer and should be pruned and/or dead-headed immediately after its spring bloom.

In Zone 10 CA, Cl. Cecile Brunner may very well bloom through the year, to some degree. Ours does!

Tuesday, I'd recommend that you just snip off the blooms, and wait to see what the rose sends up next.
One thing that's true about Cl. Cecile Brunner is that she can be a LUSTY rose. Here she's used beautifully on a new building in an old style, in San Juan Bautista, CA.

{{gwi:307604}}

Jeri

Oooh jerijen that photo, while gorgeous scares the wits out of me! Our whole house could fit in 1/3 of that one..... Triffids might be safer. I'm guessing that monstrous old juniper is going to look demure compared to what Cecile is going to do! Yikes. I had nooo idea she could be so ..... prolific..... gulp.

Ah Tuesday -- That's sorta why I showed it to you.

Cl. Cecile is a lovely thing, BUT there is a lot of her.

If I may make a suggestion, you might find a plant of SPRAY Cecile Brunner (if you can find one) which will go 5-6 ft. tall, bushy, and bloom a lot. OR you could plant the original bush form of Cecile Brunner. Or (better yet, IMHO) its near relative, 'Perle d'Or.'
This might just not be the right spot for Cl. Cecile.

Jeri

Mine was definitely a rambler. It grew and bloomed like no rose I've ever had.

Judging from the picture, isn't this plant likely to be 'Spray CB' instead of 'Cl CB'? That's the one that has been described as looking like a tangle of wire coathangers.

I'm glad TuesdaysChild at least is alert to the triffid menace.

The one on the right looks like it might be. It's doing that thing of sticking up a cloud of inflorescenses above the plant. But the one on the left looks like Cl CB looks when it's espaliered like that.

I think it's gorgeous -- BUT I am glad I don't have to maintain it!

Jeri-- I was talking about the original poster's image.

Thanks for you picture, though, I hadn't noticed the plant on the right. What a gorgeous thing the espalier is.

Wow, I had no idea that there was so much variation in CB -- I just remember a lovely _little_ rambler that grew along my grandma's back fence (a 4' split rail that Ms. Cecile occupied about 6' in either direction).

Soooo...Guess I've only just scratched the surface here... can anyone tell me a little bit about the difference between Spray and Climber on this little lady? Is there a difference in the pruning on the two?

And, second question.... As you can see from my image, this little lady is growing against a brick wall...... How does one provide trellising on a brick wall? Do I put screws into the mortar (will my house then come down?), do I do a suspended trellis from the wooden overhang above? Do I build a wooden trellis in front of the brick wall? .....Heck, when I saw I had a cute little climber, I thought I'd just train it up the wrought iron entrance to the left of it. Ha! This is looking like it would eat those notions in a nanosecond.

Third question: The current efflorescence out of the dead blossoms are now setting another spray of buds out of the dead blossoms (and the shrubby part below is also setting another budding). Looks like the tide of advice says to not prune that great big jutting stem, and just wait for the others to catch up to it (just snip off the dead flowers). Am I correct in this? .

Whew-- the surprises one gets in an old yard!

Thanks for more advice!!!!!

What strikes me odd about Tuesdaychild's photo, is the growth habit is most unlike the "climbing" form of Cecile Brunner that I'm familiar with. Ordinarily it would fan out with canes covered with luxuriant growth...and not throw "triffid-like" sprays with almost bare canes.

I don't know if this kind of growth is typical of the "spray" from. But based on this one photo (always dangerous) I'd say it's growth habit is just not consistant any Climbing Cecile Brunner I've ever seen. I'm with Michael in doubting Tuesdaychild's rose is the "climber".

Perhaps someone who is familar with the habit of the "spray" form will be able to commen furthert.

Hope this helps,

Bill

Patricia and Jeri have pretty good eyes. I think it's a bit early to be sure that's climbing Cécile Brunner. I'd wait and see.

Around here, the bush form is a good 7 feet tall, so the height of the cane isn't unusual. It also produces growth out of the inflorescences. My Cl. Cécile has more traditional arching, climbing canes with leaves at nodes. The fact this is a mature but crowded plant means the growth could be a bit misleading. I'd still wait to see a second basal cane.

My Spray Cécile has much wider inflorescences - -like 18 to 20 inches wide, and they were produced from the start that way. So I somewhat doubt it's Spray Cécile, tho heavens know roses make a fool out of me all the time.

I wouldn't put screws into a brick wall.
And we tried those thingies that stick on? HEH. They don't stick for long!
Best suggestion: Some sort of structure (like a section of latticework). Be sure it is several inches out from the wall.

AND one person I know put hinges on the bottom of a latticework panel, so that at pruning time, she could pull it forward, to clean up behind it. From personal experience, I would say that's a great idea.

Jeri

Aha. OK, seeing now the distinctions between the different varieties, the Spray type may indeed be what I have because this plant has only thrown up one other strong cane before this one and it did this same triffid thing at the top. This was about 4 months after the juniper came down. Not having a clue what to do, I pruned the cane when pruning time arrived.

That cane has never sent out another big thing again, its just part of the lower globe. This new cane that came out this year has come out all by itself. There've been no signs of other canes popping up, everything else is just kind of shrubby stuff that blooms down low with only a couple of inches of added growth.

Is pruning on the "spray" variety different than on the climber?

My climbing Cecile Brunner wasn't a one time bloomer..it bloomed almost all year long here in Texas..it grows huge long canes and must be trained...I never prune a climber till I prune the laterals the third year...Jeanne

Jeanne, where did you get your clone? It sounds like a good one.

My elderly (65 year old) Cecile Brunner occasionally puts out a second "mini-flush" in good years, and can have some re-bloom in fall...But it's nothing compared to the dazziling spring display.

Is Cecile Brunner disease free in Texas? My Cecile Brunner (and the "daughter" plants I've layered from her) are spectacularly healthy in my no-spray Southern California garden.

Bill

I bought my Cecile Brunner on one of my Jaunts to "Antique Rose Emporium"..I had no problems with her whatsoever..blooming fool and very bs resistant