Thanks Dan for the info, unfortunatly, blaze and new dawn both bloom on old wood. Golden Showers looks like a nice hardy climber though, and it blooms on new and old wood. Not sure if I would want yellow though- If anyone else has a few more suggestions for a new wood blooming climbing rose? I have been seeing "Shade Tolerant" in the descriptions of some roses (including the Golden Showers) and I figured that would mean they can withstand part shade. I was hoping this meant it could still do well with 3/4 hours of direct sun a day- can anyone clear this up for me? How tolerant is "shade tolerant" when it comes to roses? And of course, if anyone is growing a rose bush/climber/polyantha in part sun, I would love to know which kind it is. Thanks!

Well, I am certainly no expert on the matter, but I did do some research for you. I found that the hempweed is sometimes called "Monarch vine" because the Monarchs love to nectar on it. I believe that the milkweeds are the only actual host plants though. I'm sure that someone else will come along who knows more. You can use the water hose to wash those aphids off the vine if you want.

Let me give you a few off the top of my head: I tend to like roses that are easily trained; that is, one with flexible that 'bend to my will'. My absolute number one favorite climber is Francois Juranville. It is classified as a rambler, hybrid wichurana, bred in 1906. Height is said to be 15-25 feet, 10 foot width. I have this rose on an arbor that is 8 feet tall, 10 feet wide, and 4 feet deep. It covered the arbor in two years and that was from a band I direct planted. It's absolutely covered with soft pink blooms right now, has wonderful dark green, glossy green foliage and is less thorny than most roses, but does have thorns. It is said to have an apple fragrance but it is fragrance you have to search out, it doesn't drift. I have never seen a bit of blackspot on it. Another climber I have that is listed as a shrub rose is David Austin's James Galway. It is trained on a pillar and is about 8 feet tall. It is fragrant but you have to search it out. I have never seen this rose have blackspot and mine is ten years old. It is a bear though with its thorns. It is one of those roses that I have to get up my gumption to go out and prune or work with the new growth to get it back in bounds. It is a medium pink bloom. Third is Awakening. Awakening is a sport of New Dawn, hybrid wichurana, discovered in the 30s and introduced into production in the 1990s. It has a hybrid tea rose-like pale pink bloom and blooms nonstop. It is classified as strong in fragrance. This rose is planted on a new arbor we built just this spring, but the plant is in its second year since I kept in a pot until we got the structure built. It had very minimal blackspot last year in the pot, and by that I mean a dozen or so leaves, but none this year so far. I did have two other starts of this rose which I gave to a neighbor and we put her roses where they would cover a brick wall on which we built a wire system. They are covering about half of her brick wall so far in their second year. It is said to be 8-14 feet tall and 8 feet wide. I am planning on it covering an arbor that is 8 x 8 x 8. Those are my personal experience climbers that don't have blackspot problems for me and are fragrant. I have a Souvenir de la Malmaison which is a fragrance drifter, tolerates shade, has a wonderful palest pink bloom and is growing about 20 feet into a tree, but it loses its leaves to b.s. most years. You might also consider a Lady Banks White. Mine is incredibly fragrant, it smells like hyacinths to me. It is thornless, has 2-inch white blossoms that cover the plant and is never bothered with blackspot. It is a species or wild rose of the early 1800s. It will cover as big an area as you will let it. It grows in the same tree as my SDLM rose. Lady Banks is almost a tie for favorite with Francois Juranville simply because it is so low maintenance. But FJ wins out because it is a "ROSE"!! Marcy

Vapor ... it was all a coincidence! I went to my local nursery on the one day a year they have a sale for easy spirit rose . It was pouring buckets , but I wanted that discount! I was sprinting to the check out building with my large rose , my toddler who didn't want to walk in mud in the other hand , and a gentleman opened the door for me. Turns out he is the president of the Nashville chapter . He grabbed the rose from me and was giving me the newbie rundown on roses . So we started talking and I told him I wasn't new to roses .. he invited me to the meeting the next day and was so welcoming! He then told me all new members get a rose and he had one just for me .. "lady in red! You can't get it anywhere, it's new " he said . I smiled and said I would be there ! So now I have two lady's , and I really enjoyed the meeting. There is definitely some opinions there about everything.. just like here. ;) I found out the VP lives just down the road so we are arranging to see each other's garden . I encourage you to try a meeting !! Even if I can't make every meeting, they have discounts on roses and things in the spring and I can't wait to see the open gardens people have . Sorry for the essay ! Lol