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Thornless Climbing Roses

10 years ago

my husband and I are interested in planting some climbing roses to climb up around our porch in front of our house. The area gets full Sun. However, we do have three young children who like to play outside so we are preferring to find thornless climbing roses as possible. Do they exist? If so, does anyone know of any that would grow up and down 6 and what kind might they be? Thank you!

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Comments (6)

bayarea_girl_z10a_ca
10 years ago
Hi justmoll2583,

Yes, they exist :) One of them is Zephirine Drouhin.

Attached is its image from Jackson&Perkins and the links. On J&P they mentioned that it is mildew resistant and its has good reviews from users. However, on helptofind it said that it's susceptible to blackspot and mildew. I guess it is depend on where you plant it in your garden.

I bought mine last year but it already had mildew from a local nursery and the sale person said it has been treated for mildew and the mildew will be gone soon. After waiting for one week, it still has mildew and the place where I plan to plant it doesn't have a lot of sun so I returned it. If you get full sun then it may work really well for you.

http://www.jacksonandperkins.com/product.aspx?p=39970&CAPCID=9798220377&cadevice=c&gclid=CMLGo9P4r7kCFY9eQgodzW4Amg&CA_6C15C=120019350000012161

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.2572
joshtx
10 years ago
It may worth the while to look up Austin's 'Crown Princess Margareta.'
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Are you sure you want antique roses for this job? I ask, because constant rebloom, vivid colors and glossy foliage aren't a combination you'd be likely to find in Europe at an early date, regardless of thorniness. My thornless, or nearly thornless garden roses, dating from prior to 1925, are: Chloris (matte foliage, once bloomer) Complicata (once bloomer, single, not very fragrant) "Dr. Peck's"/Charles Lawson of US commerce (once bloomer) Duchesse de Brabant (some thorns, less fragrance) Duchesse de Rohan (matte foliage) Empress Josephine (matte foliage, once bloomer) Gaspard Monge (once bloomer) Gloire des Rosomanes (not glossy, and a little thorny, but otherwise fits) Mme Jules Bouche (some thorns, cream colored flowers) Mme Plantier (once bloomer) Musk rose (matte foliage, reblooms for me, but wouldn't in Chicago, single) Perle d'Or (some thorns, otherwise fits, but not cold hardy) "Pickering Four Seasons" (matte foliage) rosa macrantha (once bloomer, single, not very fragrant) Sydonie (not all clone lines are thornless, and the little flowers aren't very strongly scented) Out of the rebloomers above, I'm doubtful whether the early Polyanthas, Hybrid Chinas or Hybrid Teas would make it through a Chicago winter, even with protection. Duchesse de Brabant is supposed to be good to 5b, but is the thorniest on the list, and my nose doesn't find it worth bothering over (your nose may vary). Of the others, Sydonie is the only one supposed to be cold hardy enough for the job, and it's far from being a constant bloomer. Good luck with your quest!
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I like to use the Peter Beales Classic Roses website for things like this. You can choose to search by thorniness, and they have a category for 'No Thorns' and 'Not Many Thorns' or similar. Then next to each rose, if you click on them, they have a thorniness rating from 0 to 10, with 0 being smooth roses like Zeffy and 10 being some hard-core rugosas. I only have a few 100% thorn-free roses, including Zephirine Drouhin and her sports Kathleen Harrop and Martha, Reines des Violettes, the banksia roses, and Renae (can't get Annie Laurie McDowell here in Oz, so I must settle for Renae). I'm pretty sure the Hybrid Musk rose Nur Mahal is totally smooth too. The other roses I have with hardly any thorns are all Noisettes and Chinas, and I don't know how they would go for you in zone 6, but I can tell you about them if you would like. Other than that, a couple of my Austin's have hardly any thorns at all - somewhere between 0 and 1 on your scale - Windermere is a good example. I am also told that the Delbard climber called Nahema is almost smooth (DA's Heritage is one of its parents, which is not particularly thorny for me, so that figures), it's also very fragrant, repeat blooming, and has very double blooms, so it may be worth looking into. (I certainly will be!). This post was edited by muscovyduckling on Fri, Jul 25, 14 at 3:34
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You're welcome, Jasminerose. Of course you can have "just one". You can have all you want. It's simply the more you let her expend that energy flowering, the longer you WILL wait for the climbing growth. She's like any other climber...she's going to follow that three year cycle of "sleeping" the first year; creeping the second then beginning to leap the third. Own root, she'll take longer and the more you let her flower, the longer she WILL demand before she begins climbing. So, let her flower all you want and enjoy the dwarf plant. Eventually, she will develop all the roots needed and she'll start to climb. Preventing flowring simply gets her up on the wall or fence sooner. Kim
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I have to begin with by saying that I love aggressive plants: Datura, passiflora, the type of morning glory that grows from roots, not seeds, salvias etc. I do not have the courage to plant a Lady Banks rose. Have you seen a mature one? That's a lifetime of pruning. The question will be: will it be the rose's lifetime or yours....just kidding! The zephy rose ltcollins mentioned grows fast, puts up long canes and smells divine. Biggest flush is in the spring. I didn't give mine enough room when I planted her. She can put up 10 ft long canes in every direction. But they are pliable and thornless. I'm a big fan of vines: less trouble than roses. The passiflora carula is everygreen and you could mix it with a clematis if you like. let us know what you decide c
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User
10 years ago
I have both DZ and CPM. Both of my DZs are 3-year old, grown as stand-alone bushes instead of climbers. Not too much of repeat to speak off. I am hoping to get some repeat as the bushes mature. (Another Bourbon I have, Louise Ordier, did not repeat for its first two years in my garden, but is having its third bloom cycles of the season right now. So I am hoping ZD will do better next season.) I don't spray and both bushes still have about 90% of foliage. I heard various reports on its lack of resistance to blackspot, but it has not been my experience so far (fingers crossed). CPM does have a few thorns although you can say it is almost thornless.
meredith_e Z7b, Piedmont of NC, 1000' elevation
10 years ago
My favorites in my area are Zeffy (I really want her sport 'Martha'), Renae and Purezza. Renae and Zeffy are the smoothest and extremely 'safe' if you don't want to get snagged.

You'd have to ask around about hardiness because I'm warmer than you.

Renae blooms very frequently with a great fragrance, too. She's my go-to thornless climber because she's so easy and floriferous. Her color is a pink-white (here) that blends with everything.

Zeffy is perfect for me, except she doesn't rebloom very often. I still love her.

Purezza is a Lady Banks rose that reblooms. She's one of my favorite roses -- in pure, gorgeous white -- but you'd have to find out her hardiness limits. She doesn't rebloom anywhere near as often as Renae, but she has that banksia charm going on with clusters and clusters of small blooms.

I haven't ever had Reine des Violettes, but that is another thornless rose I'd love to try.

I have and adore a rose called Weeping China Doll, but she seems to like being a huge weepy mound and I don't know how much maintenance training up would be. She's a fabulous rose if you can grow her. Always in bloom, she's my backbone for bright pink color throughout the summer. I have her spilling out onto my tiny front bistro patio, and she is so thornless that it doesn't bother anything to do that.

I'm sorry if most of my favorites are for warmer zones! If you can't find out if they are hardy enough, I'd be happy to send cuttings so you can root them up and experiment :) Just drop me a line (spring is better unless you have a warm enough place to do cuttings in winter).

Check out the hybrid musks, too. I know that I've read that some are thornless and lovely as climbers, because I need to get those one day myself :)
thonotorose
10 years ago
Barfield White Climber

Here is a link that might be useful: BWC
nastarana
10 years ago
Was Barfield White Climber found in Florida?

ZD produced two sports, Kathleen Harrop, which is a silvery pink and Martha. KH is quite nice, a lovely color. Martha I have not seen, I understand it is more a salmon color. I love ZD, but the color is a bit in your face. Some people can't stand it. ZD should be possible in zone 6, especially with a south or east exposure.

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