Well, since this is the political season I will give a political answer which is  do both.

First disregard the thought you cannot have more than one rose in this space. You can layer roses in and get a great bloom all season.

First your New Dawns.

It is a rampant rose that blooms well in spring and does give some bloom the rest of the year thought not usually in the same volume as a constant blooming climbing rose. However, New Dawn has very good foliage and will give your structure a great cover of glossy green foliage. While the canes you have now are stiff one of the keys to climbers is to periodically (as in years apart) cut out old canes to the ground so new, more pliable canes that are easier to train will replace them. That IMO is what you should do with your New Dawns.

1. Build your structure

2. Train the New Dawns as best you can on to them.
3. Take out canes that simply cannot be trained out to the ground so they can be replaced by fresh new ones you can train next year.
4. This is your background or what I like to call the base color on your canvas.

The next step is to select another climbing rose that blooms its fool head off all season long. Plant them right next to the New Dawn and train them right up the structure so they all grow together. In spring you get a great bloom when New Dawn and the other climbing rose are in peak bloom. For the rest of the season you get the repeater against the New Dawn foliage and the as New Dawn blooms again off and on you get a bonus.

I have an arbor at my house that has six climbing roses on it all planted about 1Â apart and it is rarely without flower.

pfz--what a wonderful, clear reply. And you have relieved my angst that I've planted climbers too close together. Thank you.

pfz,
Thank You so Much,
I would never ever have thought about the problem that way.
My Dear Husband and I are just shaking our heads at the simplicity. We are going to take your suggestion. I have to ask you what roses did you pick or would you suggest?
I have Ahola that is beautiful continual bloomer and Pink peace blooms all season for me, I can move them.
Maggie-Berry

Paul, interesting that you can plant the roses 1 foot apart. From the standpoint of root competition, would you say this is the minimum space one should allocate between rose bushes?

In my particular case, the roses are already big and established. They are about 10 feet a part, root to root, with the top spreading wider and wider. I can image that I can plant 2 or more " up-right growing" roses between the new dawns. My Aloha and Pink Peaces are growing straight up without all the branching. At the time I planted the New Dawns I was out of my mind. I thought they would look pretty sprawled around growing naturally. What a mess.

Curlydoc. I've planted roses almost in the same hole in cases like this. There is going to be some root competition but if the roses you select are vigorous garden rose climbers (like New Dawn) to begin with then for me itÂs never been an issue.

On my arbor are on one side Rev dÂOr, E.B. LeGrice and Duchess de Grammont. On the other side are Marechal Neil, Pierre Gagnaire and Rural England. My structure is 5Â wide by 2Â deep by 10Â high. I built it out of 4x4 posts and 2x4 cross braces.

As to recommending specific roses since I own a nursery IÂd wonÂt do that directly on the forum. Please feel free to email me and IÂll be happy to do so and IÂm sure others on this forum will also chime in with recommendations.

Paul

Paul, can you post pix of your arbor with the blooms? The reason I'm curious about spacing the roses is that I can get more roses if I can put them closer together than the standard 3 foot apart advice, not just on an arbor, but bushes as well. I like the look of a kaleidoscope of roses even if the roses grow into each other, as long as I can have some confidence that the roses can thrive and not be stunted by competition from their neighbors.

I'd be happy to post a picture if someone can tell me how!

Paul

Paul

Guess who?? Email it to me and I will post it for you. Or call me and I can talk you through it.

L

Curlydoc

Here is the picture you asked for from Paul. I have been to his home and have see it in real life and believe me when I say the roses are breathtaking. (The small building is his wife's studio.) Enjoy!

R/
Liz

{{gwi:335643}}

Looks like the roses do very well planted close together. I'll buy more roses and give it a try.

THat is so beautiful. Thank you for posting it.

Sammy

Curlydoc,

It might help your confidence in planting close if we look at why we've always been told we can't. We've been told we can't because roses need air circulation to help fight disease. Well to me that just assumes the rose you are planting is disease prone not disease resistant. The right rose for your area will do just fine planted close together. I do and I know others who do it as well. Gardens in Europe frequently have the roses planted 18" apart so they appear to be one mass. Very striking!

Glad you all like the photo.

Paul

I thank you too. Generous of both of you to post the information and the picture. So beautiful, and clear enough to copy---IF one can collect the labor and the finances. Something to work toward.

Wow, pfzimmerman your roses and arbor are amazing.
I'm so glad you posted the picture because I see,
I will need more support than a rebar post every 10 feet. also,
I don't have a focus point for the end of the arbor.
I have to re-calculate my grand plan.
You have already saved me alot of time and frustration. Thank You!
Maggie

maggie, it's easy, as Paul says. I have two climbers on the front of my house and originally I had them on trellises attached to the house. They overcame them and there was a mess. So we removed the trellises and put up a eye hook and wire system to attach the roses to. I wound up cutting down 3/4 of each rose in this process and they looked pretty bare afterwards. However, they responded greatly to the pruning and the spring flush was amazing. And they looked much neater against the house.

Thank you both,the first post going in the ground will be this Friday!!