Charles Austin can be a climber if you want it to grow that way. Simply don't prune it. However you will not get as many blooms. Cutting it back by 50% gives you a fuller bush with more blooms and in my garden the repeat bloom was much better. The tall one I had took a long time to repeat. Should tell you it is BS prone so out they both went? Another reason he went to another home is because the flowers were a wonderful colour when they first came out and then they went to another dirty pink shade. Hopefully someone can prove me wrong.

Carol, I think your issues with Charles Austin are likely due to it being stunted by the length of your growing season; the severity of your winters and being "bonsaied" in a pot. In a much longer climate, Charles is ginormous. It wants to be a large plant to produce quantities of those very double blooms. What I would consider is the likelihood of it passing on that tendency to your seedlings, which could make it unsuitable for use in YOUR climate. How could you evaluate any seedling when the plant is unsuitable for your conditions? You might actually have a world beater from your efforts, but wouldn't be able to determine it because it needs/wants to be too large to perform, but being stunted/inhibited by your climate and the need to be pot grown to maintain it. I can see where you'd need vigor to your seedlings so they could perform in your shorter warm season and colder winters. That's one reason Austin uses climbers to breed his roses. Compared to the warmer, easier climates, his is more like yours, but when unleashed in our types, his roses often over achieve, out growing the spaces allotted them. Perhaps your efforts may be better rewarded by selecting those roses in your stable which are happier being grown the way you must? Just a thought. Kim

Mmm sorry Michelle no luck seeing it here!!

Well HMF says 5 to 10 feet, lol! How's that for a very nebulous answer. My Austins tend to get big, and in your zone they'll probably get even bigger, so I give them lots of space or some kind of support if I want them to get tall. Decide if you want it to be a big shrub or semi tall climber and go from there.