Wow, your roses are 'stunning'. Just look at all those blooms. Breathtaking! Thank you very much for your recommendation. I wonder if they will fade in the sun? What do you feed your roses? Amazing!!

You are pretty high up on the globe. I wonder if sun fading is as much of an issue?

Kippy - I had a polka climbing rose that was beautiful and bloomed all summer long but in the hot sun it would fade to a pale pink or a near white. I saw another rose today that I am drawn to. It is called 'Westerland', does anyone here grow this one?

Thanks, barbieberry. We have sunny, scorching hot summers and I haven't noticed Colette fading all that much, but it's a light color to begin with. Is your weather like Seattle's? I love British Columbia, a gorgeous area for sure. I feed my roses all kinds of stuff--love the "Tones", such as Rose Tone, Plant Tone, and Holly Tone, whatever I can get my hands on for the lowest price. I use cow and horse manure with compost on my plants, too. Diane

Hi nanadoll, Darn it, the 'Tones' aren't sold here in BC. I've looked everywhere. If someone know's differently please tell me where I can get it. Yes, our weather is a lot like that of Seattle. I love BC too, so beautiful here. I live in the (Fraser Valley), and it only snowed here for one day all winter. Anyway, back to roses. . .

I'm still looking for more ideas for a nice climbing rose? any thoughts on Westerland? Thanks soooo much.

Hi again, barbieberry,
You can get the Tones on Amazon, and you can find the sellers offering free shipping (not sure about Canada, though). The prices are all over the map, and I usually buy the 36 pound size which is the cheapest per pound. Watch prices closely because they literally change from day to day. Usually one or two stand out as super cheap. Pounce and don't delay to buy. I bought yesterday, dirt cheap, from one seller and today the price has already gone up. These cheap prices with no shipping have got to be loss leaders because for 36 pounds, the actual shipping cost is about $30! Hope these crazy tips help you. Diane

Westerland has stout canes -- the sort of rose that you prune with a lopper. It can be grown nicely as a free standing shrub. Harry has a nice Westerland trained on an arch: he must have a trick to training the young canes.

Wow! Colette is absolutely beautiful! I wonder if she'll do well here in zone 7 Dallas, Tx?

She's a beauty!

Elce

Colette does well in our bad heat, but your summers last a lot longer than here, plus you have more humidity (we are bone dry here in summer--desert). Years ago, I spent some time in the Dallas area in summer, and, wow, was I hot. The humidity made lots of difference. Still, for all its delicate appearance, Colette is one tough rose. Has done well in nasty cold spells, too. Diane

Oops, forgot--thanks so much for you nice comments, Elce. I appreciate them. Diane

I am on Vancouver Island and have Westerland and the canes are fairly stiff. The flowers are beautiful and have a beautiful scent, it's one of my faves. I also have Autumn Sunset which is a gold/apricot colour and also smells wonderful. They both seem pretty healthy here. This is a picture of Westerland 2 months after planting. The second pic is of Autumn Sunset one year after planting.

Hi Gardenbug, Buff Beauty is a very attractive, healthy, easy to train climbing Hybrid Musk rose that should do well in your Zone/conditions. It does fade, but in a very decorative way, so I thought I'd suggest it anyway... blooms can vary from peachy (in cold weather) to soft amber to pale gold to ivory, with a mixture of deep and lighter colours together on the bush at one time. Nice foliage, and in all, a very good garden plant.

Comtesse :¬)

Hi blueisland, your roses are gorgeous. I think I'm drawn more towards the autumn sunset. Is there a lot of yellow in it or is it more of a gold? How are the leaves for blackspot? I love the Westerland roses too, do you get much blackspot on Westerland? I think if the canes are stiff, I could train them early on like I did with the Polka I had. It was a monster with big thorns too. lol
Thanks so much for posting your pics. They're lovely.

Comtesse, Buff Beauty is beautiful indeed. I spent a good hour researching them last night via Google. Just stunning and definitely on my list too. I'm really beginning to narrow this down. Thank you for helping me.

Gardenbug, the Autumn Sunset opens apricot/dark gold and gradually lightens to yellow/gold, very pretty. I have a Jacob's Robe too from Weeks. The offered it a couple of years ago as an improved replacement for Joseph's Coat but now they have changed back to Joseph's Coat, don't know why. Jacob's Robe is beautiful, very strong growing, unusual glowing colours and nice scent. It is quite stiff and upright and has about a million thorns though! Here's a couple of pics of it at one year old.

Blueisland, My goodness, you yard must be amazing! I love them all. Isn't hard to choose a rose? lol - Thank you so much for sharing yours. I don't have a lot of experience with roses, do you mind if I ask how you care for yours? feed/fertilizer/sprays?

i'm a no spray gardener and i use compost and manure and bone meal when planting and feed with liquid fish fertilizers several times a year as well as tea made from alfalfa. I put a manure compost around the roses in the gardens but i can't with the roses in the driveway because they have sand over them so just stick with the liquid fertilizers. I find it really hard to choose a rose and sometimes i have to pick from a smaller list than i'd like because of what's available at the time. Of course i could wait and order it in for a following year but in the spring i seem to get desperate for a new rose fix...

Blueisland, thank you for the tips. I'll have to get some fish fertilizer and tea from alfalfa. I've never tried that before. I'm in Abbotsford and it's a gorgeous sunny day today. I love Vancouver Island. I guess this afternoon I'll go work on aerating my front lawn. Lot's of work!

Colette is very good at resisting BS here where we do get lots. She's gorgeous, but she's not a bright rose in my sun (I like that where I have her).

I can't think of non-fading climbers I have whose canes are flexible except her. Maybe Cl Caroline Testout, but mine's too young to know if her canes are normally as pliable as my young one's are. They got much taller already, but I have yet to see whether big, tough basal breaks are in the future :D

Jasmina is one I have who is pliable and nice, but is she too short for your tastes? She may fade too much for you, but she does it so charmingly! It makes her a multi-color in mauves and pinks.

Meredith, thanks for your reply. I love the pics of Colette that nanadoll posted. Colette looks amazing. I'll go and google both, CI Caroline Testout and Jasmina. Thanks so much for suggesting them to me.

Gardenbug, Here are a couple of sites about using alfalfa in the garden, i bought a bag of alfalfa cubes and put a couple of cups in a big bucket and let sit for about a week before straining out the tea. Be careful about putting much alfalfa in the soil though as it really heats up, found that out the hard way!

http://learningandyearning.com/10-benefits-of-using-alfalfa-in-your-garden

http://www.rose.org/rose-care-articles/the-value-of-alfalfa/

Meridith, those three roses you mentioned are truly beautiful.

Nahema is also a great climber and she is wonderfully fragrant. You might want to look into her as well. She's another one that blooms even when she's just a few sort twigs, and she's tough too.

my autumn sunset

my garden including autumn sunset second bloom in mid July in Michigan 2013 in 2014 we had a bad winter sunset autumn rose hasn't come back yet.