Nahema should be able to survive well in zone 5 without any particular protection, though as always you should bury the graft if grafted and mulch the roots in the growing season for moisture and soil conditioning. I winter protect all my roses in zone 5 Nebraska, but Nahema survives reliably above the protection. I have rarely seen a rose, let alone a climber, take off so quickly and bloom so well in its first year, and it has already stretched both ways on a 6' fence. I love it, and with the intricately double blooms, terrific foliage, and good scent - what's not to love? Cynthia

Barb...both happy and sad....Happy he is moving forward with his life. Knowing he will go far as long as he stays focused on his studies, and learns to quit being so wasteful. Sad because he is moving on and we will be seeing very little of him in the next 4 years or so. We havent made any new life adventures yet. House needs some TLC. I suppose first we will get used to having a home with just us and the critters and go from there. Chell I used to be a dog and cat groomer. I loved it too. But my employer was a deedeedee. Never had the money to pay me each week and always "owed" me. And she never gave me my tips either.Then at the end of the year she reported more earnings for me than what I had really made.Fortunitly I kept records and proved my case and won, so make sure you don't let the same happen to you. I have kept my clippers, blades and accessories and still will do a neighbors dog or two once in awhile to keep my skills up.....but don't miss the hair stuck in places I did'nt know existed....lol. Love all the pictures the everyone post. Always enjoy seeing ya'lls babies. Regina

Pretty much any of the multiflora ramblers (Goldfinch, Aglaia, Ghislaine de Feligonde) are happy to be grown as free standing shrubs. Quite a few large climbers with stiff canes will manage too - Jasmina, Aloha, Meg, Nahema. and also several noisettes such as Aimee Vibert, Gloire de Dijon and Albertine can manage without support. I have also grown bourbons (Blairii No 2, Coupe de Hebe and Madame Pierre Oger without support. True, the luciae/wichurana roses such as Alberic Barbier and Leontine Gervaise will flop about a bit...but can manage perfectly well as ground covering roses and are brilliant at scrambling over banks, tree stumps and such. Finally, some of the species such as soulieana, helenae, moschata will. grow upright and will arch over. I grow mine on a wire frame between posts, lurching and lolling on old vegetable supports or just doing their own thing....but there is an enormous caveat. If you are keen on tidy controlled gardens, this is probably not highly recommended...but for a wilder, less formal, edge of woodland look, many of these large climbers can flail about in abandon. I should also state that it is idleness (in my case) which has prompted me into growing these roses without much in the way of help, and, as an extra bonus, I have also been quite encouraged that pruning, far from being essential, is actually a bit of a waste of time since excessive chopping just seems to encourage more vigorous growth than leaving well alone for several years then having a major haircut once a decade (the older wood also seems to help with support). Again though, this is a style not appropriate for small gardens or neat borders.

I'm no expert or anything, lol. I have noticed a few of my roses (not teas but not a cl version either) decided they want to climb once they got up against something they could climb. I have had Blue Girl for years. It was large but never a climber. Then because it was in a really large pot and got bigger on one side than the other and was kinda tilting, I moved it up against a really tall shrub for balance until I could get to pruning it. Well I didn't get to it for awhile and next thing you know, it had one branch that got really long and was around 10ft. I trimmed it back and it shot out again and now basically is a climber on that side. Poseidon is a newer rose for me. I got it from Heirloom as a band. It seemed like a shrub. Everyone else seems to have a shrub and I haven't heard that there is a climbing version. Mine was a shrub until last summer when I stuck it up against a trellis because I was moving stuff around. Next thing you know it was 10ft up and on top of that trellis, on a few branches. I cut them back. They grew back. Now one is 12ft and still growing. It has a few new ones that are close to 8ft so far. Both these bushes are in full sun so they aren't reaching for the sun -just the moon lol.