Look at Orfeo.

:-)

~Christopher

My best red climber is 'Rhode Island Red'. 'Orfeo' is new to me and I look forward to seeing what it can do.

How would you get it to "climb" the tree? Attaching anything to the trunk would do damage.

I train a rose into a tree by loosely tie long canes to the tree trunk, till they get enough length to scamper into the canopy and support themselves up there. The tie on the trunk is temporary.

When 'Orfeo' was newly planted -- already with 5' long canes in its 2gal container, just three months after coming as a band -- I used a few nails to make pegs in the tree for attaching ties to hold the rose in place. I made it so that 'Orfeo' was sorta "hugging" the trunk with its canes. The following year, much more substantial canes sprung forth, and I just tucked them in and let them go. They're so long now that the weaving into the tree is enough to hold them in place.

:-)

~Christopher

To me, 'tall trunk of oak tree' makes me look at my pin oaks. They are about 60 ft tall, and the first 20 feet is straight, bare trunk. To climb that, a rose would have to be helped up the first 30 ft, and eventually reach close to 40.

The scales are just totally wrong. Roses grow up small trees, like dogwoods, crabapples or sumac. They don't do much with oaks, maples or other forest trees.

My favorite climbing red rose is Cl Crimson Gory - the climbing sport of a 1920s hybrid tea. HMF says it only grows to 12 feet, but I have seen it growing at least 20 feet - up a pine tree! It has the most gorgeous velvety very double blooms, and the best part is the fragrance - very very strong "rose" fragrance - all of the time. HMF says it is cold hardy to zone 6, and its parent to zone 4.

Jackie

There IS actually a 'New Dawn Red' - which is New Dawn x 'seedling'.

It's a reasonably common rose here in the UK, not Peace levels of common, but common enough that the shopping channel sells it! It's a lot like New Dawn, just red, and with perhaps less repeat. Has the same armoury of prickles though. HMF has it listed as the default hardiness, I think, so not sure if it would be cane hardy enough for your purposes.

If the trees are as mad_gallica described, you could treat the trunks as pillars and train the rose around it that way. Of course, the trunk would need to get hit with some sun so the rose isn't in shade all day.

:-)

~Christopher

One side of the trunk is sunny. I will have to go measure the height to the first branch. I checked out Orfeo and saw that it is only 6-8 ft, which wouldn't work. I need a really tall one. If I broadened the search to include deep pinks and purples, would I have better choices? Oh, and thank you fduk for reminding me of New Dawn's thorns!

Does the rose have to be repeat blooming? Ramblers grow much bigger than most of the large flowered climbers.

No it doesn't, and I do like the fullness of ramblers in this case of a big tree.

If you're willing to look at once bloomers, that opens the field some. How are you for mildew? Excelsea is supposedly 5b hardy, but if mildew is an issue, it will mildew. Doesn't seem to stop it blooming though. There are several close similar relatives - I think that's supposed to be a familial tendency? Hybrid wichuranas have a big colour range, from white right through to the purple of Veilchenblau and a lot of them are hardy.

In other family groups, there's Chevy Chase, that's a multiflora cross - I've no experience with it, but I know some forum members rate it. Again, there's a few of those to choose from.

All the really big, and hardy roses seem to be white, or light pink for some reason.

I am hoping for a deep reddish rose. It is for the far end of a rose border which is dark and dusky reds, yews, purple smoke bush, carmine and purple black dahlias, etc. Gothic:)

Well, if it's "gothic" you want, take a look at Guinee or Senegal. The former is a parent of Orfeo, which I mentioned earlier. The latter is likely a descendant of the former. I've never grown nor seen either in person, but I read about them when searching for fragrant dark reds.

:-)

~Christopher

Quadra is beautiful and very hardy.

That Guinee looks gorgeous! But if its height range is 6-18 ft and its upper hardiness zone is 6b, doesn't that mean I can expect it to stay at the 6 ft end? Likewise Quadra is only 8 ft. But a nice introduction to all those Canadian roses..

I haven't had good luck with Guinee surviving the winter in my zone, but it might a zone warmer in yours. Senegal has been fairly reliably hardy, but not always cane hardy, and it's not a great rebloomer. It would probably grow more for you - mine gets about halfway up an arch on a good year (this is looking like a good year). For some reason my pictures aren't posting again on Houzz, but it is a nice relatively dark red.

Dublin Bay is another good red that gets a reasonable spray for me in zone 5. A better climber is The Prince's Trust or Florentina, both of which are true red (see the great picture Chris has on another thread). They want to grow and get a good 8' each.

I had to smile when you said Quadra 'only' grows to 8'. My Quadra by its third year totally swamps my arch that I have growing over it, and nothing nearby can compete. It blooms most of the season, but is more of a crimson red than the others I mentioned. It's hardy enough to laugh off any cold we can throw it, and it'd love your zone. Illusion is another good red, but it so far hasn't bloomed as often as Quadra. Too bad I can't post a photo of Quadra eating my arch, but you get the picture.

Cynthia

How about Paul's Scarlet?

I bought a 3 gallon Super Excelsas rambling rose today while visiting Roseland in Acushnet, MA. I was hoping to use it to climb the trunk of either an I oak or locust tree. The rose is hardy to zone 5 and I am in 6b, so I don't expect cane dieback, but its expected height is 10-12 feet so it won't be hitting a branch of the tree. I also don't want to lose the height by wrapping it around the trunk. Can it be trained to climb up the sunny side of the trunk? Or should I find another spot for it and keep looking for a taller rambler? I had been hoping for dark red, but if if won't work it won't work. Thanks for your wisdom..

It wasn't cane hardy in Schenectady. I don't know if they still have them, or if they gave up. I'm not sure those roses ever got more than 4 ft tall. Capital Region tends towards a 6a urban heat island, and parts may be 6b.

Christopher I saw your Orfeo picture against the tree on HMF.

how is it doing? I Have several red and white climbers planted in 2019 that Im trying to pillar around cedar trees. Wondering if I should try Orfeo

Sheila, that is exceptional. Wow!

it Ended up being self supporting?

I like any that turn out this way- very dense foliage and easy care

I left it natural,jc, and never supported it and this is what I got.

I ended up ordering a second New Dawn and a Felicite Et Perpetue for this spot.

ill be on the lookout for red climbers in person this spring.

I wasn’t able to find availability for all the good suggestions in here.

Decided not to place orders for single roses at 5 different places.

If anyone sees anything at HCR they think I should switch the order for, Im all ears!

Wow sheila !! That is so beautiful. You have a beautiful view too .