Pergola- Awakening vs New Dawn -- or something else--Experience?

6 years ago

I have a pergola about 8 1/2 feet high. I want a rose to cover this bad boy fast & furious.

I live near Philly, PA... I LOVE the look of Awakening's flowers but do they ball up or get ugly in the wet? It's been pretty wet this spring & I just know I'm not going to be spending my time climbing a later to cut off ugly blooms with 3 small kids!

Do New Dawn & Awakening both need deadheading to rebloom? With their reputation for nasty thorns I'm rethinking going their way at all.

Rose lovers in my zone give me your recommendations for a climber that will cover my pergola fast and be pretty... that's all I want lol. The color scheme all around are pinks & pastels ... but heck... I might throw it all away for the right rose!

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User

6 years ago

I would not go with New Dawn - she is SO thorny, and on a pergola, you have to do a lot of training and etc. I think New Dawn is best off in some less-traveled spot in the garden, where she can thug away to her heart's content and doesn't need much in the way of pruning. Can't comment on Awakening, as I don't grow it, but I suggest Peggy Martin. She grows FAST, is almost thornless, and the spring flush is spectacular. She does have some decent scattered rebloom over the summer and into fall (I don't dead-head her because she's so huge - maybe if you did you'd get more).

Here are some pictures of her on my pergola:

(sorry about the second one - I took that this morning and its really sunny out, so the color is sort of blunked-out, but I wanted you to see the whole pergola). Here's a close up of a flower:

On my pergola, that is 2 plants, one I got from RU, the other that I started from a cutting (she roots really, really easily from cuttings, another plus). I'd say she covered the pergola in about 2 years. She doesn't have much scent, but still I think she is ideal for this purpose.

Another thought is the beautiful Purple Skyliner, also a great bloomer and a fast grower. A little thornier than PM, but not bad, and nowhere near as thorny as New Dawn. Here's one of mine, growing on a pillar with Sir Paul Smith (again, sorry for the fact of the photo being taken in the super-bright sunshine, it does kind of mess up the colors, but you get the idea):

As an afterthought, here's another shot of Peggy on my pergola. This one is on the shady side of the pergola. As you can see, a little less bloom but still pretty good:

Good luck with whatever you decide on!

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Comments (9)

zack_lau z6 CT ARS Consulting Rosarian
6 years ago
I just whacked two New Dawns because I didn't want the kids and pets in the neighbor's yard to get hurt--it was growing on their chain link fence. It is rare, but New Dawn will ball in wet weather. I would deadhead the bushes. I've been told if you cut back the canes it just regrows the long canes before blooming again.

I just planted Veilchenblau near that fence. It is once a fast growing once blooming multiflora hybrid that is nearly thornless.
totoro z7b Md
6 years ago
I have Awakening and it is almost constantly in bloom but I dead head it. I noticed a little balling this year compared to last year but it rained an unusual amount this spring.
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I disagree that Awakening will take over the whole pergola - I'm maintaining the width to the six feet on the end so I have the whole side - 14 feet wide by 12 feet high to cover with something else. I'm pretty severe with the pruners in early spring - there are probably 3 or four main canes that go vertically up and over the top, any extras get removed or I replace older main canes, I cut the laterals back to a few buds in early spring. I always carry my Felcos with me so errant canes that lurk at eye level or below get chopped but mostly I just leave new growth to arch over the garden below if they are out of harms way overhead. This year I'll probably wrap a couple of new main canes around the corner to blend with the new climber. I had Maggie at the corner by the gate, which you can see in the first picture, but I moved it because I was not happy with the color combination. It had started to get tall enough to cover the bottom half of the first lattice panel. Florence I love Viking Queen with New Dawn! That one goes to the top of the list.
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New Dawn will definitely cover the pergola. To get best blooms New Dawn will need at least 6 hours of sun and tons of food and water. In order to keep blooming, it has to keep growing and throwing out those big canes is hungry business. You can feed it almost anything, but if you like to add organics, try alfalfa meal or pellets (just as long as they don't have added salts). Alfalfa meal contains a growth hormone that works wonders with roses. Also keep in mind that a climbing rose will not begin to reach its full potential until its third season in the ground. Its know as sleep, creep, leap. The first year they sleep (grow roots), the second year they creep (begin to grow canes), the third year they leap (throw long canes everywhere). New Dawn is the continuous blooming sport of Dr. Van Fleet. Every once and awhile a nursery will fail to weed out a New Dawn that has "sported back", so if your rose gets at least 6 hours sun and you give it food and water and it still fails to rebloom, go back to the nursery for a replacement. The Gardenweb has a rose forum. Its a wonderful place for information on roses. By the way there is a sport of New Dawn called Awakening, that has more petals and to my nose more fragrance. I have both, they are wonderful climbers, the standard by which all other climbers are judged. They are both healthy without spraying if that is your preference. While you may get some damaged foliage if you do not spray, it will not impact the health of the rose. Two of the best nurseries in the country for garden and landscape roses are located in South Carolina. They are Roses Unlimited (http://www.rosesunlimitedownroot.com/) and Ashdown Roses (http://www.ashdownroses.com/). These people are fantastic local resources for adding fragrant, healthy, easy care roses to your garden. I've also attached the link to the roses forum (there are actually several roses forums, including a gallery and a forum for antique roses). Rose forum - http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/roses/ Antique rose forum - http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/rosesant/ Rose Gallery - http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/rosesgal/
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I have become convinced that ND is not suitable for an arbour unless you combine it with a swag and then diligently train the canes onto the swag. In late July we will be cutting our ND back completely, to the top of the arbour and starting over, swagging every cane of a suitable size from the begining. The consensus of rose folks seems to be that ND will survive the treatment. We didn't start swagging our ND until there was already a thick accumulation of canes on the top of the arbour and dangerous tentacles reaching out everywhere - those thorns are NASTY! Even with the swag, the volume on top of the arbour has grown, because it's not easy to work with the stuff up there because of the thick tangle of older canes - not to mention at least three different clematises... I am concerned at this point that ND will bring down the arbour/south alley gate if we don't do something about it! So it's time to clear the slate an start again. My advice is only go for it if you've got an appropriate set-up to control it and are willing to be diligent in controlling it (which we weren't for the first few years, and then it was too late...) Given our experience I really think the appropriate place for ND is trained along a relatively low fence (4' or so); tie it in to the fence as if the fence was a swag. A low fence would make it easy to work with it - as opposed to needing a stepladder in the case of an arbour. Good luck.
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Mrs T, among the choices you list I'd recommend Laguna and Awakening as the quickest to grow and the longest blooming, with the best hardiness ratings. New Dawn grows fast for some people but mine was four years old and only knee high - it also died over the winter. Jasmina is iffy hardy in our zone (surprisingly) and Viking Queen isn't cane hardy and is slow to recover from the winter for me. Quick Silver is new to me but looks VERY good out of the box. What I'd do is plant at least one rose on each side of your arch so you can get them to meet in the middle to cover it faster. The light pink of Awareness and dark pink of Laguna would go together reasonably well. You can put more than one climber on each end if you're indecisive (smile) and let the best rose win the race to the top! Cynthia
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Mrs. T
Original Author
6 years ago
zack_lau z6 CT ARS *gasp* you killed them! My heart!

I do prefer a reblooming rose.. But I'm totally open to a less thorny option (for the sake of my kids & husband--- who will probably be doing all the actual training! ha) I would have it between my house wall & one of the pergola poles--- so I was hoping to avoid the thorns being too much of an issue.

totoro Z7b MD You are tempting me with Awakening. I wish I knew more about this rose... If I have to dead head both either way I might prefer Awakening tho.
User
6 years ago
Can you get a plant of Kim Rupert's Annie Laurie Mc Dowell, perchance? This rose is beautiful, healthy,very floriferous and thornless. https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.32672&tab=36&qn=1&qc=0 It isn't nearly as fast a grower as is New Dawn, however.
zack_lau z6 CT ARS Consulting Rosarian
6 years ago
You might consider Zephirine Drouhin, It is a pink thornless rose and can bloom throughout the year. I'd look around to see how well this popular rose grows in your area.
totoro z7b Md
6 years ago
Crazy new growth after first flush of 3rd year own root Awakening :

Alongside first bloom of 2nd flush
kellbell5555
6 years ago
Just have to say frances I am SO jealous of your peggy! It's beautiful! I also got one from RU and it has literally sat and done nothing! I just got it last year but so far it has had hardly any growth and no blooms. I've been so disappointed in it. Hoping if I keep it alive it will start to take off next year. Glad to hear yours is doing so well!
lw (6b/7a SE Pennsylvania)
11 months ago
@Mrs. T - What did you end up deciding and how is it going for you? I am making this very same decision this year—outside of Philly, considering New Dawn or Awakening for a pergola, realistically won't have time to deadhead. Thank you!

Pergola- Awakening vs New Dawn -- or something else--Experience?

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zack_lau z6 CT ARS Consulting Rosarian

totoro z7b Md

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Pergola- Awakening vs New Dawn -- or something else--Experience?

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