I have avoided Cl Pinkie simply because I knew the back story behind it. Armstrong Roses introduced Renae for Ralph Moore back before I was born. They owned the patent to Cl Pinkie (it's all business, isn't it?) so they dumped Renae, whose patent they didn't own, and went with Cl Pinkie. Oddly, precisely the same thing occurred with Shadow Dancer and Fourth of July, but I digress. I know Renae is wonderfully shade tolerant, completely prickle-free and wonderfully pliable. It took to the trees above the outdoor lunch area at Sequoia Nursery and draped down from then with its wonderful "peach tree" type foliage and beautifully scented, double pink flowers. In Zones 9 and 10 Southern California, it is marvelously healthy, too. It WILL take its time to build into a large climber, so you will need to generate patience. If you can find someone willing to bud it for you, that would work even better. As for photos, all I have are already on Help Me Find-Roses.

You are Z6? I'm not sure about Renae, not having grown her, but would not count on Cl.Pinkie to be reliably hardy enough to climb. Mine died to the ground the two winters I had her on my lower level and hardly grew back and never bloomed. However, she has rebounded since being place on the upper level in full sun and is giving me a thank-you flush as I type, so we shall see. I think my lower level could be considered a lower zone as the cold air falls down that hill. There are many fragrant climbers that will climb in your zone; If you're looking for that type perhaps Peggy Martin which isn't particularly fragrant, but could be paired with more fragrant ones. I love climbers and have many. Do you have pics of your fence?

roseseek..thank you so much. Ranae sounds like an ideal climber! Even more ideal for the possible places I have in mind. Now that I look at the pictures ...the flowers look a lot like my Marie Pavie, maybe a tad pinker.

Lily: That's your new garden in CA? The beautiful sun and the water in the back. All that open space. You are blessed many times over. Renae looks so charming already on the arbor. I have been asking around and seems my zone is 6b/7. However there is a polar vortex expected which changes everything. The space I have in mind is very protected ...I really have to give this some thought but I am so tempted. You dont have to dead head to get more flowers?

vap: I think I am on the warm side of zone 6 at least. But I have to be careful, I know, not get carried away. My yard is also on an incline but a protected site. The trees are very big, creates a problem to grow roses. I dont have the structure yet, its going to be a long tall trellis that will be a L shape in the sunnier part of my yard. It will be a challenge to get it right, or as I see it in my minds eye.. Well wow for Peggy Martin! That is some rose. Thanks vap. Does it have thorns? It looks like the canes are flexible.

Peggy Martin: essentially thornless with flexible canes. small flowers, little fragrance. Extremely healthy with "0" BS. Where do you live exactly .... LI, somewhere in the city? I'm just giving a warning that it's a drag to be disappointed and waste time trying to grow something that's is a zone too cold. That is what I had with Cl. Pinkie. I would look at Madame Alfred Carriere. What are you looking for in a climber?

P.S. That's Lilyfinch's garden in TN before she moved. Solidly Z7 and she still experienced die-back on Renae. If you are borderline, I'd still try it.

Oh gosh I soooo wish that was still my garden ! Cue the tears !! That was tn like vapor said . There isn’t that much green in this town except where people use artificial turf ! Lol

not always a lot of dead wood , but a few canes of it , it always rebounded just fine but that did slow it down . No need to deadhead, it would dry so nicely that I could shake the blooms off or just ignore it and more were always coming . Very pliable canes too. Should you order one , Burlington roses has them and I recommend spending the few extra dollars on the gallon pot . Much better size than the band size . Nothing wrong at all with her bands! I just realized I was silly to save a few dollars on my last order . My Renae was a gallon and went into the ground , my others Need to be babied for a bit in pots .

Thanks! I never realized I could get gallons from her.

Do not believe the propaganda about Mme Alfred Carriere being "thornless". While she may appear to have fewer than some, those she does have are designed to rip flesh. They are extremely sharp and downward hooked. They WILL rip your flesh and cause considerable blood loss. I fought that blood thirsty Kraken for far too long until I had enough. The afternoon I ripped her out of the neighbor's tree, which she had helped herself to, and stripped her from the wall, chopping her into as small bits as possible, was a delight! Never again would she tear my arms or hands. I have also never brought her into any other garden I have had anything to do with. Repeatedly shredded, thereafter shy.

vap: I am not in LI or the city. LI is warmer. I am just outside northern manhattan at the southern edge of westchester. I am so aware of being in zone denial. I am not going to do that to myself. And I might go back to work next year....just far less time to make mistakes and do-over. I do see though I am drawn to these free spirited cheery roses. What do I want in a climber? Thats not hard: fragrance, lots of flowers, rich foliage to clothe the trellis, disease resistance...vigor. I do still have MAC. Just want to try to my hearts content a whole bunch of roses new to me.

Lily: I would cry a river if I had to give up that garden to move to a town that embraces artificial turf. Life is just full of compromises. I have never bought from Burlington. Just got to email for an availability list. Do you in general like this nursery? I will get a gallon if its available.

I will make up my mind at some point, I have a while. maybe some others will comment..

roseseek, have you seen the thorns on Rambling Rector? They are the talons of a hawk and come up every 1 to1-1/2 inch. Every time I and my husband are in the garden together he does not neglect to mention how that rose has to go.

The new canes and laterals on MAC can be thorny (not horrendous though) but as the cane ages the thorns disappear.

I have grown both Cl. Pinkie and Renae. Love them both but I lost Renae one winter. Not sure why, as she did fine for many years, but it was a bit of a hard winter. I'm zone 6 (not sure if A or B). Maybe some day I'll try her again, though I am trying to limit my zone-pushing; I suspect she really does not love my climate. Cl. Pinkie is a really good rose for me, and I have never had winter die-back issues. However, with all my climbing Pinkies, I winter protect for the first 2 years. After that, they seem fine, and I don't protect; as they get older they become better and better, blooming all season. Renae seemed quite shade tolerant, have never tried Pinkie in shade. Peggy Martin is also a great choice, tough as nails and beautiful, plus roots easily if you want extras. She does not, however, rebloom as well as Cl. Pinkie or Renae - she's more a fantastic spring flush, scattered bloom after. At least for me.

Frances, thanks for piping in! You give me hope for my Cl. Pinkie in her new position. :)) May I ask how you protected yours and how tall it now climbs? I'm hoping to attach mine to a tall obelisk.

I would seriously love to try Climbing Pink Pet. The bush version is Rock Solid so a climbing version would be astounding. It's always written up as no fragrance, but DH and I find a strong clove fragrance.

Katyajini, Rambling Rector does have prodigious prickles but you really do need to show your husband Mermaid. That will put the fear of prickles in him!

Neither Renae nor Climbing Pinkie will last long in a warm USDA zone 6. A warm zone 7 is pushing it.

Paul, do you have any experience with Climbing Pink Pet?

@vaporvac:

No, it’s not one I’ve grown. Ive seen the bush form but not the climber.

Kim, you make me laugh. Just today, I was out deadheading and cleaning up Candice. Her thorns are vicious! Big honking downward hooked things. She got my clothing and tore my leather gloves! I told her off in no uncertain terms, and stated for her to stop it! I was trying to help her. She is gorgeous but oh, those thorns! They look like they are the beak of an eagle and feel just about that size!

Thank you Frances. This in indeed confusing as Renae grew for you, many web sites say zone 6 but Paul says not. ...Well I dont know yet!

Katya : I absolutely recommend Burlings nursery!! I love to purchase from her . My tastes however cause me to order more from other vendors , but she is excellent in many ways . Have total faith in her plants and her business!

Something interesting is how my zone 7 actually was , and will explain how frances could have good results with Renea for a while .. my garden was on rolling farmland with no windbreak . When the polar vortex would happen , my garden would get hit hard and friends the next town over would have no problems at all . Also I was always like 10 days behind starting bloom dates than my local friends . Droveme crazy !! We would sometimes get hit with ice storms and nothing in town . It was just my microclimate! :)

Thanks, Mustbnuts. I admit I have enjoyed tearing out and tearing up quite a few others which seemed to relish the taste of my blood. They just aren't worth THAT to me.

I inherited Lilyfinch's Renae this spring and all I can say about her is after severely pruning a mature rose back and ending up bare rooting her (opps!) that girl wanted to bloom! Within a couple week there was a six inch shoot with buds on the end of it. I'm optimistic I can do right by Lilyfinch with her.

Pinkie I have had quite a bit longer. I'm in Mid Tn in a rural area and although I'm supposedly zone 7a I can not get warmer roses to survive. No teas or noisettes--even the ones that are suppose to be good to zone 6. Pinkie is exposed on a slightly elevated site and gets the brunt of winter winds whipping off the fields and laughs it off come May. I grow her as a rambunctious bush because I have the space ad the setting for it, but her canes are limber enough to do what ever you'd like. She gets a shovel full of manure straight from a stall a couple times a year but other than that little else. I get about 3 distinct flushes a year, but none of the subsequent ones are the big show of the first one.

I have pictures but Houzz isn't letting me post today.

Pinkie in the early evening light--so a bit warmer than usual:

Whole bush:

One more:

ore:

Oh yay !! How nice of you to check in subk !! I hope Renea ends up thriving for you . :) your pinkie is beautiful. I always wanted to grow that !

Just beautiful!!! She looks great as a free standing bush. That's what I'm doing with mine. I figure if she gets some dead canes in the spring, she'll won't be any shorter than the bush form! : ))

Here's Renae this spring a few weeks after she got transplanted from Lily's garden (and accidentally barefooted.) . Really reminds me of the Annie Lawrie McDowell that I had for a few years which really struggled with the cold then finally gave up, but even in her death throws was trying to bud and bloom.

Is she doing a little better than that ? I hope so ! :)

Oh yes! A nice full bush about 2' in diameter, not yet showing any interest in climbing. I'll take a pic tomorrow... What I love about this picture is it had just been planted and all I wanted it to do was survive and it was already throwing out buds. ALMc use to do that to me--look like it was diving while at the same time sending out buds.

ETA: I think Renae is one of the parent plants of Annie Lawrie McDowell...

Well, all I can say is that my oldest Cl. Pinkie I have had since at least 2012, and we have certainly had some hard winters. So I would (cautiously, because of course you never know) say that Cl. Pinkie is safe in zone 6, once established. Renae, on the other hand, did die, although she made it through several winters just fine. It was this past winter that she didn't survive, and I don't think it was particularly harsh, though it was quite wet. So who knows. Vaporvac, the longest canes on my Cl. Pinkie are probably about 10 feet. I had a previous Cl. Pinkie, that I sadly lost to rrd, that was probably 13 feet. I also have another, younger Cl. Pinkie that's still only about 6 ft. As to how I protect: for those first 2 winters, I use my leaf bag trick. Get one of those big paper leaf bags (available at THD, or even your grocery store). Cut out the bottom, so you have a long paper tube open on both ends. Slide the tube over the rose. Drive a few stakes through the base of the bag to attach it to the ground, and tie it around the rose with twine, all to keep it from blowing away. That's it. It protects the bottom of the rose, allows in light, air, and water, and even if you lose the exposed tops of the canes, the bases are ok. You can fill the bag in with straw or leaves if you like, though I'm not sure how important that is. I remember Paul Zimmerman saying that the real winter danger is cold winds drying out the canes, and the bag protects them from this.

Lily: I know exactly what you mean, a microclimate made cold and dry by whipping artic winds. How frustrating. I am lucky in a small way. I have very tall trees surrounding my yard and they really absorb the wind and much of the snow and ice. I can see from my living room how the storms are at the top of the trees and down below such calm. They create a lot of serene shade though in most places which is beautiful but not great for roses.

Frances: I like your method of protecting tender roses. Do you think I could also use this to protect very small rose bushes once they dormant, such that they are inside the bag completely? I guess I would not use leaves to fill up the bag above the rose because if it rained and then froze that might kill the rose? Do you think this might work?

Its reassuring that both CP and R grew so well for you. But to have a big full grown rose just die and disappear, thats tough.

subk3 thanks for those beautiful pictures of CP!