Hip displays from once blooming ramblers not having flowered canes cut out each year after bloom are part of the attraction. One I have here has fruits on the plant in good condition for months.

Edhelka (North Wales, UK) said that it is vital that big climbers be self-cleaning. You DON'T want to climb trees to deadhead. DO NOT.

But self-cleaning tree-climbers, really, aren't a lot of work. Cut them back if they get in the way. Otherwise, let Ma Nature take care of them.

Pole Pruners!!!.... the cut and hold variety if you can find them. Ok. I see this has already been suggested. They are great for all sorts of things, btw. Dianela, I can not get over the image of you on a platform atop a forklift. That is bring pruning to a whole new lever. Be careful up there!

Growing New Dawn on a lower horizontal surface hardly requires much work after a bit of initial tie-in as her thorns act as ties. I just lift up the canes and laterals, attach them to another cane and call it a day. This works unless it's very windy and sometimes there's just an ornery cane. I don't really cut her lats as much as others as I want her big.

This is a great post. I had so much to do this year that I pooped out dead-heading ND, but she doesn't bloom as well without it. I am surprised though with how much she is re-blooming.

Vapor I am pretty certain the people who go by and see me on the forklift or walking around on a giant bathrobe early spring probably think I am completely crazy =p. It seems I should really invest on a pair of these pole pruners instead.

I think we need a picture! :-)

Hi Everybody!

its reassuring to have thus many sympatico friends.

First about the long reach pruners. I spent the last little bit on Amazon and found them. I have a really long one, telescoping to 8 feet so I know what a good tool these are. However the 4 feet-ish very light pruners are going to be ideal. Thank you for the tip @Moses, Pittsburgh, W. PA., zone 5/6, USA, @roseseek, @Vaporvac Z6-OhioRiverValley

@dianela7analabama love the bonding in the garden when he forklifts you wherever you need to be. I dont know how else to manage that huge climber over your front porch. It looks great though. You have such a charming home. if you have a picture of that Mels Heritage, please share.😊

@palustris68. thats a beautiful picture, what rose is that? @jerijen, @Edhelka (North Wales, UK) I have been growing two once blooming ramblers and they are so easy. Mine barely required even one hour a year. One was I think 'Tausendschön'. It just climbed into a tree all by itself. It bloomed profusely and then looked clean. I am totally spoiled by this rose.

The other rambler is Rambling Rector and it too just hooks its way into trees. It also blooms profusely and then sets hips no cleaning required.

So the problem really is with the modern climbers.. I am making a note of keeping the climbers at a manageable size.

@RedBird_7a EastTN thank you for your support. I am learning this with you. Maybe the very long telescoping pruners might help with the Lamarque? This suggestion is possibly totally off the wall, if you feed your Lamarque alfalfa tea it may put on young basals and you can cover the lower area for more flowers? Maybe I dont know what I am saying.

I would love to see your climbers if you are so inclined.

Sub! I remember those pictures! Fantastic! You need to do a video. :-)

@subk3 you are so right. I am gathering from what you are saying/showing that one relaxed and focused time with climbers in spring can be very effective management (and great for the soul). How to handle the canes was the other very important part of my question. I love spring. Your before and after pictures are terrific, so on point! Thank you.

I am fascinated by the big old ramblers.

@palustris68 - I love your photo - what rose is it and how tall is the post? The bird house is perfect on top!

@katyajini - Your Tausendschön is a beauty. I think it's super important to have the big ones be self-cleaning. I have Rambling Rector also, and I just love it. I've had it since 2001 and it is up into a eucalyptus tree. Requires nothing from me but admiration - he gets a healthy dose of that every time he blooms and then again for the little hips.

I also have Veilchenblau on a trellis over the front steps. I've also had this one since 2001. It gets a tiny bit of powdery mildew on the tips of the new canes, but it's not too noticeable. I love the color on this one. It has one large spring flush and then a cluster here and there still blooming even now. I do need to get on a ladder to tuck in the new canes across the top, and the hips that form aren't always pretty - they can get powdery mildew on them so I cut off those that do. But still not too much time invested.

I have some new ramblers and climbers growing up onto some new trellises about 2 years old now. It's so exciting to see them finally make it to the top. Some are slower growers than others and they don't bloom much yet, so the only work has been tying them on.

I am newly inspired to get more ramblers...

~Peggy

Ohhhh I have a huge weakness for these large ramblers. They are just so flexible and nice to shape them. Love all of these posted here.

Katyajini: I fell in love with Mel’s heritage after seeing Lisa’s. She has the most impressive specimen. Also Jeri has an amazing one growing on an arbor that is to die for. Sorry I have posted these before. I am not sure I will super train Mel this year again and may just let him be more wild.

winter training: can’t get the forklift in this area so old school with a ladder

spring bloom

now on spider mode again. It reblooms well.

I have quite a few large climbers, and basically just stumble through maintenance. The easiest one are the tree climbers, and my advice is, if you have suitable trees, send your climbers and ramblers up them! Once they're in the trees you don't have to think much about them any more. I don't deadhead: no time. Roses that grow up balconies and on pergolas I try to do a thorough pruning of once a year, though now it's more like once every two years, to cut out old growth and retie new growth. I need a pair of those long-handled pruners! So all this is very imperfect, but I get plenty of flowers to make me happy, and it works out well enough. But my garden is generally untidy.

@Melissa Northern Italy zone 8 wrote, "But my garden is generally untidy." The BEST ones always ARE!

Well if that's the case my must be the best in the world! LOL dianella I still can't get over that climber.

@BirdsLoveRosesSoCalCoast Thank you Peggy! Me too, I am fascinated by these large, 'rambling' ramblers. Years and years ago when I first started reading rose books the pictures of these huge roses growing into trees and over stone walls in some homes and gardens is what inspired me to grow roses in the first place. That and fragrance. I would love to see the photos of your ramblers if its not too hard for you. All the happiness for the new ramblers you will be growing!

@dianela7analabama Wow thats a tall pillar!!!!! It looks fantastic. The roses, very close in shade of pink, look perfect in that tableau! What are they? Your garden is shaping up to being an Eden. I look forward to more of your pictures. By the way, I assume thats a 4 X 4 on a concrete footing? Do you ever worry about it rotting and falling with such a beautiful mass of rose on it? Or that is long long way away?

Thank you @Melissa Northern Italy zone 8 and @roseseek! Melissa, roses growing into trees are really very special. And usually such ones are very easy to grow!

Katya the post is a 4x4 treated lumber and I think they take a while to rot, but honestly after seeing all these ramblers on trees here I am really eyeing that tree behind it. I think I’ll leave Mel imprime and see if it can get him on that tree. Then the day the pole falls apart he will have a nice forever tree home. The other pink rose is Olivia Austin. I wish I had your gorgeous ramblers on trees. How do you do it please?

Melissa Northern Italy: would you please share your strategy to actually get the ramblers to climb the trees. Do you give them a supper until they can reach the lower branches? I am in love with the idea but do not know how to tackle it.

This is such a great thread. I’m learning so much. I must learn more about the rambling roses that grow in trees. Everyone’s photos on here is AMAZING. Are there any ramblers that bloom more than once???... or is it totally worth it to grow it for the one flush??? How long does the one flush generally last for you? I know really nothing about these rambling roses that will climb trees.

Katyajini: Your Tausendschon is Breathtaking!... WOW! WOW! WOW! I love how there are various shades of pink in the blooms... from dark to light. Will you tell more more about this rose? Does it rebloom for you? What do you do to maintain it? What kind of tree it’s growing on? Would you mind sharing a wide angle photo of it so I can get a sense of it with the whole tree? How old is your rose? Where did you buy it?

Ceske Praci Cest is purported to rebloom in the Fall. I'll let you know if mine does. This is its first full year in the ground growing up Cornus Mas. It's a great one for a smaller tree, but the 7' height on HMF is nowhere near its capability as it's already that tall wrapping itself around the limbs. I'm guessing it will have canes at least 10' and probably more. It's completely hardy here.

For a large rose, look into the Setigera, both the species andhybrids. I'll post pics in a bit from a local Fen where they grew way up into the trees well over 25'+. What a glorious site. It was one of the high points of my summer to see them in their natural habitat along with the native swamp rose.

@katyajini - I will try to post some photos tomorrow. If I have to re-size them it's going to take me some time to figure that out...

@dianela - your Mel's Heritage and Olivia Rose Austin are a marriage made in Heaven! That tree branch behind Mel is trying to reach out to him - "here, Mel, grab my hand".

The 4x4 post will most likely rot some day if it's in the soil. We had to take down the original trellis that I had Veilchenblau on and build a new one. I had to untangle all the canes and lay them down on the grass and keep them pulled out of the way of building the new trellis. Veilchenblau is thornless - I certainly wouldn't want to have to do that with anything thorny!

You do need to offer some sort of support to get it up into the tree. I wouldn't want to "waste" much of it's length by wrapping it around something. Maybe a really thick rope or a chain hanging from the tree to the ground that you could tie him to and help angle him over to the tree might work? I can just imagine him draping those flowering canes down from the tree...whew! what a sight that will be!

@Ann-SoCal - A lot of the really large ramblers are once blooming. But that bloom is long and so spectacular that it's really something to look forward to each year. The ones that set hips give something to see in fall and winter. I recently got a great book - "Ramblers and other Rose Species Hybrids" by Ann Belovich. It has photos and a brief description of hundreds (well, truthfully I haven't counted but there are a lot) of ramblers and large climbers. I still have much to learn about them...

~Peggy

About how to start a rambler climbing a tree, just plant the rose a few feet away from the trunk and guide it into the tree, by "leaning" the canes over to the trunk and tying them to it, or guiding them up a pole until they reach the branches. As with so many of my gardening practices there may be more you can do that will give the rose a better start, but what I do has worked for me. Some roses can ramble over multiple plants. My possible-'Tausendschoen' was planted with an eleagnus and grew together with it, then eventually worked its way into the Leyland cypress next to it; and the 'Alberic Barbier' that grows in a hedge is stretching up to the line of flowering ashes above it, as is the double white Lady Banks rose.

One important consideration: the tree's ability to support a massive rose. We had 'Treasure Trove' climbing thirty feet up a black locust when the whole thing came down in a storm. Pick sturdy, well-branched, strong-wooded trees. And keep in mind the eventual size of the rose, as they do have a way of getting bigger than you might think; at least, this is the case here--possibly not so in an area with cold winters. I'm awfully impressed that 'Archduke Joseph' is offering serious competition to the persimmon, a tree that's over twenty years old.

I'll repeat what I've said at other times about once-blooming plants: I think they're worth it. I have a large garden here, of course, but even when I was gardening on a fair-sized city lot I had once-blooming roses, as well as a lilac, a forsythia, and other large, once-blooming shrubs. I believe in plant succession--this is how Nature does it after all--flowering of different plants as the seasons pass; and I've found that anticipation plays a big role in garden enjoyment. I have flowers, some peonies, for example, whose blooms last only a few days; but I sure look forward to their arrival, gloat over ripe seeds at the end of summer, and greedily count sprouting seedlings the following year. However, other posters at times have brought up the issue of how long a variety's blooms last in a given climate, which is worth thinking about, a rose's flowering season being shorter in hot weather than in milder temperatures.

I started to write down as an example of bloom succession the flowers that open in my garden and locally starting in January, but the list went on forever, so I canceled it. I have flowers almost every month of the year, sometimes just a trickle, as in late February when I've mooned day after day over the Parma violet 'Marie Louise' because nothing else was happening, or in a dry August, when the very first cyclamen start to emerge. Such an approach to gardening won't work for everyone, of course, but it's certainly possible to plant this way.

@dianela7analabama I think given the habit of the rose, and a tree being available, its best to grow it up a tree. It looks less restricted, which is as it should be for such roses, and is far easier to grow this way. I agree fully with Melissa, and others, about that.

I dont know how to describe how to grow a rose up a tree. I will try to say how it happened for me.

For three or four years Tausendschon was a floppy mound of fairly long canes about 4 or 5 feet high. It bloomed like crazy, I mean crazy. I could have done something with those canes but didnt. Then it started shooting up canes 10-15 feet long that stood up like upside down J-s. Long laterals formed all along the J-s. Soon the J-s and the laterals found the tree. From the convex point of the J long laterals would shoot straight up and adhere to the branches. And soon there was no holding back. The rose formed a thick mat on the tree and would not fall off. This rose is thornless. Every year new canes came up and would continue to grow. So I didnt have to do anything.

Couple of important points. The tree here is an evergreen. I am not remembering the name right now but it has a pagoda like habit with tiers of growth. Which turned out to be fortunate as there would be a lot of area for the rose to rest its laterals as well as for the laterals to hang down from. Secondly the growth of the rose did not suffocate the air or the photosynthesis of the tree as some vines do.

Rambling Rector is probably the thorniest rose I have ever seen. I just planted it near the drip line of the tree and in a couple of years it started forming canes twenty thirty feet long that just hooked their way to the top of the canopy and on to drape on the other side of the tree. These canes make very long laterals that also hook on to the branches and drape down beautifully. So in this case I didnt have to do anything either. Rambling Rector being so thorny maybe better at some further out point in your garden. It is very fragrant however. The tree here is a Crab Apple so the most explosive bloom takes place on top of the canopy on the south facing side. I cant get good pictures of it, my neighbor gets to enjoy it more than me. I do see long hanging laterals blooming away.

So! The rose just finds its way up the tree. Just place it at or slightly inside the drip line. Pay some heed to the habit of the rose and enjoy it growing up.

My T. is much bigger than what is advertised. RVR and HR and HMF say 8-10 feet. Mine was well over 30 feet.

@Ann-SoCalZ10b SunStZ22 My T. in the picture is at least 20 years old with a long history of neglect. It is sold by Heirloom and Rogue valley Roses. Maybe other vendors as well. It does rebloom a little and the later flowers are dark pink. I think if you have trees its worth trying to grow some large ramblers. They are not as well known because it takes time and space to see a ramblers beauty but there are some beautiful ones. the book suggested by Peggy @BirdsLoveRosesSoCalCoast is a great book to get started on.

@BirdsLoveRosesSoCalCoast thank you for reminding me about that book!!! I have to look through it.

Peggy Martin reblooms for me, not as heavy as the spring flush but its still a reasonably sized rebloom.

Thank you very much Katyajini for your post: I may have to try it 😁your ramblers are gorgeous.

Very interesting thread, something I am very focused on at the moment - I am moving to a new place, 1 acre with a lot of trees around the periphery. I am aiming for a collection of 40+ rambling roses, and am working on finding them.... many I will have to grow from cuttings, as Canadian import rules are insane.

I have had quite a few different climbers, and I put them into 2 categories -

1. I can reach the top and monkey with them - pruning etc

2. I can not reach the top, and they are on their own.

Both categories give a lot of pleasure - I have tended to buy repeat flowering climbers in Cat 1 - current favourites are Golden Gate, Laguna, Parade, Altissimo amongst many others. In Category 2 I have really loved Felicite Perpetue (neighbour planted 30 years ago, now 40' up a tree, smothered in blooms every June/July), Paul's Himalayan Musk, Francois Juranville, Rambling Rector and Wedding Day are REALLY vigorous, and will climb almost any tree. Open trees are easier than dense ones, but I have had good success with even some very dense trees - 45' holly tree in particular - dense shade inside it, but 3 ramblers have worked their way up it.

A couple of things I have learned the hard way -

- plant at or outside the perimeter of the tree. if you plant too close, it won't grow well. You have to let it grow as a bush for a couple of years - during which time it will eventually make some quite long canes - you can take the long canes and attach them to the lower branches, and stand back and wait 2-3 or 5 years. Every once in a while I try to attach canes better to a tree - sometimes you can just stick them up the tree, and the thorns and side branches will hold them in place. Other times, you need to tie them in. Tie the very loosely, as the canes will enlarge over time, and you don't want to choke them.

You will think it has been a waste of time for quite a while, but after a few years, they will suddenly put on a burst and give you a great show. I have seen that anywhere from 3 years to 6 or 7 years after planting.

- DON'T put a massive rose on a small or medium size tree.. I had Rambling Rector and Wedding Day on and old pear tree and a dogwood - both trees eventually got pulled over by the rose. Kiftsgate is another one to beware of - make sure it is on something very steady and large.

Even though these only flower once, they are spectacular and very special connections to the past. I love thinking that my great-grandfather or his father may have had one. Plus, you can attract a staggering number of bees. With a 35' Felicite Perpetue the sound of the bees is almost enough to make you raise your voice to talk - delightful.

Have fun, and be patient - it will be worth it.

John

Thank you for your fabulous input! Where are you moving and which do you plan to grow there? Are there any others you would suggest?

I think this boils down to two ways of looking at "large climbers". One is that they should always be tidy, dead headed, tied up, pruned, etc. etc. Sometimes this idea is carried out weekly, as the OP suggested. Of course, some folks who do this have a different idea of "large climbers" than I do - my idea is 20 - 35 ft tall, as opposed to a neat 8 or 10 feet. It is just a matter of choice and the amount of time you have, and your ability to accept some "wild" looking bushes (which is my personal favorite look, but I understand that there are lots of gardeners who do not like this.)

I have several what I call large climbers climbing up my 3 story house (some pics below). We feed them once a year, never spray them, never deadhead them, and they only get pruned/tied up better once a year - usually in our mild mid winter, when we are sure we will not be dealing with any active birds' nests.

Jackie

First pic - old tea rose 'Reve D'Or climbing 2 1/2 stories up my house - re-blooms 10-11 months of the year. The white rose on the right which has only scattered bloom in this pic is 'Sombreuil' (aka Colonial White), a mid 20th century LFC. Also a re-bloomer, and it climbs 3 stories up our house, and then goes sideways because it ran out of house to go up.

Second pic - Top half of banksia lutea, which climbs 3 stories up our house. A once bloomer, blooms massively in the Spring. The roses on the left are mingled blooms of 'Mme Caroline Testout', a climbing HT which re-blooms, and 'Belle Portugaise, a once blooming hybrid gigantica.

Third pic - better pic of Sombreuil, which is feeling around at the top for a fourth story of our house to climb on (no luck)

Fourth pic - Cl Cecil Brunner (climbing polyantha) - goes up to the third story, mostly blooms in Spring with some scattered bloom all summer and a mild repeat in Oct.

These are all different kinds of roses. Nonetheless, they all only get messed with ONCE in mid winter (Jan here), and fed once and irrigated during our normal 6 month summer drought. I like them, but I realize some would look at them in horror, because we let them do what they want to do.

Jackie

OK, for some reason Houzz did not post the pic of the Cl Cecile Brunner - here it is:

There need to be a button for 'LIKE!!!!!"

Thanks, vaporvac - It is funny, my screen has one, but I guess Houzz does not show them everywhere - another Houzz glitch?

Jackie

@Robbie Collie thank you for your write up. In summary my experience with ramblers climbing trees (which I have written above) is EXACTLY as you have described. Got to plant them at the drip line and give it some time. And more open trees are better. Then just sit back and watch the show.👏👏👏👏

I hope you share some pictures if you are able.

Ha. Jackie. I can "like", but not yelling it jumping up and down! LOL :0

@jacqueline9CA Jackie what a dream abode you have created, through years of love, patience and vision. I would love to live in such a home and I am sure you are inspiring many, many people here. I would create something like that but my house is completely shaded by big trees and not conducive otherwise. Its bit too cold here as well. To me it is not unruly at all. Its very personal, eclectic and exciting. So glad you posted those pictures! Thank you.

I have some great big roses that just grow. The big climbers I was originally thinking of here are more like big elaborate shrubs that need some maintenance.

SubK3 -

What is the green plant you have growing inbetween the front boxwood(?), and the roses?

(And your roses are truly inspirational!)

The rose on the cedar post in the photo above is the Michael Walsh rambler, 'Nokomis' released into commerce in 1918. It is occasionally available from Burlington Rose Nursery. The post is 10' long with about 8' above ground. Almost any rambler looks great on a cedar post.

My very largest climber is actually a rambler, so therefore a once bloomer, Rambling Rector. It is a rampant grower so several times a year I have to address the long canes it produces, but I don't have to deadhead for rebloom. This is a big rose, and left on its own, it would pull down the fence and bury the unwary passerby.

My reasonably large climbers are climbing teas or tea noisettes I clean them up a 2-3 times a year and otherwise ignore them. It helps that I grow them on the back fence and don't pay much attention to them when they are not at their best. The exception is Lamarque, which I planted in the front garden. It gets cleaned up a little more frequently so that I can walk by unsnagged.

@missmary - 6b/Central Maryland The perennials between the low boxwood hedges and the rose is shasta daisy "Becky." On the far side of each is baptisa. The daisys are a bit common, but they can be trusted to give a great show and brighten up the place end of July and early August when the roses aren't their best.

@jacqueline9CA Your house looks AMAZING. It's kind of like it's being eaten by roses but in the best way. Do you have to tie them up at all? Or do they climb up wood siding on their own? I've heard one shouldn't let ivy grow up a house as it can damage siding. Is this the case with roses?

I live in a one-story house with vinyl siding so this dream is probably beyond me. Also all my big trees are in the back woods and covered in poison ivy....

I wonder if there's a good rambler for a small 8'x12' shed? Or is that more of a situation for a climber? It's very wet ground by the shed too. Hmm.

I want this dream.

@summercloud - There are smaller ramblers. My Veilchenblau has topped out at about 16'. It is on a pergola. Something that size would be fine on your shed.

Actually, if you take into consideration that you'll plant it a little away from the wall and then it will grow up to the roof and then across the roof, you could handle at least 20 feet of rambler (and more depending how high your roof slopes up and then down) and then more if you let it drape over the other side of the shed. Also it will mound up over the roof allowing even more length.

I think you will need some way to attach it to the roof at first so that it will form a base. After a while you will be able to just tuck the new growth in among the existing canes. Just make sure the shed is plenty sturdy!

Go For It!

Summercloud - We do give the climbers some help - about once a year my DH gets on a ladder (or two) and ties up errant canes. For the largest, heaviest ones, he uses hardware which is supposed to be for hitching horses. It is a metal plate with 4 holes for screws, and then a heavy round link is suspended from that - that is heavy duty enough to hold the weight of the heaviest ones. He is a contractor, and is very careful and knowledgeable about how to attach the plates to the shingles without damaging them.

The roses don't damage the shingles, but at the very top of the wall of the house where it runs into the soffit, some have tried to grow up through the roof (banksia lutea did that, and the little cane which stuck through the roof bloomed, which is how we noticed it 3 1/2 stories up!).

For your shed, I agree with everything BirdsLoveRosesSoCalCoast said, except that I think you should get LOCAL advice re smaller ramblers or climbers which would work best in your climate & damp & wet conditions. California is so dry and hot in the summer that I cannot give you any specific recommendations. Just remember to find out whether the roses you may consider are once blooming (like Vielchenblau), or repeat blooming, so you are not disappointed. Your local Rose Society is a good source of info. Or, walk around your neighborhood/town, and see if you can find roses eating small sheds like yours.

Jackie

@BirdsLoveRosesSoCalCoast @jacqueline9CA Thank you both for your advice! I'm feeling super inspired now. I'm going to spend the rest of summer pondering options and buy myself something exciting in the fall. And attach it with hitching hooks. ^_~

And if I want to repaint the shed I should do that first...adding to the project list!

Katyajini I apologize for not posting Bathsheba earlier, I have been away from the garden.

I planted her March, 2020 and regret not getting multiple plants. She is a winner for the David Austin team. Incredible resistance to blackspot, strong plant and great blooming power.

you can see she reached the top of the fence in 5 months and while blooming

Bathsheba 2020 · More Info

Clean foliage as of yesterday

Bathsheba 2020 · More Info

Blooms pretty even as an immature specimen

Bathsheba 2020 · More Info

@dianela7analabama Thank you! My B. is new this year as well but still sitting in a pot. I needed to know how big it will get so that I could place it well. Dont you just love the fragrance?😊😊 I have never experienced that scent in roses and was giddy with happiness when I smelled it. Maybe because the plant is still quite young we do not see the pronounced gradation in color as in the photo on DA website. No matter. I am very happy I got it too. My garden being much smaller than yours I have only one B, to love!

I have a climber pruning question: When I prune my non climbing shrub roses, I am carefully examining exactly where I want to make my 45 degree cut so as to influence the direction of growth for the new growth that will emerge. I'm trying to shape the bush as I prune. Sometimes this means I will prune off quite a bit to get to a leaf bud that is facing in the desired direction...... How should I approach pruning a climber? Am I just cutting off the dead flower right at the point where it bloomed or am I snipping above a 5 leafed spot on the stem?