Good morning, fellow forum members!

Erasmus, I have a few acres, I don't know how much exactly, perhaps three, that make up the garden. I can tell you're longing to loose the chains of having to garden in a relatively contained space, but at least your garden is lovely, and far better maintained than mine. But you're right, it's great to be able to let the roses get as large as they want. I tried a couple of the purples, 'Violette' and another, but they petered out in my dense, probably-alkaline soil. Multifloras in general are not too happy in my conditions. The Ayrshires and Wichuriana ramblers are pretty good on the other hand, thank goodness,--I love Wichurianas (and I know that spelling's not correct! but it's the one I'm used to!)--and what I would tentatively call the climbers in the Musk family. Also I have good Lady Banks roses, double white and double yellow, down in the shade garden.

Jackie, I hesitate to formulate a general rule, but I think a lot of the species ramblers are white. Also my photography/camera helped produce some of this effect of whiteness: 'Ayrshire Splendens' has pink tints that don't show in its picture, and 'Brenda Colvin' is apple blossom pink and white, also not showing up. The hybrids offer a range of colors.

mad_gallica, if you have poison ivy, it's no contest: you win! They're the nuclear arms of the gardening world. I think part of the Europe--America rose divide is just climate. The eastern U.S.'s sharp temperature swings and hot humid summers are different from Europe's milder, drier climate, so many roses with European roots are less suited to the U.S. My guess is this is true of the Ayrshires. Our climate is changing, though, and not for the better.

Carol and Vaporvac, here are pictures of ramblers for you and for everybody who loves big roses.

These are the rest of this year's photos:

This is another Ayrshire (or Sempervirens) rambler, photographed with zoom fifteen feet or so up in a Leyland cypress. Not showy, but always a gratifying sight.

'Félicité Perpetue' Yet another Ayrshire, probably the best known of the lot. I've seen this once or twice locally.

Pink Multiflora rambler, possibly 'Tausendschoen'. It grows out of an eleagnus on a dry little ridge, climbing up into the neighboring Leyland cypress, where it keeps company with the Ayrshire its neighbor. The year and a half of drought did it no good at all, but this is one tough rose, and it's still with us.

A closeup, not very good, of the one purple I may prove successful in growing: 'Rose-Marie Viaud'. I planted this Multiflora rambler under a good-sized conifer and keep it mulched with the used pine shavings that serve in our house as cat litter (we remove the poop first) and plant debris from cleanup. If necessary I also use an acidifying fertilizer. This seems to be working: so far this year RMV is showing no signs of chlorosis, and she has bloomed for the first time since planting a year and a half ago. Now to see whether she'll grow.

Cont.

Not sure what this is, and I haven't gotten around to looking it up (it's on a map somewhere). A rambler grown as a shrub and doing pretty well in tough conditions.

A species, I think R. longicuspis. This was basically unphotographable, at least by me, given the contrast between the white flowers and the shady green background. It's growing into and through a flowering ash in the shade garden. This rose struggled for years in very poor soil, stony, alkaline, dry, but seems to have conquered its spot and looks good to be around forever. It blooms late in the rose season.

Rather an awkward picture of 'Blush Rambler'. This is growing in conditions that are bad even by the standards of our garden: dense, droughty soil, full sun and wind. Despite all this, it grows. We gave it a hand a year or two ago by putting it in a cage to protect it from the deer that love to destroy its straight smooth young canes. In addition, it's growing close to a young oak that's starting to put on size, and I have hopes that rose and tree will grow together to their mutual benefit. This is a cheerful, tough rose that I hope to see get large one day.

A closeup of 'Blush Rambler'.

My mystery white rambler with yellow buds; something in the musk clan, I think. I posted photos of this a couple of years ago asking for an ID, with no results. A large and ferociously thorny rose, quite lovely. I have two plants of this, with 'Russelliana' (not shown) for color contrast.

Mystery white rambler, closeup of the blooms.

And that's all my photos for this year. I hope a lot of people will post pics of their ramblers: it's a big world of lovely roses!

Lovely pics, all. Yes, I'd like more land, Melissa. We came to NC for some land and better weather. Got the better weather but not the land. Got a good sized yard and a big old house at a good price.

That's a stupendous and beautiful Lady Banks, Jackie. How is a rose more of a fire hazard than the house itself? The regulatory powers that be are apt to go after houses themselves as being possible fire hazards, or maybe stairs on a house will be deemed a stumbling risk, or maybe kleenex has little paper particles that get in your nose.

Your Violette is just beautiful, Portland. You captured the color so well, and it looks great with your rustic arbor.

I no longer want huge plants...they are vastly more difficult to remove if they need to be removed. The greater surface area exponentially increases the chance an RRD mite will land on it . RRD is not bad here but still.

portlandmysteryrose & erasmus - thank you for the supportive comments about our "fire bureaucracy" - I know the basic idea is correct, but the way they go about it is not (at least for homeowners - they do a lot of good work on the vast public lands around here, cutting fire breaks now, instead of waiting until a fire is raging. It is not all the Fire Dept, either. The folks in our county passed a huge tax to create an all new bureaucracy to save us from fire. So, they hired 100s of inspectors, and trained them with a handbook, and the results are as expected. No logic is allowed to conflict with their dictates. All you can do is laugh. We have a neighbor with a 1/4 acre lot which is seriously not maintained, and has lots of ancient trees and neglected roses. She has what you might call a difficult personality. The entire neighborhood was chuckling last summer when 2 very young firemen stopped at her property, and a few minutes later were seen

running as fast as they could down the sidewalk with her chasing them!

To answer your questions, no, we gave up on the Lady Banks - although I know it can be kept very small, I think what I liked about it was its magnificence. We also removed an equally large Cl Cecile Brunner, and did not keep it. Ditto Blaze. We did manage to remove and save (or successfully rooted cuttings) very large bushes of Anna Olivier, Pax, Reve d'Or, Belle Portugaise, & Cl Caroline Testout. They are now living in my "New Garden", which my DH built for me across the driveway from the house. It is completely surrounded with an attractive deer fence too!

Meanwhile, here is my Veilchenblau as my next Rambler:

Jackie

Very pretty color..I think I see a white clematis in there too. That's good that all you can do is laugh. That's a funny story about the lady.

These are all jaw-droppingly beautiful, one reason of course being that these guys can grow to be really huge, and what can be better than large swathes of lovely rose blooms? My personal favorites are the white and purple ramblers, but who could say no to the delicate loveliness of Blush Rambler? They really each have their own beauty and I admire gardens that can support these really large ornamental plants.

I am pretty sure that this one is NOT a rambler, because it is too big. However, since it was "discovered" in China in the first half of the 19th century, who knows how old it is really, or what is its parentage. All I know is that it is magnificent, and has been grown in the area I live in since at least the late 19th century (one of its many many common names is "The San Rafael ose", which is the name of the town I live in, which had one of the Spanish Missions

Evidently the message above posted somehow without me tellling it to, so here is the name and pics of Fortune's Double Yellow. It acts like a rambler on steroids. The first 2 pics below are of the one growing in my garden - front and back views. I think mine is planning on jumping up the tree on the left and getting larger. The rest of the pics are of plants in the park from which I was able to root a cutting.

Jackie

Front View from our house:

back view of the same bush, from a ladder:

Huge one in the park - all of the color you see is part of the same bush.

This one is in the same park, but gets pruned right after it stops blooming - first proof I have seen that FDY can be kept as a reasonable size bush:

Erasmus, oh yes, RRD. I'm lucky not to have to keep the implications of that in mind.

Jackie, adore your pictures of 'Fortune's Double Yellow'! If it's not a rambler, it's at least an honorary rambler. As far as I'm concerned, roses can't get too big.

I'm wondering at the absence of Wichuriana ramblers. I mean, we have posted 'Alberic Barbier' (me) and 'Leontine Gervais' and 'Paul Transom' (erasmus), but there are many more, and all the ones I know are beautiful. I grow 'Edmond Proust', 'May Queen', 'Francois Poisson', 'Glenn Dale' and some others that haven't gotten going yet, as I planted them a year and a half ago, just going into the drought. The best I can say of these last is that they're alive, which is promising Also, how about the 'Dorothy Perkins' clan? And, broadening the scope, where is 'Russelliana'? Surely people grow them? And there are quite a few Multiflora climbers out there, I believe.

Let me just say at this point, all the ramblers posted on this thread have been wonderful and beautiful. I just want to see more of them, and also see what people are growing.

Another one I haven't posted photos of, because I couldn't get a decent shot of it, is 'La Mortola'. This has taken over its pergola and is working its way into the large bay laurel. A musk climber, thorny, and working on huge.

Wow...Fortune's Double Yellow is so beautiful...I have long wished I could grow it but it's too tender for here and also I'm not planting any more big ones.

I have some that act like ramblers...Cl. Cecile Brunner for one. Mine has gone way up into some trees and most of the plant is fairly shaded so it's not a massive bloom anymore. It is still a wildish beauty.

E. Veyrat Hermanos is a climbing tea that sends out long lax canes and acts kind of like a rambler.

I have an Albertine growing through and over a privet bush, and Excelsa which rooted through a pot in shade and is spreading around there though not blooming much. I think Dianeinal has a beautiful Excelsa plant . HMF calls it a hybrid Wichurana rambler.

For awhile I called this " Alana's Mom's Red" but I think it's Excelsa.

Albertine

Melissa - when you mentioned Russelliana, I was surprised. I think I have a bush of it, which I got about 20+ years ago. I was out for a walk, and a tiny top of a cane was sticking out of a thick hedge right next to the sidewalk (privet, or something) by about 8 inches - luckily it had a bloom on it. I rooted it, and planted it in my garden out between the street and the sidewalk at the bottom of a telephone pole (sun being at a premium - we had way more trees then).

It blooms happily every Spring, and I love the strong fragrance! What startled me is that I had NO idea it was a climber! Now that I think about it, I presume that when men come to climb up that pole to work on something, they probably trim off anything that is trying to get taller than about 5-6 feet. Otherwise, however, they are very careful not to hurt it. I looked on HMF, and there is only one picture of Russelliana, which does seem strange.

I ran out to take pictures just now, but mine is just almost 95% done blooming - really ugly, as its blooms stick on when finished. I did get pics of some of the last blooms, which are below. I also found an old one of the bush - that is the first one below. The last one below is a long shot of the mostly finished bush, so you can see where it is.

Last year it did produce the first tiny sprout off its roots. Months later a crew was working on our street, I think putting in technology lines or something, and they had posted signs that they were going to dig right where the large bush was growing. So, in a panic we had the tiny sprout dug up so we could save it in case the Mother bush was gone the next day. The good news was that they managed to NOT disturb the Mother bush, and now I have a rooted cutting growing in a large pot. I think I may try to find a place where that little one will have space to climb, and see what happens.

Jackie

Here is an old picture of the bush when it was blooming - you can see the bottom of the pole behind it.

Here is a pic I just took of one late small new cane at the bottom of the bush which still has blooms on it:

Here are the very last 2 blooms on the baby one I have in a pot:

Here is a long view I just took of the finished bush at the bottom of the telephone pole - that's as tall as it ever gets.

And, for FDY fans, here is one more pic I found which is the one in the Park - this is only ONE THIRD of the entire plant - I could not fit all of it in one photo:

Thanks, Jackie. Love love love that 'Fortune's Double Yellow', and a park management system that can allow that jungle. 'Russelliana' can make a shrub or a climber, I think, depending on what kind of conditions it has to grow and how it's maintained. My best plant has sat there as a shrub for several years, but this year threw out a significantly longer cane than it had previously produced. It has nothing to climb, but I think is going to make a big mound of growth as it accelerates.

DH and I took the back road to town as the main road was blocked for a race, and we drove through a heavily foliaged, bright-flowered countryside: the green weight of latest spring. People grow ramblers here. I don't know their names, though I think 'Dorothy Perkins' and similar are prominent. The ones I saw are mostly past their peak, but you can see how splendid they were, and how simple masses of flowers can be amazingly beautiful.

Yes, "free roaming" roses are wonderful, and of course are completely different from so many (public and private) "rose gardens" which are strictly regimented with roses in rows. I prefer the former, but that is just my preference.

Re the Park / Jungle where FDY is thriving. On the other side of the path, it borders on what used to be a creek, but is now a cement trough built by the Core of Engineers after massive flooding of the town in the 1950s (I lived there then as a child, and I thought flooded streets and schools was a NORMAL part of winter!).

Anyway, there was another horrible flood in 2004/5 (it happened suddenly in the middle of the night after 1 " an hour rain for hours and hours - the police and fire in what is a tiny town had to go door to door waking everyone up to evacuate. Then they passed a new tax for the 2-3 closest towns to do something about the creek and the cement trough, to prevent flooding. Almost 15 years later, they have spent $52M, mostly on studies and consultants - almost NO actual physical work. They did come up with a PLAN about 2 years ago. It involvved clear cutting the entire small park/jungle where FDY lives, among other things. Luckily, the City Council put it to a vote, and the residents of the town voted NOT to clear cut that park, so FDY is still there and happily throwing itself over/around/ and up various trees and huge bushes. They are doing some work on the watercourse to prevent flooding, but they are leaving the park alone.

Jackie

Erasmus, how did I miss your post? Sorry, ignoring it wasn't intentional. The photo of 'E. Veyrat Hermanos' is utterly glorious, which comment doesn't do it justice, but what could? Also vaporvac, where are your rose pictures?

I didnt know if Ceske Praci Cest was considered a ramble. Maybe Ill dig up some pics anyway because more folks should grow this one...up largish trees preferably!

Melissa, I did respond to your comment about "a Park management system that can allow that jungle", but Houzz decided to put my response at the very top of this thread, right after your original comments. It got the complement of "Featured Answer", but that made it so that probably no one who is following the current comments on here would ever see it. I realized it was missing, and had to hunt for it. Sigh.

Jackie

Melissa, I did respond to your comment about "a Park management system which could allow that jungle", but for some odd reason Houzz decided to make it the "Featured Answer", so it is way up at the top of this thread, right after your original comments, so probably no one who is following the current discussion on this thread saw it. I realized it was missing, and I had to search for it. Sigh.

Another thought about that little Park - it is managed by the Department of Public Works of that tiny town (pop ~ 2,300), which I think has a Dept head and maybe 1 employee. The had of the PW Department is obviously a gardener after your and my own heart - we talked with him one day at length. He personally planted both of the FDYs which are in the Park years ago.

Jackie

Melissa here is my Russelliana.

Thanks, Sheila! That looks just like my best specimen of this variety. (I got cuttings to root years ago, and they all took, so that I have four plants, I believe. Only one really thriving, though the others hang on.) I think you should flank this one with humongous ramblers in different colors, as I see you still have some unoccupied space. We can't have that, can we?

Vaporvac, looking forward to your photos. This is a broadminded thread as to what roses come onto it. I'm focused on ramblers because I think they're undervalued, and want to see what's out there, but am not interested in discouraging forum members who aren't quite certain whether their roses are really ramblers or something a bit different.

An unillustrated word about my main rambler project. The big garden has a tractor road that runs through it, starting at the house and ending up down at the one-lane, crumblingly paved road that goes from the provincial highway up to the locality where we live. The garden/tractor road, which we call the "Viale", is flanked on each side for most of its length by an irregular file of Italian cypresses. Once past the first ditch, the plan is for there to be rambling roses growing between the Italian cypresses, along with trees, most of them currently less than knee high, and by a line of shrubs at the property line. It's a very slow job, but we're making some progress. Every year I have a fall campaign where I dedicate most of my energies to one part of the garden: last fall it was the old part of the big garden, for example, and consisted mainly of us planting shrubs to fill in borders, and some strategic trees. This fall, I don't know yet. At some point, if I still have life and health, I'll be back to the Viale and planting to fill its many holes, and working on nearby areas that can be reached by the same hose.

Another lovable thread-great pictures,too. FDY is incredible-another one to add to my wish list .

Erasmus, I'm amazed by your E Veyrat Hermanos. I used to have this rose-as a plant, it was indeed very vigorous, but it was a total wash-out for blooms-terrible balling ,and on those very rare occasions when a flower didn't ball, it had none of that delicious pinky shading-just a plain, boring yellow. It's long gone, and I don't miss it by any means, but then I see a photo like yours and start to think "what if it was just lack of good soil preparation that caused mine to be so bad? Maybe I should try it again?"...

Thanks, Melissa.

Bart, I can catch E. Veyrat looking good sometimes but it does ball a bit. I'm surprised that it balls for you in your hotter climate, and I imagine it is dryer as well. I think it balls less when more mature. Many of my teas are balling this spring. Here are some other shadings it's capable of:

It has all these different looks. Few thorns, and very healthy.

How lovely Erasmus! I hope to get that one too.

Melissa, I do have multiple ramblers and do love them too. I have too many to type in without more coffee.

This is Alexandre Girault.

Madame Alice Garnier.

La Perle on the right with Cadenza and Rosarium Uetersen

Years ago, I grew Alexandre Girault. It wasn't hardy here, but completely healthy, and I wondered why nobody else seemed to grow it.

Dorothy Perkins and R. setigera have buds, but are a ways from blooming.

OMG, erasmus!!! I may ineed have to re-try iy after seeing those pictures,darn it. I'm supposed to be finishing up the Rose Phase of my garden and aiming to focus on companion planting, etc, but then I see these pictures...

Thanks, Sheila and Bart. It is nice to see those big ramblers have room to spread out. They are lovely.

I'd like to see someone's whole plant pics of E. Veyrat . If you have a lot of room and sun it might make a good plant. Mine is planted close to other plants and roses and it meanders through them and doesn't display a massive bloom. It has blooms worth looking at now and then. I think it might need a bit more pruning than mine gets so it would be branchier.

This is rose porn of the highest caliber, where the comments are just as enjoyable as the roses. I've toyed with the idea of planting Mel's Heritage (not a rambler, of course, as far as I know) but I'm sure the local fire department would have conniptions if it trailed along the ground in our extremely fire-prone region. That's of course assuming that the local gobblers didn't make short work of it, so I'm better off enjoying the fruits of others' labors. I think of the heyday of ramblers as being during the 19th century, when acre-rich gardens contained them, with tea taken by the fortunate well-to-do on the verandah in the summer while watching the cricket game on the lawn.

One rambler I have nine plants of is Darlow's Enigma. If your desire for fragrance is ambitious and continuous, and you have a bit a shade, this one is for you. I've enclosed three photos: one of the largest plant, it was planted on a wading pool sized amount of horse manure, north of a yew hedge, and the soil is just right (not too dry, not to moist); it has canes that are easily 12-15 feet long in all directions. I do not prune it at all.

The other is a closeup of the flowers; it has been in bloom for about 2 weeks and will bloom all summer long. The scent is there and it wafts too.

The last photo is an example of the plants that I have mixed into shady shrub borders; these I cut out the oldest canes whenever they get to be 3 years old or so. Also, I cut back all the remaining canes to about 18" in March. Super hardy, no disease -- only the rabbits really bother them (but the roses always bounce back). The year of the polar vortex all of the DE died down to the ground, but they all regained their height by the end of that summer. Usually all of their wood is live in the spring if I don't cut them back or the rabbits don't prune them.

'Darlow's Enigma' is one mighty beast of a rose. I have four of them and they are all grown in full sun, and they all grow as large, semi-cascading shrubs, not climbers at all.

This is the largest, about 18 years old now, and its fifteen feet wide and 10 feet tall.

@Melissa Northern Italy zone 8 I have wichurana ramblers! It's a little early here for some of them, they are just starting to bloom. Dorothy P and Ethel just started opening their first blooms yesterday. Thelma and American Pillar are just starting to fade after peak bloom. Lady Godiva and Paul Transon are starting to bloom, but these are new to my garden/still small. I also have some of the wichuranas that are considered to be large flowered climbers rather than ramblers - Blushing Lucy, Awakening, New Dawn. And I have many other ramblers that are not wichurana - most notably multiple large Paul's Himalayan Musks of which I have a few - they are just starting to fade now. I'll grab some photos to add to your thread!

Thelma

Dorothy Perkins - just starting to bloom

Paul's Himalayan Musk - starting to fade and entering period of crazy cane growth!

American Pillar - just starting to fade

Ghislaine de Feligonde

Ethel

Because I love wichuranas, I decided it was time to finally give Dr. Huey a place in my garden. So here is his fading bloom with his parent Ethel just starting to bloom in the tree behind him

Hot stuff! Rosemi, Paul, Elf Rosa, thanks for the photos! I had wondered whether people weren't posting rambler photos because growing seasons were later than ours. And I'm happy to know other fans of ramblers out there.

Elf Rosa -- Thelma is beautiful! I've never seen that one -- is it fragrant?

Melissa, as far as growing seasons go, yes, my ramblers have only been blooming for a week or so, and Dorothy has not even started yet.

Paul, that Darlow's Enigma is quite the plump beast! I've never used it as a stand alone -- it does have the commanding presence and good health for such a spot. Hmm...

@rosesmi5a Thelma is not fragrant that I can tell - although it is supposed to have a mild fragrance.

I'd never been particularly excited about American Pillar, until now! Yours is absolutely glorious, Elf Rosa. The pink blooms against the green leaves and green supporting structure are completely eye-catching.

Paul, your Darlow's Enigma is another stunner. I had to look it up on HMF and was surprised to see it classed as a Hybrid Musk with perpetual bloom. Given that I'm surprised that it's not a more well-known rose.

Baltimore Belle is blooming. The dark pink rose in the background is Geschwind's Ordern.

Close up of Baltimore Belle

If we are discussing Darlow's Enigma

Here is mine, framed by Quadra.

I love all these jungly gardens. Perhaps they are the natural homes of ramblers.

Melissa -- Me too! I call it my "tangled sward" :)

M. Gallica -- love, love, LOVE your photo of Darlow's Enigma framed by Quadra. Now I've seen two plants of DE grown as a shrub. I think I am inspired by y'all to plant another DE, this time as a shrub, maybe with some Mockorange and a purple leaved Sambucus.

@ingrid_vc zone 10 San Diego County thank you! We had a wet winter followed by a very warm spring, and American Pillar is extra huge this year. It really is one of my favorites - the bright color, the single flowers that bees love, and it's extra easy to train - the canes are thicker than most ramblers but still very flexible. I look forward to it blooming every year!

We also have new fire safe advisories in place as a newly designated fire wise community. All the oaks on the 3/4 mile driveway are now limbed up 13 feet. We are also advised that the first 5 feet from the house needs to be a plant free zone, not sure how that will work out. Might need to move a lot of roses! We are awaiting the FD assessment, but already knew that Cecile B had to go so she is done as she had reached the roof and then some in just a few years. She was also a freeway for mice and we only have two cats…. I miss her, but also I like my house and we are definitely in high fire zone. For Mothers Day, i was given a 6” tall Cecile B - now I just need to find a fence or maybe a shed far enough away from the house.

I lost the name of this rambler:

I bought this from Vintage Gardens back in the days when I fell in love with giant roses -- not giant flowers, but giant garden space fillers. I imagined a forest of roses to wander in in, and the rambler family as well as the species roses fit the bill. This rose fills the rose garden corner it is in albeit too well. I knew I was in trouble one winter when I decided to cut it back. I bravely started on the outer edges of its 16-20' canes, and when I reached the center, I was very very afraid. This rose has a TRUNK, an apple tree sized trunk, and this is Michigan! Since then, I have stopped cutting it back because the thorns are just too vicious.

The leaves are shiny and healthy -- nothing ever makes it sick. It blooms just before the Excelsa clan. I like the fact the each cluster of flowers stands up on a stalk that is long enough to cut and bring inside. The double flowers open up a translucent pink and fade to white. There's a constant strong citrus fragrance. No hips are set. You can see three of its flowers below: L shaped cluster in pale pink. That's a mockorange (white) below and peonies around it/behind it.

.

Love your rose tale, rosesmi. And the rose!

I kept meaning to recommend this book for people who are interested in ramblers. It is Anne Belovich's "Ramblers and other rose species hybrids". Full of photos of 100s of ramblers of every type.

Jackie

Oh Jackie! Thank you for the book reference! Belovich's book sounds like eye candy & dream food balanced by a robust dose of facts.