Interesting. I give the opposite feedback to newbies, that it is OK to leave more than "recommended" until you understand the growth habits of the plant, the amount of vigor it has in your garden and eventually one becomes "comfortable" with taking off more and more in subsequent pruning cycles. People like to read books without knowing that the books are very general (and usually are referring to how to prune hybrid teas) and then they panic when they go to take their roses down to "18 to 24 inches" and their roses aren't that tall to begin with. Or, their beautiful plant grew to 7' tall last year, and they panic that they will do too much damage by taking it down to 1/2 - 3/4 of that size (or less). So, don't panic. You can always take more off later. And some roses resent hard pruning (at least some of mine do).

Those are good choices. Spread the strong shoots (when they come) laterally on the support. Force them to start low because the natural tendency is to grow upwards and bloom only at the top. Don't break the brittle tips off but let the stem develop some fiber before bending it over. With most climbers, you can let the cane grow almost all the way out before bending it. In other words, don't think you need to be messing with it constantly. ND will (maybe next year) begin to make 10' primary shoots. You want to preserve these intact for several years. Bloom comes mainly on seecondary shoots called laterals. Cut these back to 2 leaves when deadheading after a flush of bloom. Rosarium Uetersen may not make true climber shoots but a lot of strong laterals, 3-6' long. While flower buds are developing, tie or tuck these in to cover the support zig-zagging outward and later upward. Flower clusters are very heavy and will bend the strong laterals forward and down unless supported. Don't prune much the first two years but let the bushy growth build strength for the plant. ND will be a shrub for a while before it is able to produce climber shoots. After 4-5 years you may notice the oldest canes becoming less productive. Mark less productive canes during the spring flush and later remove one or two right at the base.

Michelle2013, You should very good germination from seeds you get from Rinoa. I have. She is trying very hard to build a good reputation for quality plants and seeds. I believe she has done this already. It is a sad thing for people as you speak of buying all those seeds and getting so few to germinate. This is topic of conversation on a few groups that I frequent. The concern is not just germination rate, it is finding reputable sellers of seed that actually send you seeds from the pod parents that you carefully selected. I am sure most people realize that they are not going to get a clone of pod parents with seeds, but hopefully something similar in one characteristic. One person purchased 2000+ seeds of a few different hybrids and they got a few mixed colors and all the rest "Pink". Rick

A pigmented (protected leather) is esssentially a painted leather and we all knows what happens with paint. It peels. A protected leather does resist scratches but when it does scratch it looks worse. I would choose a full anilie dyed leather.