Date: Fri 19-Apr-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-10

Quick Words:

Gardener-Bleach-climbers-roses

Full Text:

(Suburban Gardener column on climbing roses, 4/19/96)

Suburban Gardener-

Successful Climbers

By Anthony C. Bleach

"It prompts one to wonder what the great Gertrude Jekyll would have made of

modern-day climbers, for she relied heavily on cascading garlanding and

festooning. Had she had the range of today's of today's long flowering

climbers at her command, would she have ignored their existence? I doubt it.

"She would have... harnessed the extensive capabilities of the modern climbing

rose, painting it into her landscape just as she did delphiniums and

foxgloves."

-Peter Beales,

Roses .

Stephen Scanniello at Brooklyn Botanic Garden writes that the best survivors

of the coldest winter ever were in fact the climbing roses. Based on their

performance last year, he recommends the following climbing roses for every

garden:

Sombreuil covers a panel of lattice fencing, eight feet high and 12 feet wide,

in a partially shaded area in the rose garden. The large two- to three-inch

wide blossoms are white with a peach pink blush in the center. Sombreuil is

one of the most fragrant roses in the Garden's collection.

If the spent flowers are picked off regularly, Sombreuil continues blooming

until frost. Scanniello compared notes with other rosarians around the country

and found this so-called tea rose was behaving abnormally indeed. Normally,

tea roses are highly susceptible to winter damage. So for fragrance, long

lasting blooms and disease resistance, Sombreuil is worth serious

consideration. It was introduced by M. Robert in 1850.

Altissimo is another rose from France, this time from M. George Delbart in

1966. This everblooming climber can be used for a variety of places - on low

fences, around pillars, covering a lattice fence and even trained along chains

to make a festoon. It is suitable for partial shade as well as full sun.

The blooms are carried on long stems, are five inches across and have a faint

fragrance of cloves. It keeps fairly free of blackspot and mildew and seems

winter hardy.

I love the simple five-petaled flowers and the large orange hips that come

after the flowers. But do not let the hips develop too soon, as the flowers

will stop coming. By deadheading you encourage flowering; wait until early

September before you allow the faded blossoms to develop into hips.

Over the years, as Altissimo grows stronger and bigger, you need to remove

some of the older canes to make room for the younger ones. The best time to

prune, as well as for all everblooming climbing roses, is during the late

winter or early spring.

Compassion came from Peter Harkness, England, in 1972. This is a vigorous

climbing rose that produces large, long-stemmed, apricot-pink hybrid tea-type

flowers all summer that are sweetly fragrant. The glossy foliage is disease

resistant and makes a beautiful screen on a lattice fence.

In the Cranford Rose Garden, Stephen Scanniello grows it in the shade of a

lilac tree, where it sends up 10-12 foot canes up to the top of the tree.

It is important Compassion has some protection from winter winds. Sometimes

the older canes appear dead after winter, so wait for signs of breaking buds

before you begin to take out dead wood.

Compassion will, like the other two, start to bloom the first year after

planting. Do not prune any growth during the first two years. As the canes

develop, train them into place: Wrap them around a pillar or fan them out

along a fence. This will induce the canes to produce lateral shoots along

their entire length. These laterals bear the best blooms throughout the

season.

As the blooms fade, prune the laterals to two-thirds of their length. This

will encourage faster repeat blooms.

(Anthony C. Bleach coordinates and teaches the horticulture programs at

Naugatuck Valley Community-Technical College in Waterbury.)