Climbing Roses

Hello all

I need suggestions for a good climbing Rose, for a west facing stone wall (see picture below, the wall is around 6ft high but i will be getting a chain link fence above that)

I liked the one they used in the 1st episode of Gardeners world last year, a yellow one morning something.

So has anyone had good last year that they could recommend (i do like the idea of thornless ones as well) Idealy like a varity that blooms for most of the summer/autumn with good foilage and growth. Not too bothered by flower colour as long as theres lots of them

Many thanks

Have you looked at David Austin roses? Click on this link and click on the other links in it to look at other climbing roses.

http://www.davidaustinroses.com/english/Advanced.asp?PageId=1894

Generous Gardener is a good one with strong, healthy foliage and good soft pink flowers that go on till the frosts and have a lovely perfume.   Graham Thomas is a favourite with people who like yellow roses as it is also strong, produces loads of flowers and has good perfume but I don't think it gets as big as GG can. 

We have a beautiful climbing Rose called Compassion, disease resistant,  large pink flowers, good fragrance, and lovely glossy foliage.

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This site http://www.classicroses.co.uk/products/roses/ has a really good search facilitiy down the left hand side - put in the sort of thing you're looking for and it'll come up with a good selection for you. 

Steve, I saw in your profile that your garden hadn't been touched for 30 years, so congratulations on the huge amount of work you must have done to get it so tidy.

Thanks for all the advice guys, now to do some thinking

Thanks Busy-Lizzie its been a hard graft, so far i must of removed 2 tons of stuff, mostly Tree Ivy which they trained up the wall Heres the view from before

 Tree Ivy nearly 10ft deep with massive branches and deep roots

I ALSO AM LOOKING sorry didnt mean to shout,got 21 month old on knee-for climbing roses,clematis too,want maybe 6 plants garden east facing,want plants to climb up west south north facing walls,also want to take up fair area of stone to put lawn down,any help or advice v much appreciated, what best to climbup through mature fig trre too

Hi Steve,

I've got a climbing rose in a pot, about 5 yrs old now, cut it hard back to about a foot above soil level every year and it gives the most glorious, long-lasting display all through the summer. Flowers are cream/palest pink with a touch of apricot. Lovely delicate scent too. I'd swear by it. It's called Rosa "Penny Lane"

Hi Louise,

I've got a beautiful white, climbing rose called Mme Alfred de Carriere which is doing well on a sheltered north fence, Also have Penny Lane climber (see post above) west facing - doing well. Clematis- Nelly Moser has very large, papery white/pink flowers and mine is thriving on the same north fence...

Good luck both!

1st rose above is Penny Lane

2nd pic is of a white shrub rose I have in a raised west facing flower bed, called "Iceberg" - pure white, scented, very tough, long arching branches so can be trained over things too.

Yes, Zephrine Drouin is a beautiful old and free flowering thornless rose - I have clematis The President growing through it and they look wonderful together.

Climbing Compassion is very vigorous - mine grows over two arches at right angles to each other - one of Harkness' most pop[ular climbers and lightly scented too - I've never needed to spray as it seems disease resistant.

Another very beautiful climber which I have trained along ropes in three tiers is Summer Wine - it has deep golden stamens that positivelt glow in the sunlight and carries on flowering until November here in Bedfordshire.

With clematis I have found it does not pay to buy big expensive plants.  I have bought my named varieties from Wyevale whio each year have some kind of offer, like 3 for £10.  Pklanted deep with lots of humous and bonemeal at the bottom of the planting hole they grow quickly to a a good height in the first year.  With careful choice yiou can have clematis flowering in every season - starting with Francis Rivis which will be in flwer here in about two weeks so yiou get some flower while the roses are still rather bare and hibernating.

'Zepherine Drouhin' is not more popular for a good reason - it's highly susceptible to black spot. And that is a great shame as the scent is exceptional. 'Compassion' is terrific and pretty disease free, my favourite climber. 'Constance Spry' is another terrific rose but once flowering. If you are going to really get enthusiastic about roses - I've 90 - you really ought to visit David Austen's garden in Albrighton or Peter Beales show garden in Norfolk, and actually seeing them growing.

Wow Paul - 90 roses?! Amazing. Never mind David Austin, you could open up your own garden to the rose-obsessed of us instead

Yes we do but this year we are taking a break. Something you might consider this year. A couple of years ago I 'collected' a rose hip from a wonderful Rosa rugosa, stratified the seeds, which later grew into lovely healthy shrubs. I also brought back a hip from my travels in Arizona in 2006, which I later identified as Rosa foetida bicolor 'Austrian Copper' and my one solitary bush refuses to bloom. I live in hope in 2013.

2 classics for you, very easy to train and do well if looked after, golden showers and paul's scarlet

http://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/rosa-golden-showers/1088.html

http://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/rosa-pauls-scarlet-climber/589.html

I have both, picked up very cheap from wilkinson's, £1.80 each. (Mind I only buy from wilko/pound shops if I can see life ie buds or shoots, or also if I know they have only just come instore.) The plants tend to be on the small side, but with good ground prep these guys will grow very quickly.

Edit: Paul, you think maybe the daytime temps are just not getting hot enough, perhaps try it in the greenhouse?

Send me a link Paul, so I can see where you are based - thank you, would love to visit when you re-open.

My garden is a very small urban patch, but the soil is rich clay and free draining, so roses love it and grow very well here.

One of my favourite climbing roses is Cecile Brunner. I love the little rose buds and it flowers well. Not so much scent though. 

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=27133

After seeing (and smelling) David Austin's Gertrude Jekyll in a neighbour's garden, I have planted my own bare root last year.  Its already got loads of shoots on it and I plan to train it up a fence.  Its a gorgous deep pink/cerise and smells devine.  I plan to grow a purple or cream clematis through it once established.