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Who’s Afraid of Climbers and Tall Shrubs?
Climbers and Tall Shrubs add romance, dimension and drama to the garden. They make perfect barriers, backdrops for perennials, or covers for the ungainly and unsightly. What home is not enhanced by a well grown climber near an entry or softening an expanse of wall? Why then are they underused by many gardeners? There are a number of reasons, several of which relate to rose-biz marketing, best left unexplored here. The focus at RVR and our website is on making these groups more understandable to gardeners who want to grow them, but are inexperienced in pruning and training them, and are baffled by how to select from these very diverse groups.
Selecting Climbers and Tall Shrubs
Growth habit, placement in the garden, and the mature size that can be anticipated in your garden’s agricultural zone are extremely important considerations. As you know, for example, climber or not, no rose will grow as large in North Dakota as it will in Southern California. When selecting a climber to attain some height in a northern climate, choose a very hardy variety, bred to perform to size in your zone.
You may search our website for all roses suitable for your USDA Zone by clicking on the first drop down window on the sidebar and selecting ‘view hardy roses’. You may search for climbers by these classes: Ramblers, Climbing Hybrid Teas and Climbing Floribundas, Polyanthas and Miniature Climbers, Tea-Noisette Climbers,
Climbing Teas and Chinas, and numerous varieties of the Albas, Bourbons, Hybrid Musks, Mosses,
Hybrid Bourbons,
Hybrid Chinas and Hybrid Perpetuals which can be made to climb. Perhaps it was inevitable that the modern Shrub class would become a bit of a catchall category. The different types, or groups, of climbers, on the other hand, are fairly well defined by characteristics. Tall shrubs and climbers may be searched across all classes of roses by using the height category one desires.
An informed selection is made when you know what a particular rose is capable of and what it is not capable of. Match your choice to your vision. Some are very tall, upright, rigid plants, unable to bend and run nimbly along a fence. Others will overwhelm a small arch, while some are incapable of reaching even the roof of a tall arbor, let alone provide shade across the top. Some are so lax that when thrown over a tree limb they immediately cascade limply back down, (An effect I like). Meanwhile, in the next tree over, a different variety is still going, with very little ladder work by the gardener, and is approaching the top of a fifty foot cedar.
Planting, Pruning, and Training
Make the planting hole, for a climber, at least two feet wide and two feet deep, if at all possible, and prepare it for your particular soil conditions. It is a good idea to fill the hole with water to test for drainage before planting. If the hole does not drain in 24 hours, a raised bed is the solution. Even though we have good drainage we still think raised beds offer several advantages worth considering.
If replanting into the spot where another rose grew, you may choose to dig out and discard a significant amount of soil (about the size of a pot that would be able to contain the rose that grew there). Discarding this soil prevents the mysterious rose replant disease. This disease affects only roses, so this good soil can be used for perennials or vegetables. You might want to Google the topic ‘rose replant disease’ before deciding to do this. I follow this practice whenever the previous rose was not in the best of health.
Routinely, we discard the poorer half of the soil from the hole and then mix the best half of the soil with manure, compost, or 35 year old sawdust fines, our organic fertilizer mix, and a cup each of alfalfa, and kelp. We plant so that the soil line is a bit deeper than in the pot and so that there is a shallow basin at the top to better retain water in our dry summers. Once the rose is in the ground, we add more organic fertilizer and top all with 3 to 4 inches of manure or other mulch that will decompose and be renewed each spring.
It is a good idea to fill the hole with water to test for drainage before planting. If the hole does not drain in 24 hours, a raised bed is the solution. Indeed, even though drainage may be adequate, we think raised beds offer several advantages worth considering.
Do not prune climbers in the same way you prune Hybrid Teas, etc. Generally speaking, young climbers, in their first three years, need no pruning at all except to remove dead, damaged, or diseased canes. One may, of course, prune back the laterals, or shorter blooming shoots, that spring off the main and sub-main canes. A good rule of thumb is to never clip across a main or sub-main climbing cane during the years the rose is attaining its desired height and spread. Clipping to the last 3 to 5 leaf nodes on the laterals immediately after bloom promotes more rapid rebloom of the repeating climbers.
During these first years, training, on the other hand, is extremely important. This is accomplished by tying to the support structure. Climbers are just overgrown briars and have no holdfasts like other garden vines. Some varieties of climbers, as well some types of structures, demand more fearless ladder work than others. During the years when the cane structure is becoming established, tying and training will need attention several times a year to prevent tangles, broken canes and wind damage. It helps to observe climbers in well cared for gardens to see the various treatments that are suitable for different climber growth habits.
Know the growth habit of your climber and flow with it as you train it. Plant at least three feet away from the trunk when sending a climber into a tree. Due to the competition from the tree, climbers in trees will generally need more mulch, fertilizer, and water. Leave some bend in the canes rather than pulling them straight back when training to a tree or structure. This results in a more natural, graceful look. Use a figure 8 tie to allow a bit of movement in high winds. For heaviest bloom, stretch or spiral the long climbing canes horizontally rather than straight up which produces bloom only at the tip. Some of the tallest, upright shrubs do well when tied between two tall ‘T posts’ which they rapidly hide. I greatly prefer soft beige, raffia like, plastic twine to eye catching bright green, ubiquitous, plastic tape sold everywhere. Strips of panty hose will also serve. Harsh wires and twines will cut into the canes and are not recommended for fasteners.
Large Climbers Need Time and Patience
Many reblooming climbers are capable, under ideal growing conditions, of a good show of bloom in three years. However, the grand displays, particularly of the massive once blooming classics, may take four or five years, or more. In our impatient culture many gardeners give up and dig them out just before the fireworks are set to go off. This is a great pity since such action is due to a lack of information.
Most climbers put their energy into establishing strong root systems during the first year or so while the canes remain unimpressive. Once that is accomplished the next phase is the development of the long climbing canes and subclimbing canes. During this phase training to achieve grace and some horizontal stretch is very important. Pruning should be confined to absolute necessities such as a cane that juts straight into a path. In such a case we would prune to eliminate the whole cane at its point of origin, so that an unsightly stub is not left behind. However, the main point is to keep pruning, during the early years to an absolute minimum as the plant may be weakened beyond recovery by too much pruning at this point.
A Final Thought
Think of some rose memories you have. Often they are of the breathtaking display of a climber. Every gardener, with the space, should try at least one of the massive once bloomers:
Fortune's Double Yellow,
Kiftsgate ,
Kew Rambler ,
Albertine ,
Rambling Rector , and any of the ramblers, to name just a few. However, if you truly don’t have room for a climber up in a tree or over a structure then go for any of the shorter climbers or tall shrubs (there is much overlap here) that can be pruned or pegged to stay within bounds. I’m thinking of most of the Hybrid Perpetuals,
Albas,
Bourbons, true Teas, Damasks, Mosses, as well as modern varieties like Dixieland Linda,
Compassion,
Autumn Sunset,
Westerland and many of the larger Austins, etc. Your more exuberant garden will thank you.
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