Roses in the Garden
- • When fuchsia blooms fade remove the whole flower stem to prevent it from developing seed pods which reduces continued blooming.
- • Water lawns deeply, preferably in the early morning hours. Set mower blade to the highest position to reduce moisture loss during the summer.
- • Fertilize container plants every 10 to 14 days with a liquid fertilizer. Pinch off faded blossoms and they will keep blooming all summer for you.
- • Stake or cage tomato plants before they get any larger.
- • Petunias, in bright pink, red and purple, will add beauty and color to sunny borders all through the summer.
Cascades of Flowers from Climbing Roses
Few sights are as spectacular as a climbing rose in full bloom covering the side of a house like a grand tapestry, or merrily rambling along a picket fence in a cloud of color and fragrance. Since climbing roses can take several years to reach maturity, and since they are often key elements in the overall scheme of the garden, it’s important to start out with the best rose to succeed in your garden.
Today there are many different types of climbing roses available from heirloom roses to modern AARS winners. They also vary in how far they will climb or trail. Some plants top out at 8 feet, while others can easily climb to 20 feet or more. Flower types also vary from the simplicity of single blooms with only five petals to the full-bodied roses of the climbing hybrid tea roses.
Climbing roses are not true climbers. They grow just as other roses do, only with longer canes. Since they have no means of twining or attaching themselves to trellises, they must be helped along by tying them to supports with twine.
For most climbing roses, you will get the best display of flowers by training the long canes horizontally. Flowering shoots grow from these canes and will bloom once or several times through the summer. One of the best roses to train along a fence is Climbing All Ablaze. It has an abundance of bright red flowers with a spicy fragrance over a long season. Good disease resistance makes this an excellent choice to cover fences or walls.
A wonderful use of a rose climber is to cover an arbor over a garden gate. Eight-foot tall trellises on each side of the gate and an arbor overhead create the support for a massive cascade of flowers. Climbing Cecile Brunner, the “Sweetheart” rose, with its petite, pink flowers, is a classic rose for this situation. Its profuse spring bloom is always a delight.
The most recent climber to win the AARS award is ‘Fourth of July.’ This lovely rose has red and white striped flowers that are delightfully fragrant. It blooms and reblooms readily so that it is in bloom most of the summer. Its canes reach 10 to 14 feet and it is a very hardy rose with excellent disease resistance.
The lovely Climbing Sally Holmes bears its white flowers in huge clusters that look like rhododendron blooms. A soft apricot when they open, they age to ivory white. It is very free flowering.
Joseph’s Coat is a large-flowered climber that changes colors from yellow to orange to reds. It produces masses of multicolored blooms in the spring, slows down during the heat of summer, then comes back with an even more stunning show in early fall, and has a lovely fragrance.
Surround your garden with roses by using climbers to decorate fences and arbors with their lovely colors and fragrances.
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