Climbing Rose Advice

I have a climbing rose that is just about finished blooming (I think), and I was wondering if I could make it keep blooming by trimming it. It's my first rose, so I'm kind of winging it. Any suggestions would be great.

Hardiness Zone: 5a

Beth from MA

Answers:

Climbing Rose Advice

You should always trim back the roses as they finish being beautiful blooms, meaning as they start to brown around the edges. My grandfather used to grow old-fashions, which are very prolific, and taught me how to prune them. You take prune shears (little things, not the loppers for tree limbs) and measure back from the bloom to where you see a growth that has 5 leaves on it. You trim just above this, cutting at the angle at which you want the next limb to grown toward. This is more critical (the angling) down near the ground where you walk. My dh used to trim ours and got the thorny ones to start spreading over the sidewalk instead of growing toward the sky.

We also learned, during our first year of roses that up north (we're in Ohio, but came from the deep South and Florida) you need to "winter over" your roses if they are not specifically hardy for your climate. We had to replace all of ours after that first winter. Needless to say, we went to Hardy ones. I believe your local nurseries would gladly identify the kind of roses you have and tell you how to handle them.

My sister (who has a degree in agronomy) and my grandmother both advise me to take things to the County Extension Agent, which I had never heard of before. I did take them some samples of unknown plants in my yard before and had them identified so I could know if they would be poisonous to my toddler. My sister is telling me now to take soil samples there and they can tell me what I have and how to fix it, and they do this all for free. So that is another source of "local" information, which is critical to growing things. The roses should continue blooming until their time is up, but if they are all about to die, then they probably will not bloom again this year. Good luck. (06/06/2007)

By Diane S.

Climbing Rose Advice

What a beautiful rose. I was always taught that you only prune roses back in fall and late winter. You can deadhead the blooms, which should keep them blooming all summer. Also, you might want to give them some rose food if you have not been feeding them. (06/08/2007)

By Mythi

Climbing Rose Advice

Yes, trim them back to the point where they have 5 leaves and they will keep growing and blooming all summer. (06/08/2007)

By Beth