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The Potting Shed

What's the difference between a climbing rose and a rambling rose?

Val Bourne advises a reader who wants to plant some roses on a pergola but doesn't know the difference between a climber and rambler
 
The short answer is that rambling roses usually flower  once whereas climbers usually repeat flower throughout summer and autumn, but there are exceptions.

If you want your garden to be smothered in roses during June choose a rambler as repeat-flowering climbers only give you measured flushes of flower and never make quite the same impact.  
 
The ideal combination is a June-flowering rambler planted close to a repeat-flowering climber. Then allow one of the gentle late-summer viticella clematis to twine through them.  This way you should have flowers until September.
 
Whichever you choose all roses flower better if trained because bending and coiling the stems slows down the flow of sap and promotes more flowering shoots.
 
The best time to train climbing roses is autumn when the shiny new stems can still be bent and turned without breaking.  Choose strong stems and, armed with thick gloves and goggles, curl them round a stake or pillar or loop them along the top of the fence.

You can also buy hooped rose trainers for shrub roses, or simply bend the branches down to the ground and fix them down ( www.helmingham.com)

Ramblers

You prune rambling roses when you train them by simply cutting out some of the old stems at the base. These are replaced by new strong branches. The branches should be fanned out from the base, rather like a fruit tree, if the rose is against a fence and then the stems can be looped along to the top edge of the fence, rather like looper caterpillars.

Did you know?

• Ramblers are very disease tolerant as many are close to species roses.
• Also once-only roses don’t need deadheading and some will produce a crop of hips.

Five star ramblers

1. ‘Goldfinch’  - shiny, coppery foliage and clusters of small apricot roses that fade to cream.

2. ‘Sander’s White’  - deep-green leaves and loose clusters of late white flowers,  particularly good in semi-shade.

3. ‘Veilchenblau’ - faded purplish flowers that are stunning against grey-tinged stone.
4. ‘Paul’s Himalayan Musk’ - clusters of the palest pink flowers. Too vigorous for fences and better up a large apple tree.

5.  ‘Phyllis Bide’ - a repeat-flowering rambler with small apricot-to-yellow flowers - a restrained grower perfect for a pillar

Climbers

Climbing roses are pruned in winter and they need a more sympathetic regime. Slightly reduce the main leaders and prune back the side shoots to six inches.

Most climbers are more highly-bred and therefore prone to black spot, a fungal disease of roses. The greenest way of keeping your roses clean is to either mulch under the rose bush or under plant with lavenders, violas, hardy geraniums or campanulas. Both methods will prevent the fungal spores from being washed back on to the rose.

Did you know?

• All repeat-flowering roses need to be dead headed to encourage more flowers.
• Climbers vary in habit enormously . Some, like ‘Lady Hillingdon’, hang their heads down while others can only be admired from the roof.
  

Five star repeat-flowering climbers

1. ‘New Dawn’ -silver pink flowers set against apple-green foliage - beautiful underplanted with blue catmint

2.‘ Aloha’ - a horrible name for an excellent deep-pink pillar rose.

3. ‘Madame Alfred Carriere’ GRAVE ACCENT ON LAST E - a blush-white noisette rose that is unbeatable on a north wall or in shade.

4. ‘Madame Gregoire Staechelin’ - large-glowing pink flowers with a sweet-pea scent followed by hips.

5. ‘Penny Lane’ a recently bred, honey-champagne rose with a good scent

Late Summer ‘ Viticella’ Clematis - perfect for growing through roses

The following five are drought resistant should be pruned back to the lowest buds in early spring

1. ‘Etoile Violette’ a dark, purple-blue clematis with widely-spaced petals - best with peach and pink roses

2. ‘Purpurea Plena Elegans’ a faded maroon-red pompom - good with paler roses particularly pale-pinks.

3. ‘Madame Julia Correvon’ single claret flowers good with pale-pinks and apricots

4. ‘Betty Corning’ this frilly lilac-flowered clematis has pink veins and it can be grown close to any pink rose.

5. ‘Alba Luxurians’ - a green-tinged white clematis - grow near or over any vibrant climbing rose

This article was created: 28 June 2007.
This article was last edited: 4 July 2007.

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