I suggest you first of all decide where you want to grow your rose. Up and over an arch or pergola? Up a wall or trellis? Singly in a bed or border? As a mass in beds or borders? Your rose can be grown in an island bed - solo - in its circle of soil. Up a tree? In a pot? Rambling roses have flexible stems which will bend over arches and pergolas. You need to choose one whose height and spread fits the space you want to cover. Not too big and not too small. If you have a strong-enough tree you can plant a 'super-charged' rambler (scrambler) on the south (sunny side) of the tree. You can pair it with a clematis grown on the north (shady side) of the tree. Ramblers are not suited to growing in open ground - in beds and borders - because their stems are flexible and need support. |
The stems of climbing roses tend to be more stiff and vertically-upright than those of ramblers. Climbers are very suited to growing up walls. You can bend the stems left and right - along green, plastic-coated, horizontal wires (separated by a vertical distance of around 45cms) and tie them on to the wire with green garden wool. The more you flex a rose stem into a horizontal position, the more side shoots it will throw up and the more blooms that stem will bear.
If you want to plant roses (en masse) in a bed/border for a spectacular colour effect - then choose the same, named, variety. Shorter Floribundas (less than 1m tall) and Polyanthas are usually used for this purpose; they are cluster-flowered roses which repeat/are continuously in flower all summer. Ask carefully from the nursery whether the blooms hold up in rain (some varieties will have blooms which 'ball' in wet weather). Also - in particular if you are choosing a white rose - ask if the rose holds on to its dead brown petals after flowering (rather than dropping them cleanly). In such event, if you don't get out there and deadhead regularly, your display will look terrible! |