Planting climbing roses care, pruning

Climbing roses are roses with long creeping or hanging shoots, for the growth of which support is absolutely necessary. Among them there are roses that bloom once a year, as well as remontant ones, that is, they bloom many times.

Description of climbing roses

Climbing roses have shoots that are several meters long.The flowers are white, pink, red, yellow from 2.5 to 9 cm, from single to semi-double, odorless, collected in inflorescences. Flowering is long-lasting and begins in June.

When describing climbing roses, it should be noted that they occupy one of the leading places in vertical gardening, go well with small architectural forms, and are indispensable for creating decorative columns, pyramids, arches, trellises, green decoration of building walls, balconies, and gazebos.

There are many varieties of climbing roses, the description of which will take a lot of time and space. However, according to the nature of their growth, these roses can be divided into three groups:

• Curly - from 5 m to 15 m high.
• Climbing height - from 3 m to 5 m.
• Semi-climbing in height - from 1.5 m. - 3 m.

The formation of shoots in climbing roses is continuous, due to which the flowering and budding phases are very extended. The total flowering duration is from 30 to 170 days. Among the repeat-blooming roses, the group of large-flowered roses, or Climings, stands out for its decorativeness.

Growing climbing roses

    Choosing a place for planting and growing. For growing, you need to choose sunny and ventilated places. Roses are light-loving plants, so it is best to plant them on walls and supports with southern and southwestern exposure. Preference should still be given to southern exposure; good lighting helps the growth to ripen, which will flower next year.

Groundwater should be no higher than 70-100 cm, optimally 100-150 cm. It will not be possible to grow these flowers in swampy, damp places prone to flooding.

    When choosing a place to plant, be sure to think about how you will lay the plants on the ground for shelter for the winter.Climbing roses grow to a height of more than 2.5 m. When laid out for the winter, they should not “cover” other plants that do not require shelter.

    What kind of soil should it be? To grow climbing roses, you need fertile, loose, moderately moist soil with a fertile layer of at least 30 cm. And so, in the place of the future rose garden, it is necessary to prepare the soil: for this purpose it is better to use rotted manure (cow), if the soil is too heavy, you need to add sand, peat, which will give the soil looseness.

    Selection of seedlings. The seedling should have 2-3 well-ripened lignified shoots with green, intact bark and a developed root system with many thin roots (lobe). The root collar of a seedling at the age of 1-2 years looks like a slight thickening separating the wild rootstock and the stem of the cultivated plant.

Planting climbing roses

    When is the best time to plant roses? In central Russia, it is preferable to plant roses in the fall from September to the end of October, or early spring from mid-April to late May. In autumn, plants must be planted 2 cm deeper than in spring (total depth 5 cm), so that the shoots of planted roses do not dry out and suffer from the approaching cold, they are covered with earth and sand to a height of 20-25 cm. When the temperature drops to sub-zero temperatures, the plants shelter for the winter.

    Preparing for landing. Seedlings with an open root system are soaked in water a day before planting. Leaves are removed from the shoots and immature and broken shoots are cut out with sharp pruning shears. The above-ground part is shortened to 30 cm, long roots are also cut off - up to 30 cm, cutting out rotten roots to a healthy place. The buds located below the grafting site are removed - wild shoots will develop from them.Seedlings are disinfected by dipping in 3% copper sulfate.

    Landing. Planting pits are prepared measuring 50 × 50 cm, the distance between plants should be at least 2 - 3 meters. When planting, do not bend the roots of the plants too much. They should be laid out freely in the hole so that they go to the bottom, without bending upward, and the seedlings should be held at such a height that the grafting site is approximately 10 cm below the soil surface. (Other varieties of roses are planted 5 cm deep, but climbing roses are planted deeper.)

Then the hole is filled to two-thirds of its depth with soil, compacted so that it fits properly against the roots, and the plant is watered. Thorough watering in the spring is especially important. Only after the water has been absorbed is the hole filled with earth, and the seedling is hilled to a height of at least 20 cm.

Before the onset of frost, the hilling level is raised. In spring, this sprinkled soil will protect the plant from the scorching rays of the sun and drying winds. For greater reliability, the seedling can be slightly shaded with pine needles. In dry weather, it is watered every 5-6 days. Three weeks after spring planting, the soil from the bush is carefully raked. It is advisable to do this on a cloudy day, when there is no danger of a sharp drop in temperature at night.

At the beginning of April, autumn-planted roses are opened and treated in the same way. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the most sensitive place of the entire plant, the grafting site, remains 10 cm below ground level. In the spring, new shoots will grow above it.

If a climbing rose grows near a wall, then the distance to it should not be less than 50 cm. The plant is brought to the wall itself by an inclined planting at an appropriate angle.If a rose were grown close to the wall, it would constantly suffer from a lack of moisture.

When planting in late spring in dry, warm weather, it is useful to cover the soil with a layer of moist peat or any other mulch. After planting, the shoots are cut into 3 - 5 buds.

Caring for climbing roses

    Caring for climbing roses involves proper watering, timely fertilizing, pruning, disease and pest control, as well as loosening and mulching the soil. In addition, the plants must be provided with beautiful supports and covered for the winter.

In response to such care and careful care, these beauties will certainly thank you with magnificent blooms throughout almost the entire summer.

    How to water. Taking good care of plants means, first of all, proper watering. During the growing season, roses consume a lot of water. In the absence of precipitation, from the moment the buds appear, as well as after pruning, the plants are watered every 10-12 days.

When watering, the soil must be soaked so that the moisture penetrates deeper than the roots (1-2 buckets per plant). On the 2-3rd day after watering (or rain), the soil around the plant must be loosened to a depth of 5-6 cm, which helps retain moisture in the soil and improve air access to the roots. Loosening can be replaced by mulching the soil.

Lack of moisture in the soil affects the growth of roses, and the concentration of salts in the substrate also increases. But we must remember that too frequent watering with a hose raises air humidity, and this contributes to the spread of fungal diseases.

    Feeding. To ensure proper care of plants, it is necessary to fertilize the soil. Climbing roses need regular feeding more than others.Throughout the summer, they need to be fed every 10 to 20 days, alternating nitrogen fertilizers with complete, complex ones. Fertilizers can be either dry or liquid.

First of all, in the spring, liquid fertilizing is carried out with a complete mineral fertilizer (according to the instructions). After 10 - 20 days, feed the plants with organic matter (1 bucket of mullein per 5 buckets of water + 3 kg of ash) 1 liter of this mixture is diluted in a bucket of water and watered at the root of the roses. This operation will ensure an abundant start to flowering with brightly colored flowers.

Such fertilizing, alternating with each other, should be done until mid-summer. From mid-July, they stop feeding with nitrogen fertilizers and switch to phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, so that the bush begins to prepare for winter.

    Whenever feeding, you must strictly adhere to the dosage! If there is an excess of any chemical elements, the condition of roses may worsen. Such care will only harm the plants.

Pruning climbing roses

Pruning plays a very important role in caring for climbing roses.

The main purpose of pruning is to form a crown, obtain abundant and long-lasting flowering, and maintain plants in a healthy condition.

With good care, roses grow long shoots over the summer, up to 2-3.5 m. They are covered for the winter. In the spring of next year, only the frozen and frosted shoots and the ends of the shoots on the strong outer bud are pruned.

In the future, pruning of climbing roses is carried out depending on how these roses bloom, once or twice. These groups of roses differ significantly from each other in the nature of flowering and shoot formation.

The first ones form flowering branches on last year's shoots. They don't bloom again.To replace faded shoots, the so-called main (basal), these roses form from 3 to 10 restoration (replacement) shoots, which will bloom the next season. In this case, after flowering, the basal shoots are cut down to the base, like raspberries. Thus, bushes of single-flowering climbing roses should consist of only 3-5 annual and 3-5 biennial flowering shoots.

If climbing roses belong to the group of repeat flowering roses, then flowering branches of different orders (from 2 to 5) are formed on the main shoots within three years, the flowering of such shoots weakens by the fifth year. Therefore, the main shoots are cut out after the fourth year to the ground. If many new strong recovery shoots form at the base of these shoots (which usually happens when roses are well cared for), then the main shoots are cut out as in the first group.

For bushes with repeated flowering, it is enough to have from 1 to 3 annual restoration shoots and from 3 to 7 flowering main shoots. Repeatedly blooming roses are recommended to be pruned in early spring. The point of pruning is to leave a limited number of the strongest, youngest and longest branches on the bush. If the lashes are too long compared to the support, they need to be trimmed.

It is important to remember that most climbing roses bloom on overwintered shoots, which must be preserved for their entire length; only the very tops with underdeveloped buds must be removed. Therefore, such roses should not be pruned in the fall; the main pruning is carried out in early spring.

Proper pruning and careful care can ensure almost continuous blooming of roses in your garden throughout the growing season.

    Propagation of climbing roses

    Climbing roses reproduce well summer and winter cuttings. The easiest way is green cuttings; most climbing roses give almost 100% rooting. Green cuttings work best in June, during the first flowering.

The cuttings are planted in the substrate to a depth of 1 - 1.5 cm.

Cuttings are cut from flowering or fading shoots with 2 - 3 internodes. The lower end is made oblique (at an angle of 45°) directly under the kidney, and the upper end is made straight away from the kidney. The lower leaves are completely removed, and the rest are cut in half. The cuttings are planted in a substrate (in a mixture of earth and sand or in clean sand) in a pot, box or directly in the soil to a depth of 0.5-1 cm. The cuttings are covered on top with a glass jar or film and shaded from the sun. Watering is carried out without removing the film.

Cuttings in early spring also give good results. During spring pruning, many cut shoots remain that can be successfully rooted. Plant and care for cuttings according to the above method.

Sheltering climbing roses for the winter

    Sheltering these roses for the winter has its own characteristics. If to cover roses of other varieties it is enough to cover the bush with earth (it is important to preserve shoots 10 - 15 cm high), then for climbing roses it is necessary to preserve the shoots - the lashes completely.

  Caring for roses in autumn. Preparing roses for winter begins long before the onset of frost. Already at the end of August it is necessary to stop watering and loosening the soil. At this time, it is no longer possible to feed the plants with nitrogen, but it is necessary to apply potassium fertilizers to strengthen the shoot tissue.

Covering roses for the winter can take several days.

Be prepared for the fact that sheltering a climbing rose for the winter can last for several days, or even a whole week. A rose with thick, powerful shoots is unlikely to be laid on the ground in one day.This must be done at a positive temperature; in frost, the stems become fragile and break easily. Under no circumstances try to press each shoot separately to the ground. This can only be done by tying the entire bush into a bundle or two bundles and then spread them in different directions.

If, when tilting the bush, you feel that the stems may break, stop tilting and fix the bush in this position. Let him stand like this for a day or two, and then continue until you press him to the ground.

A rose pinned to the ground should be covered with the onset of frost. Sometimes this has to be done even in the snow. In the southern regions there is enough shelter made of lutrasil. Just remember to cover the base of the bush with sand or earth. If your winters are cold, cover the bush with spruce branches and also cover it in several layers with covering material or roofing felt.

Supports for climbing roses

The possibilities for beautifully decorating your garden plot with the help of climbing roses are quite varied: you can often see beautiful gazebos and terraces, balconies, grottoes and pavilions, arches and pergolas decorated with roses, and how much these plants transform the faceless walls of buildings, and there is no need to talk.

Climbing roses can decorate a home like no other flowering plant. One climbing rose is enough to transform a nondescript stone wall or emphasize the originality of a facade, or add romance to a previously ordinary entrance to a house.

     The support may be both wooden and metal.

On a large tree, climbing roses appear in all their lush splendor.

Free-standing trellises, as independent garden structures, are supported on poles dug into the ground.

Roses near such supports are planted at a distance of about 30 cm from the trellis and varieties that bloom profusely are selected.

A simple and at the same time original support made of metal rods.

Support grids can be made from scrap materials: wooden planks, metal rods, and even thick fishing line.

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