climbing roses

Discussion in 'Outdoor Tropicals' started by rosemary marsh, May 13, 2009.

  1. rosemary marsh

    rosemary marsh Member

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    Hi everyone
    I have two climbing roses that I planted two years ago. The first summer neither bloomed which is probably normal but the second year only one bloomed and it only had two blooms, the other one did not bloom at all. I forget their names unfortunately, one is yellow and the other is suppose to be pink. They have grown very tall already and look healthy. Should I be feeding them something special to make them bloom? I do give them miracle grow and rose food so I'm hoping to get some blooms this summer. Is this normal for climbing roses to take three years to start really blooming? Thank you for your help.
    Rosemary Marsh, South Surrey, B.C.
     
  2. joclyn

    joclyn Rising Contributor

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    it does take a year or two for the roses to get established enough to get into full-swing with the blooms.

    are they in spots where they get enough sunlight? they should get full sunlight just about all day. the rose food will certainly help, so continue with that.

    now, are they climbers or ramblers?

    i have some ramblers and i found that they do best if the main canes are pretty much horizontal and then they will send out side shoots that do the blooming. the more horizontal the main cane is, the more side shoots you get (at least that's been my experience).

    i don't have climbers so not too much help with them specifically. i don't think the placement of the canes makes too much difference for them, though. it's their nature to just spread out and bloom.

    mainly, i think it's a matter of the plant needing to mature a bit. with all my roses (both the rambler and the bush types), it was 2-3 years after planting, before they put on a really good show. one bush that was very well established needed to be moved and it took 2 years for it to get fully back to its usual display.
     
  3. rosemary marsh

    rosemary marsh Member

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    Thanks Joclyn
    I think mine our ramblers and the main canes are pretty much horizontal and there are new shoots coming off from them so hopefully this summer I will get some blooms. They are in a good location so there's no need to move them, I think and am hoping they just need to mature a bit. Thanks again.
    Rosemary
     
  4. joclyn

    joclyn Rising Contributor

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    it took a couple years after transplanting the ramblers from the neighbors yard for me to see blooms on the ramblers...they'd been badly mistreated (renters didn't do a thing with the garden) and had been weed-whacked to about 6 inches high, so they had a long way to go to recuperate.

    i had a few sideshoots and handful of blooms the second year after transplanting and then more the next and more the next (we also had a very mild winter mixed in there and that aided the growth of the main canes as well as sideshoots).

    at this point, i have at least 60 sideshoots and they produce more and more blooms each year as they get bigger...and then there are always a few new sideshoots each year, too. the newer shoots usually only have a small amount of blooms the first time and then, each year the number doubles...

    yours just needs to grow a bit more and it'll be well worth the wait, i assure you!!
     
  5. rosemary marsh

    rosemary marsh Member

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    Hi Joclyn
    Thanks so much for the advice. I will have to be patient.
    Rosemary
     

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