Is it possible to train roses horizontally along a chain link fence? I have such a fence with a gate at the back of our yard. My idea is to plant one rose on each side of the gate, and get them to "climb" out away from the gate. Any tips/tricks for doing this? Also, any recommended varieties of climbers for Zone 5/6? Thanks!!
rambler roses can be (and should be) grown horizontally. the main stems, anyway. then you get upright stems that grow and have the blooms on them. i thought the roses i transplanted were climbers and i'd wondered why they hadn't bloomed... they're ramblers and needed to have the main canes grow enough (and horizontally) to get going. found this out after i'd had to leave them be (couldn't do the fall pruning) due to a broken foot. then we had a mild winter on top of it. those things just kept growing...i'd propped them on the pickets because that was about all i could handle doing while on crutches. last summer i had a ton of upright growth and hundreds of blooms (these just kept blooming all summer). all my neighbors commented about it. the main canes are about 25 feet long now (i didn't have time to prune last fall and we had another mild winter). i really need to get out there and get something done before it's totally out of control... edit: sorry, i can't tell you what variety they are...i transplanted from the neighbors yard (before they moved). it was her grandmothers house and the family finally decided to sell it and the new owners were going to take out the flower beds so i grabbed what i could. all the roses i moved are 40-60 years old, so, no one left now would have any idea of the names.
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden has a fantastic rose garden, The Cranford Rose Garden. It is well worth your while paying them a visit this May/June to see how roses grow there. You should see good examples of climbers that may suit your purpose. For a chain link fence, you need a rose with long pliable canes. That applies to most ramblers. I have seen varieties like Albertine, American Pillar, Chevy Chase, Dorothy Perkins, Francois Juranville and Paul Transon grown to good effects on chain link fences. Be careful not to chose the "house eater" vigorous ramblers like Kiftsgate, Treasure Trove, etc. Unfortunately, almost all ramblers flower only once a year. You can also try hybridised varieties that has rambling genes in them, but also flower throughout the season. A good example is New Dawn. The majority of other "climbing roses" are not suitable. They are really tall varieties of roses, not "true" climbers- they have tall canes that tend to be too stiff to be trained easily along a fence. Some varieties of Old Garden Roses, for example, Madame Isaac Periere, although commonly grown as a shrubby bush, has long pliable canes that can also be trained horizontally along a chain link fence. This is one of my favourites - it's recurrent flowering habit, it's fragrance, and it's flower form.
Thank you both for the great information. I will be looking into ramblers ASAP! This leads me to another question... I have another open spot next to our back deck. The deck has a trellis on one side, and an open, slatted-style roof (not sure what the proper term is). For a couple of years now I've been wanting to put a rose on the trellis and get it to climb up and over the roof. There is lots of sun there all day long so it's an ideal location. My question is, would this be a job for a climber or rambler? The roof is about 10 ft. from ground level so the rose would have to climb upwards to that height, then go horizontally at least 10 feet. Can ramblers grow upwards too?
Ramblers can go anywhere if you let it run wild! But as with any classes of roses, there are shorter varieties and bigger ones. You might need to be careful with the more vigorous monsters - there may be a chance that they may damage the roof. Here is an example of Kiftsgate on a roof. As you can see, it might be a bit too much. Treasure Trove can get up to 30 feet too. For a repeat bloomer, New Dawn should not have any difficulty getting up that height. Most of the climbing sports of shorter roses probably won't do much in this situation, except perhaps climbing Peace. The Peace in our front yard throws canes up to 15 feet high. But they are stiff canes - they are likely to hover over the roof rather than drape it. Another one you might consider is Madame Alfred Cariere. Our own root plant has reached past our second floor deck and onto the roof. It is a repeat bloomer, and the fragrance is heavenly.
besides roses on that trellis, there are many flowering vines that you could do. clematis, wisteria, honeysuckle (native type, not the japanese type), etc.
Although, I would not advise allowing wisteria to grow unchecked on your roof. In fact wisteria needs regular pruning and training to keep it under control, and to get it to flower well. So, you need to keep it within reach.
Wisteria is a lovely idea, and something I hadn't even thought of. I kind of had my heart set on a rose though. I'm going to think about it. We just happen to have a big garden show going on this weekend in our area, so I'm hoping I can find out there how wisteria does in this area!! I don't know that I've ever seen one -- not that it means anything, because I've only gotten in to gardening in the past couple of years.
trumpet vine is another that you might want to think about for that trellis. oh, and check for things that are native to your area - the local extension office can provide that info.