My question is this: the deer fencing will act, to some degree, like a built in trellis. Jeri writes that you can treat GHat like a small climber, but I don't truly understand the different rose-growing terminology. What I'm proposing I guess is a little more like fanning the branches out horizontally and attaching them to the deer fench.

Does GHat respond to pegging or trellising by putting out lateral shoots on the canes? Are the canes even bendy enough to try this?

If I don't prune GHat and just let it grow up, will the canes eventually sort of arch over? (I'm envisioning a plant that is narrower at the ground and vase-like, wider at the top.)

It's hard to tell from the few bush pictures I've seen.

I wish I could see the live plant in person somewhere in the bay area... I wonder if Annie's Annuals actually has one in the ground?

Thanks,
Kmama

I have heard that people train it on a trellis, fanned out as you describe. I've never done it and it seems like a lot of work for a rose that supports itself very well, but I do believe the people who say it works.

I can't imagine pegging it, either to itself or to the ground. It is simply not that flexible, though not as rigid as, say, Dortmund. It would need more real estate to be pegged than it needs in its natural form, and it needs a fair amount even that way. I prune GH down to about 5 1/2-6 feet each spring and it grows easily back to 8 feet tall. Those who prune it less can have 10 foot shrubs.

Rosefolly

This is the top of a short hedge of 5-6 plants, going downhill, near the Golden Celebration hedge:

You CAN trellis it -- I've seen it done -- but it's a lot more work, for no real gain. And I wouldn't even try pegging it.

Jeri