With the Austins what makes them decide to climb seems to be the amount of heat you have and the length of your summer. An Austin rose that might be 3-4 feet in the East may grow to be 9-10 feet in the South or Southern California or Texas. I think SoF is gorgeous but it didn't like its garden location here and I believe gave me one bloom. For others it does really well. I hope you'll hear from someone near you.

Ingrid

I don't know how it might do in zone 6. For me it's been one of those slow to mature roses. It hasn't shown any inclination to climb, but I suspect it might. Also like Ingrid said it wasn't generous of bloom though I think maturity may change that. Some of the "climbing" Austins will sit around for a while and then suddenly send up these huge canes.

It is definitely a shrub in my garden, tall and narrow.
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markiz, how old is your plant?

there is an old thread with some fabulous pictures of it, and i believe it was a zone 5. I am so torn now. i cant keep obsessing about this arbor, its driving me crazy! :)

I have had this plant for four years, but I think it was bad from the begining.

In my garden, Spirit of Freedom sends out very long (some were 8 feet last year!) canes after the June flush. This is only its second summer in my garden, so I'm hoping this year I will get some rebloom. I have it against a fence so I can attach the canes. Try it and see how it behaves for you. The blooms are gorgeous and the fragrance is wonderful!

Judith

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judith, thank you for the lovely picture! I decided to order lavendar lassie for my arbor as the results were all around good here for that one, but i think i have plenty of space to try spirit of freedom somewhere else. I wish i could smell your picture it looks divine!

lilyfinch,
How is your Lavender Lassie doing on the arbor? Did you ever go ahead and buy the Spirit of Freedom rose? Just curious. : )

Mountie , how funny that you brought this back up ! I was just looking at my David Austin catalog and circled that rose again.
It has been a crazy 4 years since that garden dilemma . I ended up with lavender lassie and I loved it , tho it only had two years for me and then we moved , and the new owners tore out my roses ( and part of my heart ! Lol ).
I am now living in tennesee , with a new arbor . But this time I chose cl colette , and so far it's lovely . I will be ordering lavender lassie again but it did have black spot issues in pa. But I loved it anyway.
I have another arbor space and might put it there .
Just curious , won't you start a thread about your garden ? I know I love to see pics and get ideas from others . Maybe gardenweb can start a tab under our names when clicked on , photos of your garden can be stored . Maybe that already exists ... :)

Here's the one photo I could find and it's horrible . But I always thought my arbor was never nice enough to share pics of , until now that I have I rely on fading memory .

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Eh Mountie , since you made me walk down memory lane , I decided I should share what my garden used to me . I do not ( I repeat ! Do not ! ) miss living in pa one tiny bit , but , I miss my garden and the dreams I had for it . It was like a first true love ! It was my first garden , I learned so much from it and poured my heart into it .
I grew a handful of Austin's , my fav was teasing Georgia . Also Abraham Darby . I had Grahm Thomas , heritage , tamora ( another fav !) Evelyn , Jude , and a couple that slip my mind .
I was obsessed with hybrid musks and still am . The summer before we moved I had planted ( not all musks but here's what else I had ) : jeri Jennings , the charlatan , darlows enigma , Lyda , ballerina , bubble bath , a purple one who's name escapes me , chlotide supert , new dawn , social climber, the fairy , zepherine d , buff beauty ( love ! ). And I'm sure a few more . I had enclosed my garden to keep the bulldozer , I mean bulldog out . He would just walk by a rose , and yank it right out and play fetch !
Anyway , if you are still here after all that , here's some pics .
Guilty . ;)
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I believe heritage

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Fairly certain this is teasing Georgia

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Gene boener I believe

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This rose by the bath is lavender meidland.
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Full garden shot as much as I could get in photo. Tho I never took one when it was all mulched and semi perfect

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Front walk arbor , tho I never got to see anything grow on it . We moved the year I put it up .

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Now I have a blank slate and will be trying to create the same feeling here in tennesee ! :)

Astounding garden. Thank you for sharing.

We are growing 2 Spirit of Freedom roses on either side of our east-facing picture window. We suspended an 8 ft x 3.5 foot section of rigid section of field fencing (Tractor Supply-$30 for a 16' x 3.5' piece) from the fascia board usings threaded hooks and baling wire for each of the rose plants. The longest canes are around 12 feet tall after being in the ground for around 4 years; each plant is around 4 feet wide. We did not get the canes tied to this trellis for 2 years or so, so they were bending forward, away for the house. This resulted in the breaking of many side shoots from the principle canes. Flowers are borne on these side shoots, and there always seems to be at least 10 open on each plant most of the time. The flowers are larger in spring and fall and are globular. The petal count is quite high; I haven't counted, but the catalogue claims 200. This is one of the most fragrant roses in our garden and one that we would not be without. I would expect this rose would be an excellent one to train along a rail fence and, since the canes are reasonably flexible, could be grown as either a pegged or self-pegged specimen.

Just found this thread while chasing down info about Spirit of Freedom as a climber. Lilyfinch, are you creating garden bliss in TN? Such an adorable mischief maker; hope s(he) is enjoying life in TN. Am so tempted to track down SOF for next year. ..