As some of you know, I've been debating on whether to keep some Cl Cecile Brunners and Cl Pinkie's that I originally bought to wrap around the 12" square pillars in the front of my house in Venice. The pillars are about 10 feet apart, on opposite sides of my double entrance doors. I was a bit lazy about training them around the pillars last year so unfortunately got to a point when I needed to cut back the canes because they weren't flexible enough to tie around the pillars.

So here's the question - if I train Cecile or Pinkie to climb around my pillar and also up towards the roof of my house - do they bloom or new or old wood?

Is the blooming on old vs new wood particular to each type of rose? I'm hesitant to spend time and bloody fingers training the climbers only to have to cut them back in order for them to bloom.

I know you train the climbers as horizontally as possible to get new blooming laterals and you're supposed to preserve those canes so I just assumed they would bloom on old and new wood.

I know I'm also being ambitious trying to train Pinkie and Grandmother's hat around the same pillar - that's another story!

On the other side I'm trying to train Pinkie and Eden on the same pillar - the idea was to always have blooms, with Eden and Grandmother's hat lending their larger bloomed, more fragrant blooms in the mix. Tell me if I'm crazy!

Thank you!

I know of one GH that was wrapped around a "teepee" but even there, the canes go up as much as around. It is not naturally a climber (tho it can ge espaliered as one) and does not need to be pulled horizontal to bloom.

Cl. Cecile will produce canes of substantial diameter. It can be used horizontally along a fence, with regular tending -- but it more naturally wants to scramble up, over things.

You need something very lax for this application. And patience.

Jeri

Jeri - how large does Grandmother's hat get? I might have another spot for her if she indeed has canes that don't allow for pillaring. My pillar is somewhat large - 12" x 12" solid stucco pillar which is why I thought it might work. Helpmefind says it grows 6-12 ft but I've learned to take that with a grain of salt here in Socal - everything seems to grow much much taller!

Also, when you say Grandmother's hat doesn't need to be horizontal to bloom, does that mean it will bloom along the entire length of the cane even without being trained horizontally? That sounds like a dream!

I'm sorry to sound like a broken record but can someone answer if roses bloom on new or old wood? Does it depend on the rose?

Most of the modern roses bloom on new wood, is my understanding.

With climbers one does not prune the "climbing" end of the rose, but reduces the length of the side-growing laterals.

I'm sure if I missed something there, others will come along and add whatever is needed. : )

Kate

I tip the canes of climbers when pruning to encourage lateral growth. That is, if I can reach them. If a cane is lax and arches or flops naturally, or is trained at an angle or horizontally, then you get flowering growth all along the canes, but I still tip when I can. The issue is "apical dominance" - in general, roses grow and bloom from the top, so removing the tip encourages lower buds to break and to bear flowers.

Hope this helps.
Anita

In the spring it will bloom on the laterals that grow off the old wood as well as any new main canes that come up during the growing season. As it matures I expect to have to prune out the oldest of the main canes every so often, but I don't plan on any significant pruning for a few years.

As to expecting Pinkie to share her space, I don't know. Around here she can be rather vigorous so I'm not sure how well that would work.

Thanks!