Attaching a climbing rose onto a new structure is like crocheting with barbed wire. It may turn out acceptably, but the process is painful. I ended up doing a lot of hacking to get it accomplished: cutting off everything twiggy and leaving as much main cane as I could. The canes were quite tangled. 'Secret Garden Musk Climber' is vigorous, and I expect it will be full of new foliage and flowers in only six to eight weeks.
Lots of stuff fallen!
For old canes, they were still quite flexible.
The best canes were leaning away from the arch: towards, of course, the sun. Note to self: work with the sun, not against it. Ideally, the sides of the arch would face east and west, for direct morning sun on one side and afternoon sun on the other. This arch has once side facing south and once side facing north. Looking back I should have tried to make the hardscape work with an east-west arch. Now I know. The south side will get all the sun, and the north, all the gloom. I think a shade-tolerant Star Jasmine (Tracheospermum jasmenoides) is going on the north side. A bare side and a lush side doesn't cut it.
That big best cane may eventually get wacked off, since it's so far from the arch. Perhaps the plant will produce a new cane I can train from birth (so to speak) to closely hug the arch.
There we go: neat and tidy.
What an undertaking...I do love the look of climbing roses on an arbor but I'm not quite certain that I envy the effort it takes to manage them! I do imagine this will be a real beauty though but it's not a decision I need to make for this area, as I've yet to find a climbing rose that does well in our conditions, other than training some of the tall explorer series from Canada.Larry
ReplyDeleteHave a look at 'Quadra', Larry. Many up north report success with that one. Cane-hardy, plus good black spot resistance.
ReplyDeleteYikes...I do NOT envy that process! Luckily, you're right, it will spring back and look amazing...and that new arbor is great...love the black!
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