Vines and Other Climbing Plants

 

Roses - Climbing - Rambling.

Climbing Roses are another one of those plants that are most definitely not a true climber, but they are always grown as such by tying them into supporting frameworks. Rambling Roses are very similar in their habit, but much more vigorous and better for larger spaces in less regimented gardens. Climbing Roses tend to be used in more formal settings as they are more easily tamed. 

Tip pruning is best carried out to tidy up Ramblers as hard pruning will result in the loss of flowers for a season unlike Climbing and bush roses that flower on the new wood. Neither types are fussy about their soil, but rich soil will result in better growth. Good soil and hygiene practises, such as clearing the dead leaves up at the end of the growing season, will help to prevent Black spot which is the main problem for all roses. There are several propriety treatments available for Black Spot, but a simple, old-fashioned treatment, is to spread fresh chimney soot round the plants. Roses are also susceptible to aphid attack that can be dealt with quite effectively by spraying with soapy water, or by using another old gardeners cure and making a nicotine spray from old cigarette ends soaked in a container of water.

There can be confusion between Ramblers and Climbers, but Climbing Roses have medium sized flowers and only one to a stem, whereas Ramblers have smallish flowers that are in clusters. As with a lot of flowering plants, many new varieties of Roses have lost their scent, but some of the older ones still have it and there are attempts to put the scent back into new varieties.

Roses come in many type as well as hundreds of individual varieties. Other popular types include Hybrid “T” that come as Bushes, Standards and Half Standards and the less popular Polyanther Roses that are smaller and more delicate looking. Polyanther Roses, or Patio Roses as they are often called, have little leaves and small flowers that are produced in clusters. They are also often sold as flowering pot plants.

Hedging Roses, or Rosa Rugosa are yet another type of rose that is of great interest with a much wilder growing habit and simple short lived flowers that result in lots of useful hips. (See Link.) They do have a short flowering season and the original variety only had white flowers, but now new strains have been bred with flowers of different colours. 

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