Planting climbers against walls

Walls covered with climbing roses or ramblers are a romantic, majestic feature in any home and garden. But many people seem to struggle with the climbers getting started and often the rose even dies.

What can cause this? And how do we solve this problem? 

One of the problems is that the soil near the wall is often very poor due to debris like stones, lots of sand etc...

Second major problem is the sucking power of brick walls. Brick walls act like a big sponge, they suck up the water from the soil close to the wall and evaporate it through the bricks themselves. Especially in late spring and summer when those walls catch lots of sunshine, they warm up and evaporate liters and liters, gallons and gallons of water from the soil. For young roses planted close to the wall this can be a death sentence. It's unbelievable how quickly the soil dries out in summer close to a wall. Even if you water the rose once a week it isn't enough. You need to water it daily during hot days or she definitely will die.

There is however a way to get around this. If you have a hot wall and you want to plant climbers against it this is what you must do:

Don't plant the rose directly against the wall but plant it 60 cm or two feet away from the wall. Make a spacious hole and mix compost through the soil, this will increase the water retaining capacity. Plant the rose in an angle towards the wall, let's say at 02.00 o'clock. Mulch with a thick layer of compost. Now you take a small climbing trellis of approx 4X2 feet or 120X60 cm. Stick it behind the rose and let it rest against the wall so now you have the ideal support for the rose to get to the wall.

If you wanna be completely sure your rose will get enough moisture you can bury a piece of drainpipe right next to the rose's roots. Now you can water your rose via this pipe sticking out of the soil and the water will definitely go to the roots.

I recommend using container roses for walls. They already have more roots and can cope better with starting problems. 

With these tips your climbers will definitely take off soon. Don't forget to water them almost daily in summer the first year. 

This piece of climbing trellis is ideal for making a bridge to the wall so your climber can access it easily without getting planted right next to the wall 

Maria Theresia

Maria Theresia is a marvelous floribunda bred by Tantau in 2003. She quickly gained huge popularity because she's indestructible in every weather type, blooms forever and is exceptionally good as a cut flower. She's like Leonardo da Vinci from Meilland: A rose for people who want a carefree, beautiful rose.

Maria Theresia (named after the Austrian Empress) has medium light pink quartered blooms in clusters. They look incredibly beautiful. The plant is short and won't get taller than 90X70 cm or 3X2 feet. She's covered with blooms each flush and there are at least three to four flushes. Slowly the light pink color fades into Cream. One of the best roses for in bouquets as she keeps good for days and days.

Extremely disease resistant, rain and heat tolerant and zone 5b to 9b. For front of the border, pots and as a standard rose.

She has one drawback: She only has a light smell but I absolve her because she's so good on the other features. 

A wonderful rose 

Flora Colonia

Flora Colonia Was released by Kordes und Söhne in 2014 as part of their Heckenzauber collection. These roses are ideal as low hedges.

I didn't know this rose to be honest but a friend has her since a few years and when I visited his garden I was really impressed by Flora Colonia. It's a very bushy, rounded shrub of approx 120X100 cm or 4X3 feet. The foliage is glossy green and extremely healthy. As usual with Kordes the new released roses are almost impenetrable to diseases and she's high up the ladder regarding her resistance against blackspot, mildew and rust. Very cold hardy zone 5b to 9b.

Blooms are old fashioned, full and cyclamen pink. They stand in small clusters. They have an unusual fragrance of frangipani and ylang Ylang and it's quite potent. Reblooming is very good and she can keep going well into October.

Rain, heat and shadow tolerant (semi shade) 

A rose equipped with the tools to withstand the warming climate. Very recommended rose 

Standard roses: Use and care

Standard or tree roses are something special, they are rose varieties grafted on a long cane of rootstock. The trunk comes in different lengths and usually it's between 60 and 160 cm or 2 to 4 feet.

Standard roses give Height to borders or can feature as a centerpiece. They usually become the pride and joy of the rose lover and there's nothing more beautiful than seeing a standard rose with a big whig or head full of blooms. Which roses can be grafted as a standard rose? Normally every bushy, rounded shrub rose can be used so they can range from Floribundas, Hybrid Teas to English roses from David Austin, some Hybrids Multiflora like Ballerina and even old roses. These rose families are grafted on canes up to 110 cm or three feet. Ramblers can also be grafted upon a trunk and they are higher, up to 160 cm or 5 feet. We call them Weeping roses as their flexible branches hang down gracefully. They are a magnificent sight when in full bloom. The best varieties for weeping roses are Paul Noël, Léontine Gervais, Paul Transon, Félicité et Perpétué, Super Dorothy and Super Excelsa. We can say that the Wichuraiana ramblers make the best weeping roses as their thin flexible growth is the most suited for this purpose. Reblooming climbing roses make stiff thick canes and they wouldn't make a beautiful weeping rose.

Standard roses and weeping roses need sun to thrive, some can tolerate semi shade. They are also very beautiful in large pots on a terrace, patio or large balcony. 

I always get lots of questions on how to prune standard roses. In essence it's a simple rule: What shape do you prefer for your standard rose? Do you prefer a good, rounded head or whig with many blooms? Then you prune lightly in February, let's say you shorten the growth with 1/3 and you remove dead and weak wood. If you prefer to prune more you'll have a smaller head or whig with less but bigger flowers. You could prune away up to 2/3 of the length of the canes. It's up to you really. With David Austin Roses you want to keep a natural, flamboyant growth so you prune only lightly while a vigorous Hybrid Tea needs a much deeper pruning. We always prune in February when the chance of heavy frost has passed. This guideline is for Western Europe, colder areas such as the Mid West of the USA and Canada need to prune later, half March or even end of March.

Weeping roses don't need pruning, let them grow and only when their twigs hang on the ground you can shorten them just a bit. 

A warning regarding pruning of standard roses: Don't prune too deep, it weakens the grafted variety so always leave up to 15 cm or 6 inch. 

A last remark is that standard roses don't live as long as their shrub counterparts. It seems that standard roses age faster than when grown as a shrub but usually they will live up to 10 or 15 years.

Try them, you won't regret it! 

Chippendale, one of the most suited varieties for a standard rose 

David Austin Roses are very beautiful as standard roses. Here we see Wildeve 

Another wonderful variety is Augusta Luise, she's almost made for being a standard rose

Georg Arends

Bred by Wilhelm Hinner in 1910 this beautiful rose deserves a spot in partial shade in your garden.

Georg Arends has very famous parents: Frau Karl Drushki X La France so the rose can be classified as a Hybrid Perpetual or as a Hybrid Tea. Growth is strong and rather tall 230X90 cm or 7X3 feet. Good for an Obelisk or pillar. It's a very hardy rose and she can survive zone 4b without any problem. Foliage is rather healthy but mildew can be an issue when planted on a very dry spot without good airflow.

The flowers are almost identical to those of La France so that means typical HT unfolding buds in a beautiful light pink silky color. The color is best if you plant her in semi shade. Thank God the blooms also inherited the delicious La France fragrance which makes the experience even more pleasant. After a good, heavy flush she produces some scattered blooms later in the season. June is her most important flush. 

A very beautiful rose ready to be rediscovered! 

Treatment for rose replanting disease

As rose lovers we've all heard of the infamous rose replanting disease. What exactly is it? Well rose replanting disease occurs when you plant new roses on the same spot where previous roses were growing for several years. Because roses have been growing in a part of soil for so long the soil obtained a certain deficiency which triggers rose nematodes to attack the roots of newly planted roses. When bare root roses are planted they are still weak and vulnerable making them an easy target for these specific nematodes. Roses affected by the nematodes don't grow, often struggle and not seldom die.

So what can we do to prevent this from happening to our new bought roses if you wanna plant them in the same spot as previous roses? 

There are several options and all work very well. The most expensive option and only a possibility when you're whole garden needs to be treated is steaming the soil. In essence it is sterilizing your soil so all nematodes are dead. But the method also kills the good guys in the soil and its really expensive. Another option is to treat the roots of your bare root roses with Mycorrhiza fungi. It has been proven scientifically that certain Mycorhizza fungi destroy the nematodes when they come near the rose roots. A very good and recommended brand is Rootgrow. It can be bought in the EU, the UK and in the USA and Canada and also in Australia & New Zealand. PLEASE REMEMBER NOT TO USE CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS. THEY DESTROY THE MYCORHIZZA 

Third option is to plant your new rose or roses in a cardboard box without the bottom. You fill up the box with fresh soil from another rose free part of the garden mixed with compost. Once the box has decomposed the rose will be growing healthy and can't be weakened by the nematodes anymore. 

The option that was given in the past was replacing your soil with new soil. That's easy when you only have one or two roses to plant but if you have many it is a real Calvary and not recommendable. 

The Mycorhizza method, soil replacement (if you only have a few roses) and Cardboard box method are the most suited solutions for most of us.

Nematodes occur more abundantly in poor sandy soils so it's essential to mulch your soil each year with lots of organic material. Manure compost, worm castings etc are really good humus suppliers. The more humus your soil gets the less nematodes it will contain. 

A very good method to prevent nematodes besides the humus is by planting Marigolds between our roses every three years. You just plant them in your border or beds next to the roses and they destroy the nematodes. In Autumn you work the marigolds into the soil so don't remove them. It is a very cheap and very effective method. The Marigold is the rose's best friend! 

I hope I've shed some light on this subject and that you now know how to treat and prevent this disease! 

The rose nematode under the microscope 

With rose mycorrhiza you can plant new roses safely. Rootgrow is one of the best brands 

The Marigolds, best friend of roses 

Rose water recipe

Rose water is very easy to make yourself and it's a perfect gift as you can keep it up to one year after it was made. Rose water can be used for many things as it can be used as a luxury skin toner, to soothe sunburn, to give fragrance to your home made soap, in food recipes, in Gin tonic cocktails etc...

There are two ways to make rose water: By cooking and by distilling. Both give an excellent result but the cooking method gives a more colored result. The distilling method results in a more translucent water. 

For the cooking method you need:

# cooking pan with lid 

# 1 liter or 4,2 US cups of distilled water or reverse osmosis water 

# 300 grams or 10 US ounces of very fragrant organic rose petals 

# Sieve, strainer or cheese cloth 

# little clean bottles to bottle the rose water 

Preparation: 

Pour your distilled water in the pan and add your very fragrant rose petals. Bring to the boil with the lid on. Once the water is boiling you take off the lid and turn the heat down till you get a gentle simmer. Let it simmer for 30 minutes and turn off the heat. Let it cool down completely, strain and pour into your little bottles 

Distilled method:

# 1 liter or 4,2 US cups of distilled water or reverse osmosis water 

# 300 grams or 10 US ounces of very fragrant organic rose petals 

# Deep soup pan with lid 

# glass bowl 🥣 heat proof 

# ice cubes (enough) 

# little bottles to bottle the water 

# rack or heat proof bowl 

Preparation:

Place a little rack or a little heat proof bowl upside down in the soup pan. Pour the water into the pan and add the rose petals. Now place your glass bowl onto the rack or your upside down bowl. Take the lid from your soup pan and put it upside down on the pan. Now turn on the heat. Once it starts to boil you put ice cubes onto the lid. The cold cubes will make the boiling water to condensate against the lid and it will drip into your glass bowl. Have a kitchen towel or kitchen paper at hand to absorb the melting water of the cubes on top of your lid. After 20 minutes you take a look inside your soup pan if the water is almost evaporated and dropped into your glass bowl. Once your water is almost completely evaporated you remove the pan from the heat. Don't let the pan run dry with the heat still on. Take the glass bowl with the now rose water off the rack or stand and let it cool down. Pour into your little bottles. Now it can be stored up to one year. 

The best roses to use are Damasks, Portlands, very fragrant Hybrid Teas, very fragrant DA roses like Abraham Darby and Evelyn and any other very fragrant varieties from your garden. 

Making your own rose water is very easy and cheap 

Some more Park abbey rose pictures

The Park abbey rose is attracting lots of attention as many people are visiting the abbey and also the Convent garden in which she's planted. Many pictures will follow the coming days...

Park Abbey's true Queen 👑

Park Abbey (Dutch = Abdij Van't Park) is a more than 900 years old catholic Premonstratensian abbey. It is the most intact abbey of the Benelux countries. Ten years ago it was decided by the Flemish government to fully restore the abbey and bring her back to her former glory. Two years ago the abbey celebrated her 900 birthday and the restoration works were almost completed. Two years earlier the "Friends of Park Abbey" decided to commemorate this event by giving the abbey it's own rose. So during a big solemn high Mass the rose was baptized by the abbot of the abbey in July 2021.

Since it was my idea to have a rose created for the abbey i was highly involved in the process. I contacted the world renowned Flemish rose nursery of Lens roses to create the rose. Ann Boudolf from Lens is a master in creating stunning new varieties and she gave us a cross between Charles Austin and Scepter d'Isle. When I first saw the rose in full flush I immediately knew it was a winner. She had everything to become a popular rose: A magnificent vibrant red/orange quartered bloom evolving into this lush salmon pink. They are borne solitary in small clusters and can be quite big. She has a good strong fruity fragrance, is rain resistant and extremely healthy. Her almost grey leathery foliage is blackspot proof. When she's blooming she already makes new fresh growth that will give more blooms later on. So she's seldom without flowers all summer and a big part of Autumn.

We decided to plant five beds with the rose combined with the beautiful and continuously flowering geraniums Azure Rush and her mother Rozanne. They would make the perfect surroundings for the roses. The first two years they were planted we saw that the Park Abbey rose isn't a small rose. She get quite tall and wide. She can easily get 130X100 cm or 4X3 feet. Her canes are strong and can hold up the flowers perfectly. They arch gently without flopping over. Last year we noticed that the geraniums came quite high and some had grown higher than the roses so we decided to prune less severe in February of this year. It would enable the roses to get tall enough to flower above and between the geraniums. After a very wet and rather cold spring we got beautiful dry sunny weather with temperatures around 21 degrees Celsius, ideal for roses. Today we went to see the roses and boy were we flabbergasted!

We found beds covered with magnificent blooms surrounded by the blue geraniums. The roses had became rounded shrubs carrying hundreds of perfectly formed quartered blooms. A sight to behold! After two years the roses are maturing and revealing their full potential. The Park abbey rose is the real queen of the abbey and she knows it and acts like it, as she should! The rose can be purchased at www.lens-roses.com