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
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