Climbing to new heights

If you don’t want to spend the winter perched up a ladder, consider planting a modern climbing rose, which gives you more flowers for longer from less ground space, advises Charles Quest-Ritson

- Charles Quest-Ritson

OVER the past 20 years, climbing roses have bounced back into popularity and the market has responded with a spate of excellent new varieties. There’s nothing wrong with the old ones, but the breeders have improved upon them by offering larger flowers, healthier foliage and more manageable growth.

One hundred years ago, most hardy climbing roses were once-flowering ramblers, tall and vigorous, with large clusters of small, scentless flowers. Rosa Dorothy Perkins and R. American Pillar are good examples and both are still popular, but they do need annual pruning and often succumb to the charms of mildew and blackspot.

In the middle of the 20th century, new types were introduced, including the super hardy, scentless Kordesii roses, with such names as Dortmund and Parkdirektor Riggers, and crosses between the old Wichurana Ramblers and modern Hybrid Teas. This is where such roses as Aloha, Compassion and Penny Lane belong. They are generally healthier and larger-flowered than the old ramblers.