Do any of you grow roses over your house or sheds? My kitchen windows face west and I am considering putting an arbor there and growing a really big rose that could grow up on my wall and roof. Tell me the cons of this idea. Will it mess up my roof? What are the names of some roses that could grow this large? Zone 8 in SC. Is this a really bad idea?

Missy, I've grown two roses that climbed right up onto a roof. One is Dorothy Perkins, which I ultimately decided to get rid of because it suffered too much from powdery mildew. It climbed up an arbor and then climbed halfway across the roof of my house. The other is Yellow Lady Banks. I have two of these. One is covering three arbors and my garage roof, and the other is covering a gazebo and climbing about 20 feet up my neighbor's oak tree.

Rambling Rose (Rosa 'Dorothy Perkins')

Lady Banks Yellow (Rosa banksiae 'Lutea')

Both of these roses would grow well in your zone. Roses will not damage a roof.

Thank you zuzu. I love Yellow Lady Banks. It will be a lot of fun to research large roses and choose one (or two). I think I will stay away from the thorn machines and probably use a pastel color. I love the way it looks.

Zuzu ... what about your 'Cecile Brunner, Cl' ?



Climbing Polyantha Rose (Rosa 'Cecile Brunner, Cl.')

As much as I love 'Yellow Lady Banks', if I could grow a climber up here CB would be my first choice ...

Is Lady Banks a rebloomer? My SIL had them and seems as tho they did not repeat. They are lovely. Might be something to consider, Missy.

That Dorothy Perkins is a beauty!!!

Mary, repeat would be a bonus. One of my main concerns is the thorniness. I don't want a huge thorny bush. I had a noid pink climber that would grow as large as we allowed. It had wicked thorns. It had to go.

Cecile Brunner reblooms well for me. Lady Banks is supposed to be a once bloomer, but I get some minor repeat.

Cecile Brunner also climbs wildly, but not as wildly as the other two. The oak it's climbing in that picture is the same oak Yellow Lady Banks is climbing, but even higher up. Its blooms were finished by the time Cecile Brunner bloomed, so it isn't visible in the photo.

There is a little rebloom on Yellow Lady Banks, some rebloom on Cecile Brunner, and no rebloom on Dorothy Perkins. Yellow Lady Banks has no thorns, Cecile Brunner has some thorns, and Dorothy Perkins has a lot of thorns (but not big ones).

My husband helps me and he takes a blood thinner. I don't want him to exsanguinate tying up a rose.

What about Veilchenblau? Hope that is spelled right. Doubt it would be very flattering to my house color but it looks like a beautiful rose.

Veilchenblau is also a once-bloomer, but it doesn't climb as high as the others. Incidentally, in case fragrance is important to you, the only one with a truly noticeable fragrance is Cecile Brunner.

For me Veilchenblau is not a large or vigorous plant.

Zephirine Drouhin climbed to the roof here in zone 6/7, and it is thornless, has some repeat bloom and wonderful scent. It doesn't go much over 12' though.

Cindi that sounds reasonable. It will be fun to spend the winter studying these.

Hi,
You will find a picture of my climbing rose 'Autumn Sunset' that was planted in 2015. It was about 6-7ft tall and I trained it on an arbor (pic attached) and it probably had about 15-20 flowers through out the whole season. I was researching about climbing roses and read that they should not be pruned for the first 3yrs except for the dead canes. So I waited until mid may to see if the canes would start sending out new growth but they did not and instead the growth came only from the base. I had to cut all of the previous years growth since it looked dead and ugly on the arbor. Not sure if I made a mistake. This year's growth is about a foot with a few buds forming already. Let me know your thoughts.

It's never a mistake to cut off dead and ugly growth, but this rose might not be the best choice for your purposes. Autumn Sunset is hardy to zone 5, but you're on the borderline, so the roots may be hardy, but the canes are likely to die back to the ground in a cold winter. It's also technically a shrub rather than a climber. It will climb to about 12 feet in the warm zones, but it isn't likely to do that in your zone. Even if it never climbs your arbor, though, it is a lovely rose and your new growth looks quite healthy.

Thanks Zuzu. If the canes die back this year, I might consider moving it to a different location and plant a true climber in its place. I really need to make use of the arbor that my husband built so he doesn't complain when I ask his help for a new project :). Also could you suggest a few roses that are suitable for climbing in my climate zone?

I searched for large-flowered climbers hardy to zone 4 (just to be safe) and came up with some possibilities. Click on the links to see lots of pretty pictures.

Alchymist is gorgeous, but it only blooms once a year.

Rose (Rosa 'Alchymist')

America has been popular for many, many years.

Rose (Rosa 'America')

Joseph's Coat has the colors you want. It's a little more vibrant than Autumn Splendor, but it's in the same range.

Rose (Rosa 'Joseph's Coat')

Harlekin doesn't meet the same color criteria, but it's a beautiful rose.

Rose (Rosa 'Harlekin')

There are others, but these four probably are the easiest to find in commerce.

If you can find it, 'Jacobs Robe' is a wonderful improvement over 'Josephs Coat'. As Zuzu mentioned, America is a fabulous rose.

Jacob's Robe is a very pretty rose, but it's shorter than most other climbers and it's hardy only to zone 6.

@zuzu

Thank you for the suggestions. I will look out for these roses at local nurseries. Meanwhile I might try pruning the vines to a couple feet and burying them in dirt with some mulch on top to see if the rose can get a head start rather starting from the base. Doesn't hurt to try right ?