What can be more beautiful than an arbor smothered in roses!

Years ago the house that I grew up in was torn down to make way for a housing development.  I saved a couple of old doors that were just too cool to throw out.  I stored them in my shed for a number of years with no idea of what to do with them.  Then one day a friend showed me a picture she had seen on Pinterest and suddenly I knew what to do with my doors.  My husband helped me construct an arbor that was just crying out for a rose bush.

I hadn’t had much experience with roses, especially climbing ones so I have had to learn as I went along.  For me the most important things to remember in training a climbing rose are:

• Climbing roses don’t really climb they just have very long canes.  They don’t have tendrils or suction cups to hold themselves to anything.  They must be tied up.
• You will want 6 or 7 main canes that are tied to your support.  These will be your structural canes.  They will not produce flowers
• The structural canes will have side branches that will produce the roses.  In the spring you will want to cut the side branches down to 4-6 inches.

The following video will show how I prune my rose in the early spring before it has leafed out.