A new member

Yes we have a new member, by the username of "William of Baskerville". I have spoken by the new form of letter called email. Guess what I found out his real name is guess what, you guessed it, another David. That makes 4 of us, but who is counting, we will soon be the common name on here. So all please make welcome the Baskerville. He has roses and is eager to learn more. In his word "sponge". He is also from Mexico(Victoria).
Wecolme "Wiliam of Baskerville"

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for the warm welcome David.

I suppose I should introduce myself. I am from the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne and have recently bought my first home. I am new to rose growing and gardening in general, having rented up until now.

I have always been interested in roses so when I was presented with an opportunity to rescue 5 standard roses I jumped at the chance. And so my rose garden has started. I am not entirely sure what type of roses I have so when they bloom (I hope!) I will post some pictures and hopefully the brains trust will be able to identify them for me.

I am currently looking at getting a couple of climbing roses to train along a fence so any suggestions about which are best for my area and where is best to buy them would be greatly appreciated.

Once again David, thanks for making me feel so welcome.

G'Day David... good to see you here. There are many knowledgeable people here and all happy to help.

How big is the fence you want covered? There are some roses where a single plant will consume a house and others that are only low climbers.

Not bad "WoB", post a question and some response in 14 minutes, keep posting mate.

Yes, welcome WoB.
And I have to ask roseman: is that just green eye (as opposed to red eye in pics of humans), or does the dog have cataracts?

Hi Simon/Margaret,

Thanks for the welcome.

The fence is about 10m x 1.9m. And is just a standard 3 rail suburban fence.

I was thinking of either a Dublin Bay, PDR, or New dawn. Something that is fast growing and tolerant to a novice rose grower. Also my wife loves the Masquerade. What do you think of these varieties?

Dublin Bay is a good rose (I haven't grown it, but my sister does). New Dawn is pricklier than I want to deal with. PdR might get taller than you want, and there's a lot of it about. Renae is worth looking at - thornless and has some scent- but you'd need a second climber for that width, I think.

Hi from me too , William of Baskerville from Mexico , Victoria.
Do you have a colour preference for your intending to be planted climbing rose[s] ? Might make it a little easier to make suggestions .

Look forward to seeing pix of your standards in flower , that was a good score . Someone here is offering 7 Austin's free to a good home , they only have to be dug up. I'd rather not have seen the notice on the general store's board ; I'm recovering from back surgery and I don't think I'm up to digging them up.

Don't worry about being a novice rose grower ; no one is born with the knowledge :lol:I think having found this forum will help you immensely .

cheers. Rosalie

HI and welcome, Willliam

I am a novice like you, so can't really recommend what would be most suitable for your fence. I have PDR and Masquerade on order. I've have seen lots of photos of PDR, (so beautiful) but haven't come across many photos of Masquerade. I like to see full bush/climber shots as well as just shots of the blooms, that way I can get a better idea how it grows.

No cataracts in coke's eyes, his mum was called "bundy" Margaret, I think it must be in the camera or "green eye" in animals.
WoB as some have said, more info please, colour choice, fragrance, thorns for protection, we have lenght, so 2 at the minimum for that part.

Wow what an active forum. I'm so glad I found you guys.

I do love deep red roses. I also have a preference for double roses. In fact the very double or full roses tend to draw my eye. Fragrance is probably not as important.

But I think as I am just starting out a good hardy variety that will tolerate my lack of experience would be good. Also one that gives me lots of blooms throughout the season so I can show them off all summer LOL. (Probably asking to much!)

Margaret are the New dawns that prickly? I have seen on other discussions that the New Dawns will tolerate less light than the average rose. Is this true? If so I might be able to plant this one in the front garden where my big old elm dominates the light.

Also is an average suburban fence strong enough for the big climbers or will I need to give it some structural assistance.

Yes, very prickly, and so is Awakening, its more double sport. If you put them on a boundary fence with passers-by (or neighbours) you'll get complaints. I have a serious absence of shade, so I can't comment on its shade-tolerance. Another that is said to cope well with less than ideal sunlight is Mme Alfred Carriere, an old tea-noisette, creamy-blush with a nice scent; mine has a few blooms at present. Few prickles, and it's fairly widely available. I like Marie Nabonnand (sold as "Beales' Monsieur Tillier" by a few specialist nurseries, eg Thomas for Roses) as a scented mid-red semi-double climber (also has a few blooms at present, and not too many prickles).
Structures are not something I know much about- I hope someone else will answer that part of your question.
I hope you've come across [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] a superb website where you can look up many roses. Under Advanced Search you may be able to make a list of shade-tolerant roses in your desired colour / form.

How average is your fence? I think then main thing is to train it to the outside (or inside) rather than thread it through as the swelling branches can pop structures open. I try to train all mine in this manner to avoid such troubles.

Thanks for the info Margaret, I will have a look at them.

Simon the fence is just your standard 6 foot high 3 rail fence you see everywhere in suburbia. It is new though and seems very strong. Would I need to put some wire across so the bush has more to cling onto or would the fence rail suffice? Some have said to avoid metal wire because it can get too hot in the sun and damage the canes. Is this true.

Also this may sound like a stupid question but can you plant more than one climber close together and mingle the canes together? If so it might be a good forum topic to discuss what people think are the best combination's of colour and I would think that matching the growth rates would also be a consideration so one doesn't dominate another. What do you think?

Growing them on such a fence will be great so long as it gets plenty of sun. Have a look at this. It's a link to a HMF search of red climbers.. there's 50 pages of suggestions () and I'm sure you will find something you like in there somewhere. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

All you'll need to do is attach good strong wire (like 8-gauge), horizontally to eye-screws in the fence. Train your leaders as horzontally as possible and tie them to the wire. Attach them with stockings that won't cut into the stems as they grow and swell. There are probably lots of other good things to use as well. I use raffia too. Space them (vertically) every foot or so and you will notice all the buds along the length of the leaders will shoot and grow straight up terminating in a flower. This is a trick to get more flowers out of your climbers and is like pegging down. Don't cut back these long leaders. Just dead head the vertical shoots once finished and trim back to a few buds in winter (if it's a repeat flowering climber.. if it's a once flowering climber do it in spring and then forget it till next spring). It will take a few years to get the coverage you want.

Hi and Welcome from me too

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Again we have 2 new members, Linde and MsMW, I would like to welcome to this forum on behalf of myself, David, Simon and other members. On your membership it does not tell us much about yourselves and your rose likes/dislikes. What are the chances on some insight to you both. This is only to see what you do with roses or would like to do with them, Regards David Mears.

Welcome William of Baskerville, Linde and MsMW !

Welcome WoB. I can answer your (not) stupid question as I have three roses growing well on a verandah corner post. They are about 30 cm apart. I have seen multiple roses planted half that distance together on pillars and arches. Have fun!

I also have two roses planted on the same pillar. On one side I put 'Violette' and on the other side I put 'Phyllis Bide'. I'm hoping that the opposite, contrasting colours of orange(ish) and purple flowers will look awesome growing together as I wind them both up and around the pillar. I saw this colour combo online (it was a clematis and 'Crepuscle'), some time ago and thought it looked amazing.

Oops, didn't realize that the forum topic went to another page LOL.

Sorry for my late response!

Thanks for the welcome Rosemeadow and Dave.

That's great to know that I can grow more than one climber together. Now to choose which ones......

I went out and bought some roses on the weekend. Dublin bay, PDR, New Dawn and Sophie's Rose. I also wanted a Falstaff but they were out of stock.

The weather (Melbourne) was awful and ended up planting them in the pouring rain. No need to worry about watering them in.

Now that I can plant more together I will have to look at the catalogues again....I think my wife is starting to worry!