How to Train Canes of Climbing Roses

A rose garden.

When a climbing rose is falling all over the place or just blooming at the tops of the canes, or worse, not blooming much at all, it is time to get serious and train your roses to do their job. The secret to productive flowering of climbing roses is training some of the canes to grow horizontally. The thick canes that come up vertically from the base provide strength and structure to the plant. The canes that grow sideways off the main canes are called lateral canes and produce the blooms. With this basic knowledge, it is possible to train your climbing rose to maximize blooming.

Things You'll Need

• Pruners
• Ties
• Rose pruning or other thick gloves

Instructions

1. Remove any dead or diseased stems---using pruners and making sharp cuts---in late winter or when pruning is appropriate in your climate. Use gloves to avoid thorn cuts.

2. Select young lateral canes that are flexible, gently bend them so they are horizontal, and tie them to the trellis or other structure being used. Direct some to the right and some to the left. This will stimulate bud break from those canes that will produce flowers.

3. Tie older stems that are not quite as flexible at a 45-degree angle. This will activate flowering almost as much as a horizontally growing lateral cane.

4. Bend horizontal canes growing beyond the width of the trellis in the opposite direction. Encourage horizontal growth in a zigzag pattern.

Tips & Warnings

• In order to have a top-to-bottom structure of blooms and avoid bare stems at the bottom, make sure to train canes horizontally starting as low on the plant as possible. Watch for opportunities to do this with low, new, soft growth throughout the season.

References

• "Encyclopedia of Gardening"; The Rose Garden;The American Horticultural Society; 1993
• FineGardening: How to Train a Rose on a Trellis; Paul Zimmerman

Resources

• All-America Rose Selections
• Weekend Gardener: How to Prune Roses
• Paul Zimmerman Roses: Roses Are Plants Too