10 Best Climbing Roses

THE 10 BEST ROSES TO CLIMB AN ARCH OR FENCE IN YOUR GARDEN …

So, you want to clothe a rose arch with beautiful roses to create a romantic pleasure in your garden … just a few small issues before we start to select the right rose for your location – think about your priorities relative to colour, fragrance, type of rose flower, etc. and then, how big is the arch? To enable you to enjoy many years of joy from this flowering spectacle in your garden, it is imperative that you select the right rose to suit the size of your arch and we recommend the walkway be around 2 metres wide so that two people can walk comfortably abreast and not be ‘caught’ by the roses – small, flimsy arches are totally inadequate for most roses … the rose will be there for more than 20 years and deserves a structure that will support it!

Then you come to deciding on the colour – here are a few of my recommendations in each different colour range …

PALE PINK – ‘NAHEMA’ – Highly, highly fragrant large flowers continually with lots of canes and mid-green healthy foliage
MID-PINK ‘PINKIE’ – One of the most floriferous climbing roses with thornless canes and dense, lush green, healthy foliage
DARK PINK ‘GUY SAVOY’ – My ‘happy, smiling rose’ … large blooms with slashes of white through the dark pink – highly recommended rose!
DARK RED ‘GUINEA’ – Darkest red, fragrant and totally free-flowering rose suitable for climbing over an arch
RED-RED ‘SYMPATHIE’ – Very free flowering and very healthy with medium sized blooms in clusters
CRIMSON 'RED PIERRE' - Large, abundant-petalled blooms continually; robust and healthy - would suit large tub/planter
LEMON-WHITE ‘LAMARQUE’ – Lemon centred pure white blooms over a long season – fragrant and glorious mid-green healthy foliage
BLUSH-WHITE ‘MME ALFRED CARRIERE’ – Amazingly prolific rose producing medium-sized, highly fragrant blooms the entire season/all year!
PURE WHITE ‘ICEBERG’ – Very prolific blooming throughout the season with mid-green, healthy foliage
MAUVE ‘BLUE MOON’ – Free-flowering, highly fragrant perfect blooms continually
DARK MAUVE ‘RHAPSODY-IN-BLUE’ – Stunning fragrant blooms with yellow stamens – exceedingly healthy and free-flowering
SALMON-ORANGE ‘ALI BABA’ – One of the most prolific, healthy, lush-foliaged climbing roses! Stunningly pretty and colourful climbing rose!
GOLD ‘GOLDEN CELEBRATION’ – Luscious large blooms with high fragrance bloom freely throughout the season
GOLD-RED ‘JOSEPH’S COAT’ – Masses of blooms throughout the season – eye-catching magnificence!
ORANGE ‘WESTERLAND’ – Fragrant blooms continually with shiny dark green, very healthy foliage
APRICOT ‘CREPUSCULE’ – Massive clusters of blooms continually throughout the season – lush healthy foliage
APRICOT-PINK ‘ABRAHAM DARBY’ – One of the most beautiful, charming and fragrant climbing roses flowering throughout the season

Above are more than 10 of the BEST - I couldn't tone it down to 10 so they are just some of the many magnificent climbers which are suitable for an arch in your garden - perhaps they'll cover an old shed wall or maybe you've installed a support (hopefully steel) which will offer you the privacy of a screen from your neighbours ... 

THE THORNLESS OR NEAR-THORNLESS ROSES SUITABLE FOR PLANTING ON A ROSE ARCH:

CREPUSCULE – Apricot clusters continually
RENAE – Pale pink clusters of highly fragrant blooms continually
PINKIE – Mid-pink clusters continually
ICEBERG – Pure white medium blooms continually
MADAME ALFRED CARRIERE – Blush white – first and last to bloom, highly fragrant – suited to planting with clematis

PILLAR ROSES which are suitable for climbing on fences or walls – these roses reach a certain height and have a fan-like growth habit:

DUBLIN BAY – The most free-flowering pillar rose with glowing red, lightly fragrant blooms continually – extremely healthy!
HIGH HOPES – Mid-pink perfectly shaped blooms continually throughout the season – light fragrance – suitable for the vase
PIERRE DE RONSARD – Heavily petalled cream with pink edged blooms throughout the season
TEASING GEORGIA – Clotted-creamy yellow/apricot blooms in flushes of pure magnificence splayed on a wall!
ALTISSIMO – Bright red, single blooms with yellow stamens – a real ‘in-your-face’ spectacle in the rose garden
TWILIGHT GLOW – Huge pale apricot blooms continually with luscious mid-green very healthy foliage
CYMBELINE – Highly, highly fragrant blooms with swirling mass of grey-pink blooms throughout the season

RAMBLING ROSES – many of which mostly only flower in the Spring with light flowering in the Autumn but deserve a place where space permits because for six weeks you will experience the pure bliss and romance of magnificence which only the rambling roses can deliver:
ALBERTINE – Swirled mass of pinky-apricot blooms in proliferation on a thorny, healthy and rampant rose
MME. GREGOIRE STAECHLIN – Highly fragrant, mid-pink waved petalled blooms of extraordinary beauty – great hips in the Autumn  
WEDDING DAY – Masses of pure-white single blooms in clusters – lush, glossy healthy foliage – thorny
MERMAID – Large, single cream blooms adorn this massive rambling rose spasmodically throughout the season – reverse hooked thorns
NEW DAWN – Pale-pin clusters of medium sized blooms continually throughout the flowering season – thorny beast
LORRAINE LEE, CLG. – Muddy-pink roses flowering when every other rose is not flowering – tendency to mildew if cloistered!

And, of course, there are more climbing roses for you to consider which might be perfect for the location in your garden ...

PROTECT YOUR YARD OR BUSINESS PREMISES FROM INTRUDERS - Highly recommended rose - Albertine is the most thorny.

SCREEN THE NEIGHBOURS - A rose with lots of healthy foliage and constantly flowering - Ali Baba is fabulous!

SHADE SCREEN FOR PET ENCLOSURE - Climbing Pinkie has lush foliage and masses of flowers all season!

To be successful in having the climbing rose do what you require it to do in your rose garden, I recommend you converse with us via email or visit us at Silkies Rose Farm, Clonbinane since, as Consulting Rosarians, we have the knowledge to ensure that you get exactly the right climbing rose to suit your individual situation!