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The first thing I promised myself when arriving at Mooseys was that I could grow climbing roses. I wanted to copy English gardens with house walls covered in rose blooms, archways dripping with roses, rose walkways, roses on pillars, on fences...

Pink Rambler Climbing Rose

Rosy Spreadsheets

My first lists were hilarious - I neatly copied each rose variety, size, pruning requirements and so on into a spreadsheet. Roses which were suitable for tree-climbing had their own special page. Shade-tolerant climbers got special ticks.

I thought it would be really difficult to train a climbing rose. I worried and worried that I'd chose the wrong type of climber.

Now I know better - my climbing roses have done their thing, and I needn't have worried at all! My ramblers have been rampant, my archway roses have survived, and the roses in the trees haven't needed any help at all.

I have made a few mistakes - my Banksia Lutea, grown from a cutting, has recently had to be seriously trimmed out of season (it was completely covering the washing line). My climbing Masquerade gets badly rusted, but it is a personal heritage rose (from my first garden).

Here is my motley collection of climbing roses - with the odd rambler thrown in...

Rosarium Uetersen... Mon 6th Dec 2010: My Uetersen rose has been growing in the house patio garden for four years now. It is positioned sensibly in sun underneath a sturdy pergola post - because Uetersen is a most beautiful, well-known climbing rose.
Moonlight Rose... Tue 30th Nov 2010: I bought my first Moonlight rose after a serious bout of rose research. I wanted to grow roses other than the very modern ones, and the Hybrid Musks appealed as roses suited to a country garden.
Bantry Bay Rose... Sun 21st Nov 2010: The rose Bantry Bay has a more subtle pink colour than some of my other pink roses. I grow it over archways and along fences. Bantry Bay is a strong grower with short stubby lateral growth. But do I really like it so much? I'm sometimes not so sure...
Santana Climbing Rose... Sat 28th Feb 2009: One of my best buys in the category of budget rose specials is a healthy climbing red rose called Santana. I've enjoyed it blooming for years in my garden without giving it much thought - or even remembering to say thank you!
Ghislaine de Feligonde Rose... Fri 29th Feb 2008: Oops. When I first wrote about the climbing rose Ghislaine de Feligonde I was rather rude. She was 'too small', with 'budget growth, budget sized blooms'... What an impatient rose gardener!
Wedding Day Rose... Sat 30th Dec 2006: I'm sorry, but in my humble lady gardener's opinion, the climbing rose with the most romantic name of all, Wedding Day, doesn't quite cut the mustard. Not that roses are ever expected to cut mustard...
Clair Matin Rose... Mon 24th Apr 2006: Clair Matin rose - what a delightful, flowery rose you have grown into, now that I've pruned away the greedy, overhanging trees and given you more of the simple things in rose-life - sunshine and water!
Casino Rose... Mon 16th May 2005: I bought the roses for the pergola in a bare-root rose sale frenzy. The climber Casino was a last minute grab-and-dash purchase. I knew it was lemon, and I was deep in my yellow-roses phase.
Cherry-Red Rambler Rose... Sat 22nd Jan 2005: When the first flowering roses are dead-headed (in theory) and resting in the mid-summer sun, this bright cherry coloured rambling rose starts to bloom. I think it's a modern variety - name unknown!
Dublin Bay Red Rose... Tue 21st Dec 2004: Dublin Bay is a tall red shrub rose, usually grown as a small climber. It's a natural choice for a country garden, spreading itself easily on a fence or filling a space in a border. But... Sorry, but I like my red roses to be fragrant!
Compassion Apricot Rose... Sat 18th Dec 2004: The climbing rose Compassion grows up two of the pergola posts by the house patio. It's a sweet smelling rose with big blooms of salmon-pink shaded with apricot. My rose book claims that each flower has thirty-six petals - I haven't counted.
Phyllis Bide Rose... Wed 15th Dec 2004: Phyllis Bide is a restrained (almost shy) small climbing rose with fluffy pinkish flowers. After rain they get beautifully speckled with darker pink spots. They remind me of flowers made of crepe paper.
New Dawn Rose... Wed 15th Dec 2004: New Dawn - you have been a disaster in my garden, and I feel dreadful - you are such a popular rose, with such strong rose-credentials.
Westerland Rose... Tue 14th Dec 2004: Westerland is a very popular moderate climbing rose in New Zealand gardens. The flowers are apricot-orange, and the petals have a satin sheen.
Climbing Masquerade Rose... Tue 23rd Nov 2004: The lovely multi-coloured climber Masquerade is one of the early summer rose delights in the Moosey garden. But I should mention the rust that this rose seems to get - my Masquerade roses need to be sprayed.
Climbing Cecile Brunner Rose... Mon 22nd Nov 2004: Every summer the beautiful climbing rose Cecile Brunner covers (or smothers) a fence and two cherry trees in the Driveway Garden with its delicate pale pink flowers.
Pink Rambler Rose... Sun 21st Nov 2004: This modern pink rambler completely covers the roof of the woodshed. The canes drip down all sides, and are covered in early summer with a mass of crinkly pink flowers.
Mermaid Rose... Thu 3rd Feb 2000: Mermaid is a renowned country rose, thorny and unforgiving. She's not a pretty, pretty rose, and will try to strangle any person foolish enough to weed underneath or prune her. The single palish lemon flowers usually sit beside scruffy old buds - this rose is a bit rough around the edges.