Trained roses in the Rose Garden

Trained Roses in the Rose Garden

Once your rose is well established, it's time to think about how you can train it to get the most out of the blooms and the atmosphere you want to create.

It's best to finish rose pruning by late February, before the buds start to burst.

Why Train a Rose?

The aims of training a rose are to:

1. Keep the rose healthy by pruning and training in a way that encourages new shoots.
2. Train and bend in a way that increases flowering.

Deciding How to Train a Rose

There are two things to consider when choosing how to train a rose:

1. The location, space available, and effect you want to achieve.

• E.g. we use 8-9ft durable sweet chestnut poles for roses to climb around to create height or benders when we want a more rotund, sprawling shape.
• You can create a play on shapes by combining different shapes close together.

1. The type of growth produced by the rose, and whether it best suits being tied down, trained upright or left freestanding.

• E.g. 'Debutante' is a rambler that's not too vigorous and has pliable stems that can be tied around a single pole.
• Some roses, e.g. 'Ispahan', will suit both methods.

For freestanding shrub roses, we secure the stems to a central hazel or chestnut stick in winter.

Further Reading

• Gardens Illustrated: How to train roses into creative sculptures