Climbing Rose Varieties

This is by no means a complete list of roses available. It's just a short list of some that have good ARS ratings and we have growing in our gardens. Check out the reviews below by some of our members. We may not all be champion rose growers yet, but we know what we like and what works for us. Feel free to let us know if you've had different experiences with the roses we review.

Main Varieties Page
Shrubs -|- Hybrid Tea/Grandifloras -|- Floribundas -|- Miniatures -|- Climbers

What our members say

This from Penny...Captain Samuel Holland (medium red) One of the very hard Canadian Explorer series roses, Captain Sam is deeper in color than William Baffin and pliable like John Davis or John Cabot. Two inch bright deep pink flowers repeat all summer. I planted two of these roses in 98 after the hail storm that made mulch out of my rose bed. Two years later the dark pink flowers that are fast filling my garden arch are real show stoppers. This plant is really tough. After hanging all over an ugly chain link fence I persuaded my husband to take down they looked rather sloppy. My husband says every time I get an idea he gets a job. So I asked him to build me a garden arch. Bob is no slacker so he built the arch in a few hours the last Sunday in May. Unfortunately Captain Sam needed to be moved over about a foot. Covered with buds I had to move it to accommodate the arch. It seems to be doing just fine. The rose is available at Spring Valley Roses. PNL, Brooklyn Park, MN 10/2000

This from Stephanie...Dortmund (medium red) I'm not a huge fan of singles (only a few petals), but I'd have to say this is one of the most spectacular roses in my garden. Green all the way to the tips this spring (granted it was a warm winter) I had to trim it back to keep it in line in it's relatively small space allotment. It is covered from top to bottom in bright red blooms with white centers backed up by bright green foliage. It looks spectacular against the white stucco of the house. In it's three years there hasn't been much of a disease problem, perhaps a bit of black spot, but then again I might not be the most diligent at spraying. I got this one from TCRC but last time I was down at Sam Kedem's in Hastings I noticed they were there as well. SG, Minneapolis, MN 6/2000

This from Kim...Roberta Bondar (Yellow large flowered climber, Flemming, 1993) This lovely yellow Canadian bred climber has performed outstandingly for me. It is hard to find - I ordered mine from the 98-99 Hortico catalog where it was pictured. It is a cross between Kings Ransom and Buff Beauty. Mine had a rough start - I received a tiny bare root plant to begin with, then it was eaten to the ground twice by rabbits, but still recovered. Now at the end of its second year, the plant stands an upright six feet tall, is disease free (without spraying), and it has achieved blue ribbons at both rose shows I entered this year. The blooms are big, very long lasting , and fragrant. It grows on the south side of my garage and I do not plan more that about 8" of mounded dirt around the base - more info on hardiness next year. KSL White Bear Lake, MN 10/2000

This from Kim...Westerland (Apricot blend floribunda climber, Kordes, 1969) I have both the orange Westerland and its sport Autumn Sunset (Apricot blend larger flowered climber) Westerland seemed to make it through last year's mild winter (zone 5 temperatures) with 5 feet of good cane, but just as the buds were breaking the canes just desicated (dried out) and I had to cut it back to about 1 foot. This was a huge disappointment because the flowers are luminescent! It had been classed as a floribunda (but now it seems to be a shrub) so luckily all was not lost as the blooms came along in time on new wood. The spicy lemon fragrance is wonderful and the huge sprays are visible from inside my house. This rose has had zero disease, not even one leaf, and I do not preventative spray. This year it did grow new eight foot canes, and not being able to bear losing them, I have done a pseudo - MN tip. I tipped the plant enough to lay the canes down on top of the ground, and I will cover them with some dirt and lots of leaves. I really hope to retain that 5 plus feet of cane to get next year off to a great start. I have left its sport Autumn Sunset up - one because I don't have any room to tip that one, and two as a test to see how it fares. KSL, White Bear Lake, MN 10/2000

This from Kim...Antique 89 (large flowered climber, Kordes 1990) My fascination with climbers continues. Our MN climate is frustrating for large flowered climbers if you don't tip them and bury them - they usually die back to the snowline and behave like a shrub. I read a local desription for this rose that went something like "shoots huge canes from the base each season", then I saw the plant with easily 8' canes and very double white with raspberry edged blooms, and then I bought two. 'Antique 89' did indeed get huge 7 - 8 foot canes the next season with blooms at the tips. Also it was very free of fungal diseases. I think it works best as a climber tied to something because you don't get much bloom down low. This may be a good large flowered climber choise for those who don't have the room to tip and bury a large plant. KSL, White Bear Lake, MN 02/2002

Have something to add about climbers? Let me know!

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