I wish I could remember exactly when I planted my CLIMBING OLD BLUSH (here), a massive rambling rose...
with lord knows how many blossoms,
that scales the heights of our office/studio in the back.
I feel quite certain, that given the chance...and the time...and freedom from my pruning...
it would completely cover...if not devour...
the roof and facade of the whole structure.
But keep it in check I do...giving it just enough slack to mingle with the fragrant, thornless
Zepherine Drouhin (buy one here) that grows up the arbor at the entrance to the p o t a g e r.
After so many years of maturity, the girth of its trunk is nearly as impressive...and as massive...as the bower of its canes and blooms.
I try to keep one step ahead of its aggressiveness by pruning out the thin canes and by an every other year extremely hard prune...
along the fence line. As you can see in this picture, I try to keep the bottom
section below the fence line stripped of foliage. It seems to help with air circulation and...
denies black spot spores a means of transport to the upper portions of the plant.
As luck and Oklahoma weather would have it, its peak bloom time seems to always correspond with
with peak 25 mph spring winds...
so I long ago quit expecting her duration of bloom to be commensurate with
her quantity of blooms.
Thus far, the all too brief show she puts on...is still worth the
the relatively large expenditure of time and thorn pricks.
But as my garden...and I...evolve and mutate (and age) over time...
~ sitting to smell and appreciate the roses may prove more appealing than actually HAVING them.