Pretty Rambler Roses for your Garden

Rambling roses are vigorous shrubs with long, arching stems that emerge from the base of the plants and are easy to train on trellises, over archways, and pergolas. They are useful for scrambling through bushes and into trees, covering unsightly objects or large expanses of walls.

• Rambler Roses are a spectacular sight when in full bloom. They typically produce an abundance of small, often fragrant flowers held in large sprays, sometimes up to 20 blooms per stem. Unlike Climbing Roses, most Rambler Roses bloom once in late spring or early summer for several weeks. They may not repeat flower, but they make up for it with the massive quantities of blooms they produce in their main flush. Their long canes are smothered in roses, forming impressive cascades of colorful blooms.
• However, new repeat-flowering Rambler varieties are being developed due to interbreeding efforts. Blooming from early summer to fall, these varieties are dearly coveted by gardeners. If your heart is set on a Rambler Rose, which flowers only once in late spring or early summer, you may want to extend its season of interest and combine it with a repeat-flowering Climbing Rose and/or late-flowering Clematis viticella varieties. Blooming profusely over a long period extending from early summer to early fall, these clematis twine through the roses and produce a pretty display of cheerful blooms until fall. Learn how to combine roses and clematis and create a dramatic effect.
• Many Rambler varieties produce crops of decorative hips in the fall, which persist in winter and glitter in the sun.
• Tough and reliable, Rambling Roses are generally healthy and disease resistant, tolerant of partial shade and poor soils.
• Rambler Roses require less care and attention than Climbing Roses. They can thrive on neglect, although they may look unkempt and become unmanageable after a few years. Prune your Rambling rose after flowering, typically in late summer and hard prune every few years.
• Learn about the differences between Rambling Roses and Climbing Roses. While these roses produce long stems and attractive blooms, they differ in several ways.