Climbing Roses

now's a good time, cut out any weak or dead branches. Any strong stems from this year can be cut hard back to a bud.

Thanks Heron, I was wondering the same thing, except my rose is tiny. It did have some bloom this year. Should I prune it now too? Or leave it til next year til it gets bigger?

Sorry to put in my two cents worth Heron but before you prune your climbers remember that some once flowering varieties flower on the previous season's wood. If you prune these types now you will cut off all the blooms for next year.
If your climbers are repeat bloomers or continuous bloomers then pruning now will be OK.
However, having said that, I usually wait to prune my roses until the early spring. The roses store quite a bit of energy in the canes so I leave them on for the winter.
Okay......I'll shut up now.....hee hee hee.

Sewingkilla, can you remember how often it flowered? Gilli I don't have any roses that flower only once so just as well you pointed it out. Could they be older varieties? I have two beautiful ramblers, 'Open Arms' and 'Little Rambler' with those I cut all but this year's growth. I have to say that pruning roses isn't as simple as it seems and there different views on pruning. Much depends on how vigorous it is and how tall you want it.

If your rose is genuinely a climber and not a rambler (and the way you describe it, it sounds like a climber) you should prune in the spring. You can, though, remove any long stems in November, to stop wind rock.
The other thing I'd say is that climbers usually do have a bare base, often a good four foot of stem or more with little growth on them, and that's quite normal for this type of plant, so what you're pruning back in the spring will be higher up than that, probably.

It is mostly the older varieties that are single bloomers although there are one or two newer varieties too. You can also have trouble with some repeat flowering ones. Here is what Heirloom Roses has to say about pruning climbers.....

"ONCE BLOOMING ROSES
Old garden roses that bloom just once a year MUST RETAIN their old wood for the following years blooms. This is growth that appears the year previous to any bloom it produces. These once bloomers should only be pruned immediately after their blooming period is finished, which is generally around July 15th. They can be pruned to 15 inches every other year with no damage. This keeps a large bush within bounds and provides shaping. This is the way we prune many once bloomers at Heirloom Roses. If you do not mind the size of the bush then only clean out the dead canes or growth which in undesirable to you.

REPEAT BLOOMING CLIMBING ROSES
Deadheading (removing spent blooms) may be done If possible to reach them. This encourages more blooms. Long unsupported canes or canes you do not want should be pruned in the fall. In the spring prune to the desired number of canes (generally no more than four to six) remove dead growth and tie to the supports. Do not prune or shorten the canes or you will be cutting off next year’s blooms. After the plant is fours years old, prune out one or two of the oldest canes each year to renew the growth."

Certainly pruning roses is a bit of an art. Different types need to be pruned differently. I was watching a very interesting article on this and now I can't remember where I saw it!! :o(

Interesting language differences, Gilli - over here, we call them single flush, if they're ramblers, and climbers are just climbers, usually repeat flowering.

Ahhhh.....the good old language barrier. Thanks for clearing that up Bamboo. :o)

oh crumbs now i'm even more confused lol, well it flowered twice this year once after i'd moved it and then again when it had grown a bit more, it gets a group of flowers on the top, i was wanting it to bush out a bit more i have taken off the top growth where it flowered but have left the rest, think i'll leave it now and see how it looks in Spring/Summer, thanks everyone for your input. Hope i'm doing the right thing its a very pretty rose, wish i knew the name!!!

And from that description, Sewingkilla, it is definitely a repeat flowering climber, so my advice above is appropriate.