West Sussex, United Kingdom
Naughty Cecile!
I planted a rose 'Cecile Brunner' whose label described it as a 'medium climber'. Well, my Cecile is on the rampage! This year she has taken over the pergola, marched across the shed roof,careered along the fence and is climbing the fir tree.
She blossomed prolifically in the spring and the scent was lovely but I need to teach her who is boss! When should I cut her back and how far, please? She is still haging on to her hundreds of dead flowers. Thank you.
- 6 Jul, 2015
Answers
Thanks, Bamboo! Yes, it was definitely missold! It's lovely though. I was hoping I could check it now but I will leave it until spring and then and then try to take out the stems that are trying to curtain off the pergola and the shed door. I'm happy for it to gallop over the shed roof and rampage up the tree!
6 Jul, 2015
It won't do any harm to take of branches which are in the way in autumn, nor to shorten branches a bit - this helps prevent windrock over winter anyway. Just save the main prune for March.
6 Jul, 2015
Many thanks, Bamboo, I will do just that.
7 Jul, 2015
Not really naughty at all, its doing exactly what it always does! You've been mis sold if they described it as a 'medium' climber. The bush variety is small and dainty, but the climbing version reaches an average 20 x 20 feet and its a good variety for allowing to scramble up into trees. It is listed as repeat flowering, but in reality, it produces lots of flowers in one go, with only a few sporadic ones later. I suppose, when you consider some plants get 35 feet, this one could loosely be described as 'medium', but 20 feet is pretty large for the average garden!
Unfortunately, the recommended pruning for this variety is Method 2 - which means you only remove dead, diseased or exhausted wood, and trim off withered shoot tips in early spring. This might be an example of wrong plant, wrong place... but if you don't mind it up in the tree, let it go there.
6 Jul, 2015