West Sussex,
United Kingdom 
Rose Alberic Barbier. I have this growing on the back fence. It has been in for about 4 years but has thrown out really long stems (12ft) which carry very few blooms and those are mostly at the ends. What should I do to improve it for this year? Would it be ok to prune the stems right back very short? Thanks.
6 Feb, 2016
Answers
This gives you an idea of the effect when a rose's stem is trained horizontally: http://www.growsonyou.com/photo/slideshow/153446-rosa-souvenir-du-docteur-jamain-2010/all
6 Feb, 2016
Thank you but I have trained one stem along at half fence height and another has taken itself along the top. Two more are scrambling up the cherry tree and now drooping down. Maybe it isn't getting enough light. The fence is NW facing. I'll feed and mulch well and see if it will do any better this year. Yours looks lovely Andrew. I bought one of those last year and am hoping for something approaching that success!
8 Feb, 2016
Bend them over and fasten them horizontally. It should then throw out flowering spurs all along the branch. Vertical stems rarely flower well.
6 Feb, 2016