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question from U.S. rose lover
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Posted by Pat_Rob z6TN (My Page) on Thu, Jun 17, 04 at 17:31
| I love to look at pictures of the old homes in Europe that have roses climbing the old brick walls. I would like to achieve this look on the side of my circa 1915 brick home here in the U.S.; however, I can't seem to find any books explaining how to create an "invisible trellis." Can someone recommend a book or at least give me some ideas? Someone has mentioned mason nails and heavy gauge wire, but they failed to tell me what to do with them. Also, is there any chance I would make the wall suseptible to incoming rain since it faces southwest, and when we get storms, that seems to be the side of the house that gets the brunt of the storm? Any ideas would be appreciated. |
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RE: question from U.S. rose lover
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| Dear Pat I used to have a little cottage in England, built in the 1830s, it was tied to a manor house and used to belong to the gardener. I planted climbing roses and ramblers against the walls (Albertine, Gloire de Dijon, Felicite and Perpetue) with no trellis. I tied the stems in low down onto anything available (drainpipe etc.) or put in a eyelet fixing(a screw with a ring instead of a head, I can't remember what they are called officially) using a masonry drill and a wall plug. I didn't encourage them to flower at low level because I had garden beds in front. At about six foot and up, when they started bushing out (or to be frank, going mad)I put eyelets in with steel rope (not very thick, about 1/8 inch) going horizontally across the wall. The rope was about 15 or 20 foot long, with one fixing on each end (you could thread it through more eyelets for a longer length) and a tension screw to tighten it. I put in about four on each wall, a foot or more apart. This was enough to keep the plants back against the wall and took them to the height of the second floor windows - you could add as many as you needed to go higher. Mine were combined with jasmin, honeysuckle, and clematis montana, which twirled around the wires of their own accord and helped keep the roses back: I didn't really have to tie them in (this presumably works better for ramblers than well behaved climbers). In late Spring the whole house was covered in flowers and was very beautiful; in early winter I used a ladder and garden shears to "prune" the whole lot back close to the wall. They only took about three years to establish. I would put silicon around the fixings to stop any water getting in. I have seen similar done rather more neatly and on a much larger scale on the cottages in Windsor Great Park (around Windsor castle). By the way, I read your page, do you have much problem with snails in Tennessee? They love to hide up behind the roses then come out to eat up your lupins and delphiniums... to the extent that I gave up on both! Enjoy planting your roses. Susan |
RE: question from U.S. rose lover
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Dear Susan,
Thank you for your response about the climbing roses. I am determined to try to get them on the wall of my house because they would be so very beautiful. About the snails -- yes, we do have a problem with them here. I'm not sure to what extent, but I do see evidence of them every morning on my front porch, around my pottings. That probably explains what happened to the lupins I planted two years ago -- they never seemed to do much -- I thought perhaps our summers were too hot here, but maybe snails ate them! My delphiniums seem to be thinning as well. I'd better check it out. Happy gardening! Patricia |
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