By Nina Summer
Roses enhance gardens with their color and fragrance, but with such a great choice of varieties, each with their own qualities, roses can also be trained in imaginative ways to create free-standing domes, cover architectural arches and even wind through trees. Whether you want to sculpt formal topiary bushes, control unruly climbing roses or train rambling varieties, careful pruning will not only help to create beautiful organic shapes in the garden but will also keep your roses healthy, stimulate growth and improve flowering.
Enhancing Landscaped Areas with Trimmed Topiary
Topiary is the art of trimming shrubs into clearly defined geometric, organic or more fanciful shapes. While topiary is commonly practiced on leafy green bushes, several varieties of shrub roses with compact growth patterns can be pruned into a tree-like shape which is then topped with a mound of rose blooms. Topiary roses are striking, sculptured plants that are perfect for improving the curb appeal of a property by framing a doorway or adding glamor and formality to a landscaped front garden. It is possible to buy rose trees that have been formed through the process of budding but they tend to be quite expensive. To create your own topiary rose bush you will need a wire form or staked canes in order to create a frame for the final trimmed shrub. Shaping the rose bush involves trimming growth from the central stem to create the ‘trunk’ of the tree and then regularly pruning new shoots throughout the season. Once you have formed the basic tree-like shape, it becomes easier to maintain the topiary bush.
Controlling Climbing Roses to Encourage Flowering
While some roses can be cut back and shaped into formal shapes, climbing, clambering and large shrub roses can be harder to keep under control. Instead of harsh pruning to prevent them becoming unwieldy and taking up too much space, their long canes can be arched over and pegged to the base of the plant. As well as keeping the plants tidy, in a more attractive shape and easier to manage, this technique of self-pegging will help the climbing rose or large shrub rose to produce more blooms. This is because flowers are produced at the growing tips of long canes and, once a bud is produced, growth inhibitors prevent more flowers from growing lower down the stem. By arching them over, the hormones that inhibit flower growth are kept down in the tip that is now bent to the base of the plant and this allows more flowers to bloom in clusters at every bud eye all along the cane. The result is more beautiful blooms that don’t overwhelm the rest of the garden.
Training Ramblers to Cover a Garden Arch
As well as using pruning, shaping and self-pegging roses into formal shapes, they can be trained to grow over architectural frames. An elegant archway covered with a clambering rose adds fairytale magic to any garden. Even in a tiny outdoor space, roses can be trained over a single pillar which can still create an attractive feature but with a considerably smaller footprint. Once you plant a rose at the base of an arch, it will start to grow but as the initial long stems will become the flowering wood, they shouldn’t be pruned. Instead, they can be fanned and fixed to the frame of the arch with garden twine. It can take two to three years for a climbing rose to become established and by leaving it unpruned for the first couple of years, it will have a chance to cover more of the frame. Then, at the end of a flowering season, shoots can be pruned back to just above the join with the main stem in order to encourage stronger growth and more flowers the following year.
Roses are a beautiful addition to any type of garden and when they are carefully pruned and shaped, they add further appeal. Topiary bushes can be trimmed to enhance a formal landscaped garden, large shrubs can be self-pegged in attractive and manageable shapes, while climbing roses trained over a trellis or arch frame add architectural interest to your outdoor space.
