How to Grow a Cecile Brunner Climbing Rose

Sun

Full sun gives the most flowers. Six or more hours of direct sun every day is the minimum for the famous spring blanket of bloom. Less than four hours produces a leafy plant with sparse, weak flowers.

In hot inland summers, a little afternoon shade is fine and keeps the petals from scorching on the hottest days.

Drainage

Cecile Brunner Climbing Rose needs well-drained soil. Roots in soggy ground rot fast and the plant declines within a season. Dig a one-foot test hole and fill it with water. If it drains within a few hours, the spot is fine. If water sits overnight, plant on a raised mound 6 to 12 inches above grade.

Soil

Rich loamy soil with plenty of organic matter is what this rose wants. Work two to three inches of compost or aged manure into the planting area before you set the plant in. The soil should hold moisture between waterings without staying wet.

Space and the support

Pick the support before you plant. An arbor, pergola, sturdy fence, or a tall wooden pillar all work, but the structure has to carry a heavy mature plant in the wind. Allow 10 to 15 feet of horizontal run along a fence or arbor.

Plant the rose 12 to 18 inches out from the base of a wall or fence so the roots get rain and the canes have room to be tied back. Avoid planting under deep eaves where the soil never gets watered.

Watering

Water deeply once or twice a week during the first growing season, soaking the root zone rather than splashing the leaves. A soaker hose or drip line at the base is much better than overhead spray, which spreads black spot and rust.

After the first year, established plants need a deep weekly soak through dry stretches and rely on rainfall the rest of the time. Mulch holds the soil moisture even, which reduces the bud-blast that happens when a thirsty plant suddenly gets a heavy soak.

Feeding

Feed in early spring as new growth pushes, using a balanced rose fertilizer or a slow-release granular labeled for flowering shrubs. A second feed after the heavy spring flush helps the plant recover and put on summer growth.

Stop feeding by midsummer so new canes can harden off before cold weather. Heavy late-season feeding produces soft growth that dies back in winter.

Training the main canes

Pick four to six strong canes as the permanent framework and tie them outward along the support rather than straight up. Horizontal or fan-shaped canes flower along their full length, while vertical canes flower only at the tip. Use soft ties of stretchy plant tape or strips of pantyhose that will not cut into the cane as it thickens.

Add new ties every few weeks during the growing season as the canes lengthen. A well-trained climber looks like a flat fan or a sweep across the structure, not a tangled bundle.

After the spring bloom

Within a few weeks of the last flowers fading, shorten the side shoots that just bloomed back to two or three buds from the main cane. Remove dead, damaged, or crossing canes at the base. Take out one of the oldest woody canes each year once the plant is established to keep fresh growth coming from the base.

Renovating a tangled climber

If the plant has become a thicket with bare lower canes and flowers only at the top, renovate it over two or three years. Each year after blooming, cut one of the oldest canes to the ground and tie in a new shoot to replace it. The plant keeps blooming through the renovation rather than missing a full year.

Bloom timing

The heavy main flush opens in late spring, usually May or June depending on the zone, and lasts three to four weeks. A scattering of repeat blooms appears through summer and into fall, but the spring show is the main event.

Cutting flowers

The small flower sprays are a classic for boutonnieres and tucked into mixed arrangements. Cut early in the morning before the day heats up, choosing stems where about a third of the buds on the spray have opened. Strip the lower leaves off and place the stems in cool water right away.

Cut stems hold for four to six days in a vase. Sharp pruners give a clean cut that takes up water better than a crushed stem.

Fragrance and pollinators

The scent is light and sweet, strongest on warm still days during the spring flush. Bees work the flowers heavily through the bloom window. Plant near a doorway, porch, or path where the scent can be enjoyed up close.

Black spots on the leaves

Black spot is a fungal disease that thrives in humid weather and on splashed leaves. Black or dark brown circular spots show up on lower leaves first, the leaves yellow around the spot, then drop. Water at the base of the plant, clean up fallen leaves through the season, and improve airflow by training canes out horizontally rather than bunched. A copper or sulfur fungicide applied at the first sign of disease keeps it from spreading.

Orange or rusty spots on the underside of leaves

Rose rust is a fungal disease with bright orange pustules on the leaf undersides and yellow stippling on top. Remove and discard infected leaves and avoid composting them. Improve airflow by pruning out crowded interior growth. A sulfur or neem-based fungicide on remaining foliage helps slow new infection.

White powdery film on new growth

Powdery mildew shows up first on new shoots and flower buds in mild dry days followed by humid nights. Improve airflow during pruning by removing crowded interior canes. A potassium bicarbonate or horticultural oil spray at the first sign clears mild outbreaks. Avoid overhead watering, which encourages the disease.

Aphids clustered on new shoots and buds

Small green or pink soft-bodied insects gather on tender new growth in spring and suck sap, leaving the buds deformed. Knock them off with a strong spray of water early in the morning. Ladybugs eat aphids faster than any spray, so avoid broad-spectrum insecticides that kill them too. Insecticidal soap handles heavier outbreaks.

Buds that never open

Bud-blast happens when buds turn brown and shrivel before opening. The usual cause is uneven moisture during bud development, sudden hot dry winds, or thrips feeding inside the bud. Even out soil moisture with mulch and weekly deep watering. For thrips, prune off and bag affected buds and treat with an insecticidal soap or spinosad spray.

Holes chewed in petals and leaves

Rose chafers and Japanese beetles can show up in summer and eat through petals and leaves in a few days. Knock them into a jar of soapy water in the early morning when they are sluggish. Heavier infestations respond to a milky spore soil treatment that works on Japanese beetle grubs over several seasons.

Leaves that look stippled and dusty

Spider mites attack stressed plants in hot dry weather, sucking the chlorophyll out and leaving a fine stippling and webbing on the undersides. Hose down the foliage with a strong spray of water on the underside of the leaves twice a week. Improve soil moisture with deeper watering. Insecticidal soap or neem oil knocks down heavier infestations.

Cane tips dying back from the cut

Cane dieback shows up as a section of cane that turns brown and shriveled from the cut downward, sometimes from a fungal canker entering through an old pruning wound. Cut the affected cane back into clean green wood, six inches below any sign of brown. Sterilize pruners between cuts with rubbing alcohol so the disease does not spread.

Suckers coming up from below the graft

Suckers are shoots from the rootstock below the graft union, with different leaves and thornier canes than the rest of the plant. Trace each sucker back to where it joins the root and pull it off cleanly with a downward yank, rather than cutting it at soil level. Cutting leaves a stub that resprouts repeatedly.

Stunted distorted growth on new shoots

Rose rosette disease causes deformed witches-broom growth, excessive red coloring on new shoots, and abnormal thorniness. It spreads by tiny mites and has no cure. Dig out and bag the entire plant, including the roots, as soon as the symptoms appear, and do not replant a rose in the same spot for at least a year.