Oops roses

A few weekends ago while Jonathan was working on a project of his own, I took advantage of the mild weather to clean up the garden—cutting down the perennials, pulling out annuals, and mulching everything. Pruning the roses was also on my list but first, I had to come to terms with the fact that the pink roses I ordered were actually climbers. 

In lieu of moving them, we decided to simply train them to climb up the screen porch. The first thing I did was give the outside of the porch a quick paint job under that assumption that once the roses had grown, painting would be impossible. 

After the paint had dried, Jonathan mapped out a grid of wire that would help contain the roses and train them up the side of the porch.

I trained most of the longer branches the best I could and trimmed those that wouldn’t cooperate. I also discovered that under all the brambles, the sage was actually doing quite well. Although it all looks a little makeshift now, we have high hopes that our climbing roses will grow into their own come spring!