Rosa ‘Cécile Brünner’. Image: Malcolm Manners.

My post last week on our two hardy if unimaginative climbing rose choices, ‘Don Juan’ and ‘Iceberg’, prompted several reader suggestions for other climbing roses. Some backed up both ‘Don Juan’ and ‘Iceberg’ for their reliability. But our readers had great ideas for other vigorous climbing roses:

Rosa ‘Cécile Brünner’
The top suggestion was Rosa ‘Cécile Brünner’. Reader Linda T. says, “The flower is tiny, like a mini rose, and soft pink fading to dusty pink. Ah. But the scent? Peppery-spice rose. Quite unique (my opinion). It flowers in giant clumps. Best feature? It makes divine rose hips for tea. It grows quickly and in my yard, tolerates some shade without loss of either bloom or scent.” Commentor P seconded Cécile Brünner, adding that they are, “nice 10ft tall screens between our yard and the neighbors, are evergreen, have handled numerous fierce windstorms without a hitch, and are currently blooming sweet little pink flowers everywhere.” Rachel adds, “It has the most beautiful little pink flowers (at least they’re little here in Phoenix) and when I open the back door I can smell them from across the yard.”

Rosa ‘Altissimo’ and ‘Mermaid’

Rosa ‘Altissimo’. Image: Wikimedia.

Rosa ‘Mermaid’. Image: Wikimedia.

Ivette S. says, “I have a thing for single roses, so my favorite climbers are Rosa ‘Altissimo’, a gorgeous true red with beautiful yellow stamens in the open center, and Rosa ‘The Mermaid’ – a huge rambling climber that will grow anywhere. Both have their major bloom in the spring, and then a sporadic showing through the year. Such gorgeous plants, with lovely leaves too.”

New Dawn

Rosa ‘New Dawn’. Image: Wikimedia.

Amanda asked for a suggestion for a rose that will tolerate the wet climate of the Pacific Northwest. Skye responded with Rosa ‘New Dawn’, “My parents live on Galveston Bay and they have a New Dawn climbing rose that is gorgeous and vigorous, it takes wet conditions, hurricane winds, salt spray, humidity and heat and still looks gorgeous.”

Responding to a request for a very long climbing rose, reader Lori B. suggests Rosa ‘Felicite et Perpetue’ but notes that they are hard to find in the U.S. If any reader knows a good source for ‘Felicite et Perpetue’ in the U.S., please leave a comment. And, lastly, in my post last week I forgot to mention that ‘Don Juan’ produces moderate sized hips while ‘Iceberg’ makes tiny ones.