Climbing Rose In The Wrong Place

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on the forums, and I'm desperately in need of advice. We purchased a lovely little terraced house four years ago, with a petite front garden facing on to the road. (The garden is 7 feet wide by 13 feet long)

Against our 3 foot 8 inch high and 8 foot 4 inch long cast iron fence we have a well-established and beautiful rose which we believe is called "New Dawn". It smells of pepper when you cut the stems,

However, the person who planted it clearly did not realise it was a climber, ideal for a large garden fence or, even better, the side of a house. Every year it's like doing battle with the beast to stop the tendrils reaching out over the pavement and getting in the way of pedestrians, or worse, beyond that and into the road. The poor thing is wedged in the corner between the cast iron fence and our neighbour's boundary fence, and I'm sorry to say it's turning into a bit of a triphid, taking over all the space in a garden that really has no room for it.

The thing is that, because it's so well established (the main steam is bifurcated with each branch measuring 4 inches around) near two boundary fences and a pavement, the root ball is deep and will go under these structures, making it almost impossible to grub out successfully.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to remove this rose from its location, either whole or, if it really must come to it, in bits to be disposed of? Alternatively, is there anything that can be done to bring it completely under control? We've tried weaving it through the fence, but it's uncooperative. Even when tied in place it escapes!

The same well-meaning would be gardener also blessed us with a Cotoneaster Horizontalis next to the rose. Between these two, there's not much room for anything else.

Thank you in advance!

GG

 

Hi GeeGee


Try this:



or one of these




Get rid of it entirely, it sounds a menace. Pruning will only encourage more growth.
Then plant something more appropriate. :D

 

Thanks Melissa,

We can cut it out down to the ground, and just below, but the roots go all the way under the council owned pavement, and both fences. Is there anything I can do to stop it coming back to haunt me from the roots we can't get out, or will it give up if we chop the main bit out?

GG

 

I would keep cutting back harshly as and when it puts up new growth and trust that it will eventually give up.
There is nothing you can do about the roots under the pavement.

You could use a stump killing herbicide, but Im not one for using chemicals.
Especially if you have pets or intend on replanting the area.

Right now, its busy growing- cutting it back to the ground will shock it greatly.

Get cutting!

 

Hello GeeGee

I understand your problem entirely. I'm sorry to say I can't blame my gardening misfortunes on the previous owners, who were nothing if not spartan in their approach to horticulture. Mostly it's my fault for trying to cram in too many plants.

I think Melinda is probably right. You need to get rid of your rose. If you don't fancy doing the job yourself it might be worth paying something to come and do it for you. They could do in your cotoneaster at the same time - probably my least favourite plant with the possible exception of pyracantha. I still bear the scars from an encounter with a venerable pyracantha which an elderly neighbour had allowed to run amok.

I am blessed with a partner who never said 'I told you so' as he removed yet another oversized menace of a plant. He successfully got rid of a climbing rose which was just as monstrous as yours by cutting all the main stems to the ground with tree loppers and then digging out the root. I had to promise to stick to better mannered plants in future, however.

 

PS With regard to the root problem, again, I'm with Melinda. Get rid of as much top growth and root as you can. Then it's a question of cutting out any regrowth until the plant runs out of energy and gives up.

 

Got it, thank you guys. All green growth is now gone, and it's just the big stems remaining, for which I need a good saw (which is in my attic). I feel sorry for the rose, it is beautiful, but it's got to go.

The previous owners had a thing for roses. They had another one, a rambler this time, in the back garden which is barely bigger than the front one. It grew to about 0ft, but it had nothing to ramble against but a five foot fence.

I chopped it out when I was pregnant (because pregnant ladies feel compelled to do that sort of thing ) and laid a lawn. We're still mowing down suckers coming up from the roots three years later...

Here's to responsible gardening. As for a replacement, I thought a nice olfactory herb garden. I have some rosemary and sage by the door and lemon grass by the gate (which explodes into a massive thing every summer and dies right back in winter. Perhaps a nice big lavender bush where the rose was would be a nice change :D

GG

 

GeeGee, lavender would be a lovely touch.

But have you considered some Gunnera or japanese knotweed? ;-)

:D