Poor neglected freestanding climber is trying to climb out of the shady garden! What to do?

[Katie in Brooklyn]

Hi everyone,

I'm relatively new to gardening and moved into a rental last year with a great surprise waiting for me in my back yard...a rose bush! I live in a tree covered historic brownstone neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, which means two things:

1) I have MAJOR rose envy...all my neighbors' front yard roses look incredible.

2) There is little to nothing that can be done to give my lil adopted rose friend full sun. I have two giant old maple trees creating a canopy over 75% of the back.

It's only my second spring here so I have done very little pruning til I know what to do. The bush is about 10-12 feet tall, with just 2 blooms this year. I'm afraid to cut it shorter since the only flowers are at the very top... it looks like it's reaching for sun, and 12 feet up is the only way to get it.

Any ideas on how to best care for it? Can you tell me what kind of climber it is? I'm guessing hybrid tea, but I'm not sure. Should I prune off the hips that have been there since fall, or leave them? It's not against a wall or trellis, just growing straight up on its own.

 

[Katie in Brooklyn]

Here's a photo of the rose (right side of the image) last June before i killed all my freshly planted "part shade" flowers

I don't have a new photo where you can see the whole thing. It has some new growth but not abundently more, just a little more filled in with foliage.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

Nice looking rose, I would cut off the hips just to make it look better. Can you trim of the tree branches to give it more sun if so you might get more flower next year. I would prune your rose back about 3 ft. next spring when it starts to grow, it would help the plant, what are you feeding it if any thing ? I can't tell you what kind of climber it is but it seem to be a strong grower.

 

[Katie in Brooklyn]

I have a couple basic care books about roses, and after reading another thread, it seemed that modern climbers shouldn't be cut back too far. So I am hesitant to do that.

I am not feeding it anything now. I trimmed a few of the reachable (ladder + loppers) tree branches yesterday, so that will let a few more rays in, but the surrounding yards have very tall, old trees that lean over my space so I can't open it up much.

Oh! There's also one cane that isn't producing any new growth. I assume that's probably safe to chop off.

 

[Fernsdaddy]

Its safe to cut it off, You can get some organic rose food or Miracle - Gro for roses and feed it half the amount called for on the package for the rest of the season and next year you can feed it every 3 weeks.

 

[Marck]

You are getting enough sun for some flowers, so count yourself lucky the rose is not fully shaded out of bloom. I presume you don't have any sunnier spot to move the rose to so keep it where it is and give it the best care you can. Actually, even if you do have a sunnier area in your garden, I would recommend just getting a second rose, rather than this one transplanting this one that is already established and doing admirably for the semi-shaded conditions provided.