In our garden this spring, I’ve been training my climbing roses. They are still learning to follow directions, so technically that makes them trainees. So am I. Believe me, I am NOT a rose expert by any stretch of the imagination. But we are fast learners. Today I’m gonna show you our process.

Early last fall, we planted two climbing roses (their names are Rosie and Daphne) at separate ends of our rock wall. Other than planting them, we pretty much did nothing to them all winter, other than we made sure they had water. A few months later, before they began putting on spring growth, I started training them using a process called pegging. Pegging works rather well, especially in a small garden space. And the best thing about pegging your roses is that blooms will increase significantly.

Roses want to be good garden citizens. Some varieties need to be taught.Continue Reading