Planting Climbing Blaze Rose
If you are looking to plant a fragrant climbing rose with full-season blooms, look no further than the climbing blaze rose. You can use trellises, fences, eaves, or other vertical features to provide interest in our garden or to line a garden path.
The blaze rose, introduced in 1932, has large semi-double blooms, and comes in a bright crimson. Train these climbers along horizontal surfaces so that their long stiff canes can attach. They will happily climb upward on trellises, pergolas, gazebos, or archways. It starts blooming in late spring and will bloom straight through until fall.
Like all roses, the blaze rose likes full sun and well-draining soil. Amend the soil with compost or well-rotted manure. If your plant is bare root, plant it in early spring, after the danger of frost has passed. Soak the entire plant in water for 12 to 24 hours to replace lost moisture before planting. Dig a hole two feet by two feet and shovel a small mound of dirt back into the hole in the center to form a mound. Set the plant into the hole, on the mound, carefully spreading out the roots. If you live in a warmer zone (6 through 9), set the bud union just above the soil line. In zones 4 and 5, set it two to four inches below. Fill in with soil and water well. Do not fertilize until the plant starts to grow.
Plant one bush every four to five feet along a fence line. As they canes form, train them along the fence. Within a few years you will have a lush wall of beauty along your fence. Blaze is hardy in USDA zones 4 through 9 and will grow up to 10 feet high with a spread of 8 to 10 feet.
