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Going Up?

© Adriela Sakamoto

I have always had a love affair with vines. I suppose it may be the artist in me that finds delight in anything that climbs, twirls or entwines. My late father used to cheerfully hack out the wild morning glory I had growing on a section of chainlink fence when I was a girl, and I would industriously replant it each year. He could not find the beauty in a plant gone completely crazy, and I could not understand the fuss.

My tastes have matured, as I've mellowed, and these days I satisfy that love of climbing things with roses mostly. I've never understood why they are not grown more extensively, as a well established climber in the full flush of bloom is one of the most magnificent displays you are likely to find in a garden.

Perhaps it is that climbing roses require a bit more care than their quieter cousins standing politely in their appointed quarters. Left to their own devices, a climber will negotiate the most improbable pathways: Tunneling under grass, slipping up inside a rhododendron only to pop its head out in wanton display, or thrusting out over a pathway you could have sworn was clear only yesterday.

Still, there is nothing quite like walking under an arching path of roses with the path beneath your feet spattered with sunlight, and if you have the means to construct or have constructed a pergola or trellis, do think of adding this bit of garden architecture to your home.

If you do not, and love climbing roses, don't despair. There are alternatives. Take the lowly chainlink fence for example. With a drill, and a willing wall, you can hang a length of chainlink out a bit from your home and you have an inexpensive ready-made trellis. Hang the fencing sideways, so that it falls in a sheet off the top screws, and in a few seasons you will have curtains of roses cascading from your home. It comes in varying widths, and to disguise it until your rose is mature, interplant annual vines such as hyacinth bean, scarlet runner bean or morning glories.

If your home is brick or stone, masonry bits can make short work of providing holes in which to secure the eye hooks.

If you are handy with wire cutters and a pair of pliers, you can even cut out an opening in the fencing so that a window behind it is unobstructed. Or, you can get creative and cut ovals or circles or whatever, and so add interest. To keep the rest of the fence from unraveling, secure strategically with wire if you cut into it. Is there a welder in the family? Even better.

The copyright of the article Going Up? in Roses Gardens is owned by Adriela Sakamoto. Permission to republish Going Up? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.