Help, Climbing Rose Bush Not Blooming?

bjazz28

Hi,
This year Spring I planted a climbing Rose I got from Tesco. It was planted carefully and re potted once it had outgrown the original plater I put it in. It had stopped growing but began again in mid summer once it had been potted on, but it has not bloomed at all. It has put out more stems and has been very active but with no resulting blooms.
Does anyone know why this might be, did I make a mistake? or what the best course of action might be for the future?
Thanks for reading,
here are a couple of pics.




Thanks,
cliff

Borderline

The container is far too small for your rose. You can see the growth it has put on, so that pot will not be enough. Roses are long-term plants. They need to be grown in a loam-based compost with feeding on top. John Innes 2/3 would be best. 

The photos makes your balcony look 'inset', so not sure if that is so. But, without good sunlight, your roses will simply be drawn and fail to thrive. Finally, training your rose to grow upwards will not create side shoots, and it's normally from the side-shoots that have been horizontally trained that forms buds.

You need to check the label about the type of rose. Without knowing the rose and its eventual height, it's quite hard to advise whether it is even right to train though that obelisk. It may just be it's too small for your rose. 

Marlorena

Do you know the name of this rose please?  does it have a lot of thorns or is it mostly thornless?  I can't tell from the photos...  If you don't know the name, did the label on the plant show the colour of the rose that you should expect..i.e. red, white, pink...??
Thanks..

Marlorena

Ok... in case you look in later and respond, and I'm not around then, I will take a provisional guess as to the identity of your rose, from what looks like rounded foliage, and few thorns... [close ups of these are always useful]...  so I think you have 'Paul's Scarlet Climber' which is a red climbing rose and one that Tesco sells..

If this is the case, then you should be made aware that it flowers only once a year in June, for about 3 or 4 weeks, and rarely flowers later in the season... because it flowers on last year's wood, i.e. the growth it made the previous season, so you should not expect any flowers this year, but you should get a good display next June - do not cut off any of this growth..

After next summer you will find the rose may quickly outgrow that pot as has been said above, and the rose will start to deteriorate without room for the roots to spread.. unless you're quite experienced at dealing with these things..

Do let us know what you think... if it's a different colour or some other name then I shall think again for you... 

bjazz28

Hi everyone,
Yes it is Paul's Scarlet Marlorena as you say which is great you can do that!.

Thank you everyone for suggesting I use a bigger pot/planter and better compost.
I had a feeling that might be an issue. I do have other rose bushes in slightly smaller pots which do flower well and stay quite compact with it, but maybe climbers are different.
 I won't get a bigger pot, but in spring I will take the plant out, trim the roots slightly and then renew as much of the compost as I can with either Miracle Grow or John Innes as you have suggested. Hopefully it will continue to grow on and then will produce blooms next year. (no pruning of course)
I don't really want to train horizontally 'Borderline' so I hope that upright training does prove to be ok in the end.
I really appreciate all you feed back and instructions.
Thanks again,

cliff

Marlorena

@bjazz28

cliff....NOooo...!... don't touch it in Spring, just leave it be, otherwise you might damage it, and you won't get any flowers again next year if you fiddle around with it then...  wait until after June before you do any pruning or repotting,  it will be fine until then...

Borderline

Well done Marlorena, that’s an amazing ID! In this case bjazz28, as mentioned, no need to worry about it for now. The plant will be shutting down for winter soon.

Since it is a summer flowering rose, your new rose is forming its framework for next year’s flowers. There is no need to prune or alter it until after flowering next year. You can then re-pot it.

In regards to training it. Once you have trained your branches, all growth will form from the main stems, so hopefully from next year, you can lightly shorten some stray branches after flowering. Rejuvenating old branches (pruning much further back of older branches) will be much further down the years. 

Marlorena

@Borderline
..thanks so much... 

I would also suggest to top up the pot with some more compost as it's a bit low.  I usually go about 1 inch below the rim of the container.. if Cliff has any available...

bjazz28

Hi,
Thank you very much Marlorena and Borderline, That's fantastic, I could have made a big mistake there! I really appreciate your input, and I'll do just as your have said, including the top dressing next Spring with good compost.
Thanks again,
cliff