I remember as a child we had a Hybrid tea Ena Harkness in our garden. I believe to this day it has the most fabulous scent of any roses. I can still remember it decades later.
Looking forward to my new garden with clay soil here in South Notts.
I remember as a child we had a Hybrid tea Ena Harkness in our garden. I believe to this day it has the most fabulous scent of any roses. I can still remember it decades later.
It's nice to know many of you have memories of this particular rose. I'm glad I chose it now, even if it was just a last minute purchase
Ena Harkness was introduced as a hybrid tea rose in 1946. Nowadays it seems to be sold more often as a climber. Maybe they changed the rootstock.
Im surprised to hear it used to be sold as a normal hybrid tea years ago, because on David Austin and Peter Beales website it says it grows to over 5 meters. That would be one humongous rose grown as a shrub. Like you said though maybe they changed the root stock.
No, not the rootstock. 'Ena Harkness', the original short hybrid tea sported [a genetic mutation] to a climbing form by throwing out long canes. This was found in 2 separate places at the same time. By propagating from these long canes, they can then sell it as a climbing rose, if it proves consistant, which it did, but this means there may be 2 distinct clones of this climbing variant in circulation since. So you could get varying results..
@Marlorena Well I really hope mine does grow to the size I want it to and doesn't stay as a short shrub as I do need it to to reach at least 4 meters in height. As mentioned the David Austin and Peter Beales website says it grows to over 5 meters yet on many other websites including the RHS website it says that it grows to 1 meter tall. I would be quite disappointed if it only manged this.
How soon will I know if this is definitely the large climber it is supposed to be? Will it throw out really long canes that will be 4-5 meters in length in one go? I've never grown a climbing rose so I don't know how they put out their growth.
..my spelling these days.. consistent, not consistant..
@CraighB .. Not a problem, this rose is usually reliable, and very vigorous, Fire's experience seems at odds for some reason. I have not grown it myself but I have seen it well grown on walls in gardens, where it is best placed. I might describe it as unruly and ungainly, but that's how climbing hybrid teas grow. Etoile de Hollande operates in a similar fashion. .. I have a climbing HT here, and in the first 12 months from planting, it must have grown at least 10 feet. Tall, lanky with everything happening on the top, just like a hybrid tea.
They send up a long, usually thorny shoot[s] from the base, where happy, which will keep growing upwards. I would expect to see this happen later in the first year for you, usually by September. It should not be trained straight up, but zig zagged or criss crossed along your wall, so that next year the lateral breaks will form to produce more flowers. When well established, and I've seen it at what must be 15 feet or so, these laterals can grow as long as 5 or 6 feet in length themselves on this variety. Consequently, the main framework they come off needs to be securely anchored to the wall on wires or whatever you have, otherwise they can be wrenched away from the wall, especially in windy areas, but you needn't worry about that at this point, besides, you're a young man, you can deal with this.
The large red blooms have a weak neck, the stem curves over and hangs down, which is fine up there on a high wall.. but if it irritates, then a sprinkling of sulphate of Potash, watered in, about 3 weeks before they start to flower, strengthens a weak neck in roses..
Those who grow this seem delighted to have it, but like everything else, it needs control and management. Enjoy your rose and best of luck..
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Gardening is so exciting I wet my plants.
How soon will I know if this is definitely the large climber it is supposed to be? Will it throw out really long canes that will be 4-5 meters in length in one go? I've never grown a climbing rose so I don't know how they put out their growth.
@CraighB
.. Not a problem, this rose is usually reliable, and very vigorous, Fire's experience seems at odds for some reason. I have not grown it myself but I have seen it well grown on walls in gardens, where it is best placed. I might describe it as unruly and ungainly, but that's how climbing hybrid teas grow. Etoile de Hollande operates in a similar fashion.
.. I have a climbing HT here, and in the first 12 months from planting, it must have grown at least 10 feet. Tall, lanky with everything happening on the top, just like a hybrid tea.
They send up a long, usually thorny shoot[s] from the base, where happy, which will keep growing upwards. I would expect to see this happen later in the first year for you, usually by September.
It should not be trained straight up, but zig zagged or criss crossed along your wall, so that next year the lateral breaks will form to produce more flowers. When well established, and I've seen it at what must be 15 feet or so, these laterals can grow as long as 5 or 6 feet in length themselves on this variety. Consequently, the main framework they come off needs to be securely anchored to the wall on wires or whatever you have, otherwise they can be wrenched away from the wall, especially in windy areas, but you needn't worry about that at this point, besides, you're a young man, you can deal with this.
The large red blooms have a weak neck, the stem curves over and hangs down, which is fine up there on a high wall.. but if it irritates, then a sprinkling of sulphate of Potash, watered in, about 3 weeks before they start to flower, strengthens a weak neck in roses..
Those who grow this seem delighted to have it, but like everything else, it needs control and management. Enjoy your rose and best of luck..