Cascade roses: varieties & care

Cascade roses and weeping roses: varieties and care

Cascade roses have tall stems and develop large crowns with long, flexible shoots. Here is a selection of good varieties and tips for care.

What exactly are cascade roses or weeping stem roses?

If you look around the range of standard roses in tree nurseries, you will find plants in three heights. The smallest are called half-standards and have stems between 40 and 60 cm high. This is followed by standard roses, where the grafting point is at 70 to 90 cm. The third group, the cascade roses, is particularly high. These are rose grafts on 140 cm high stems. Some rose growers also refer to the cascade roses as weeping stems. Over the years, they develop into impressive "rose trees" and are real eye-catchers in the summer garden when hundreds of flowers open at the same time.

Bed design with cascading roses

The long-lasting rose stems can be easily underplanted with spring-flowering plants and summer-flowering perennials. This creates permanent perennial borders with magnificently flowering roses at eye level.

Cascading trunks require a stable trellis

Most cascade roses develop crowns that are 1 to 1,5 m wide. Their shoots grow in a trailing fashion. It is particularly important to choose a stable trellis as a support for varieties with flexible shoots such as 'Guirlande d'Amour' and 'Super Dorothy'. This is placed in the planting hole as soon as the plant is planted. The trellis supports the heavy crown and serves to shape the shoots and guide them downwards in an orderly manner. Without a trellis, a fully bloomed cascade rose can easily break in strong winds. With a little skill, you can build the supports yourself. But there are also well-thought-out models, such as the 'Giverny rose umbrella' from Classic Garden Elements. This rose umbrella is also available in a version (with a lateral opening) that can be subsequently built around older stems.

Claude Monet and the 'Rose Umbrella Giverny'

Standard cascade roses are real showpieces in the garden. They were first planted in great abundance by Claude Monet in his garden in Giverny. Monet painted his garden in Giverny again and again. These garden impressions are among the most beautiful paintings by the world-famous impressionist. To ensure that these standard roses with their delicate yet lush, heavy crowns stand stable and do not fall victim to the next storm, Claude Monet created an umbrella-like, stable iron structure to support them: The 'Rose Umbrella Giverny'In order to shine in full fullness and lushness, cascading roses need the metal rose umbrella 'Giverny'. Invented by the impressionist Claude Monet for his garden in Giverny. Immortalized in his paintings.

Plant weeping trunks by March

140 cm tall weeping trunks are best planted as bare-root plants in the winter months until March. Potted roses can still be planted from April onwards. However, bare-root plants have many advantages: They are cheaper, easier to ship and more convenient to plant. Since roses prefer calcareous, clayey soil, it is almost always advisable to enrich the 60 cm deep planting hole with around 20 l of rotted compost and bentonite flour. Alternatively, the planting hole can also be filled with rose soil.

Proven single and repeated flowering varieties for cascade roses

The range of cascade roses includes once-flowering varieties such as 'Raubritter' or repeatedly flowering varieties such as 'Apfelblüte'; the overview in this article lists other recommended varieties. The decisive selection criteria should be plant health and frost resistance. Unfortunately, varieties that are susceptible to fungus such as 'Schneewittchen' are still available. There are also varieties on the market with a sparse, upright growth such as 'Westerland', which are not so suitable as cascade roses. The most beautiful cascade stems develop from rose varieties with flexible shoots. Most of these varieties develop smaller flowers, one exception being the pink 'Laguna' with 8 cm flowers. And with the variety 'Jasmina' there is even an excellent scented rose in the range of cascade roses. Its 5 to 6 cm flowers have extremely strong, fruity scents.

Tall trunk – abundant bloom
Selection of recommended cascade roses

Tips for cutting cascade roses

Uncut cascade roses are susceptible to wind damage and bloom less. Care is necessary.

Cutting of repeat-flowering cascade roses

The cascade roses, which bloom more frequently, are pruned in March and in the summer after flowering. Young rose stems are pruned very little in the first two to three years, only diseased and frozen shoots are completely removed during spring pruning. In addition, withered and thin branches are pruned back to "pencil-thick wood" in March. From the fourth year onwards they are then thinned out further. The crown volume can be cut back to a third. Individual, old shoots can be removed down to the grafting point so that the basic structure of the rose crown consists of strong, younger branches. The thin side shoots are shortened to two to three buds. Uncut cascade roses quickly suffer wind damage and the older rosewood is no longer as willing to flower. All remaining shoots are tied back to the frame of the 'Giverny Rose Umbrella' after pruning. To do this, shoots, which often grow in all directions, can be tied back down in a nice order. Tying the plants horizontally will encourage the abundance of flowers. A young branch can also be tied from right to left to fill a visual gap. Hollow plastic cord is suitable for tying the plants as it does not cut into the plant and is very elastic so it will last for many years.

Cutting of once-blooming cascade roses

Cascade roses that bloom once are pruned immediately after flowering in July to early August. The pruning method is very similar to that of the varieties that bloom more often. The only difference is that the shoots are tied up in winter after the leaves have fallen.

Here you can download our tips for cascading roses as a PDF.

© Copyright Classic Garden Elements Vertriebs GmbH – Author: Klaus Krohme
Reproduction only with written permission.