It’s true.  There is a rose that will grow in at least partial shade.  Any rose lover will tell you that one of the most frustrating aspects of planning a landscape with roses is that they MUST have full sun, and ideally they should get six hours of morning sun.  Well, I have great news:  the Old Blush Climber.

I purchased my first Old Blush Climber in 2001from a wonderful grower in Texas, Peaceful Habitations (www.ph-rose-gardens.com).  I purchased two bushes and planted them to train over an archway in full shade.  Within the year, the two bushes had completely covered the archway!  To this day, the canes are thick, vibrant, and healthy. 

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Also known as ‘Common Monthly’, ‘Common Blush China’, ‘Old Pink Daily’, ‘Old Pink Monthly’, and ‘Parsons’ Pink China’, the myriad of names of this semi-double hybrid of R. chinensis attest to the friendly familiarity with which it has been grown for over two hundred years. Old Blush has medium, semi-double, lilac pink flowers in loose clusters.  It blooms so steadily that it is not a very good cut flower: the blossoms drop quickly to make room for their successors. The Old Blush’s perfume is soft, but fruity and pleasant. This rose also seems resistant to disease and pests.  Old Blush should be treated simply as a flowering shrub and not fussed over.  I find a LIGHT pruning in the fall does this climber wonders.

Old Blush is such a vigorous climber, though, that I find it does NOT do well threaded through a trellis.  It will literally lift the trellis with it as it grows.  As you are training your Old Blush, use loose strips of cloth to tie the vines loosely to the trellis, so that you can untie and move them as the bush grows.  This rose blooms from last frost to first frost.  I have literally had these roses blooming at Christmas.    The soft pink, cupped blooms are really quite lovely in snow.