Rosé problem

[hammerandtong]

I have a Cècile Brunner climbing rose which has only bloomed twice in 2 years. It gets full sun.
I’ve trimmed the spent roses but it’s not growing new beds. What am I doing wrong??

Roses are gross feeders - impossible to overfeed them I think. Top dressing of well-rotted manure, rose feed in spring and tomato food every two weeks in the flowering season. That should do it.

Are you feeding and mulching it with manure?

Are you pruning it?

I got DH to prune my roses this year which he interpreted as hack them to the ground. Roses have responded by blooming like crazy out of terror.

I think it does only bloom once every season , like Paul’s Himalayan Musk, it isn’t a repeat flowerer.

So you can’t do anything other than enjoy its brief moment of beauty and wait for the following year. That’s what I do with my PHM.

Thanks everyone! I have been remiss in fertilizing it🥲

What exactly do you mean “only bloomed twice in two years”? Only two flowers? Lots of flowers in June and nothing till the following June? If the latter, then that’s possibly how it’s meant to behave - Cecile Brunner is an old rose and I don’t think it’s repeat flowering. No amount of fertiliser will push a rose into repeat flowering if it isn’t in its nature.

Cecile Brunner is repeat flowering, not once flowering. Feed twice - early spring and again in mid-summer. If you really want to make it happy, add a thick layer of well rotted horse manure. And if you want to up your game even more, give it regular seaweed feedings.

It had lots of blooms when I planted it but didn’t bloom again until the following year with only a few blossoms.

I appreciate everyone’s helpful information!

That explains why my 60 year old memories of my parents garden had it in flower for a long time