I planted a Salita climber in a 1/2 whiskey barrel in the Spring of 2009. It has grown like a monster! It is huge and just continues to grow like crazy. However, I have a problem with the climbing part. The canes are so stiff that even when brand new and supposedly supple they are too stiff to work with--not to mention thorny, LOL...anyway, the stems are quite thick and so stiff they just will not bend which of course affects the blooming. Climbers need the canes to grow horizontally so that they can put out their laterals where the blooming takes place. Otherwise they only tend to bloom at the end of the canes which is exactly what is happening with my Salita. So, I really don't get as many blooms as I think I really should be getting. The Spring flush is pretty good, but after that it is just hit and miss with it.
I must say that this is about the most vigorous adn healthy growing rose in my garden of 400+ roses. It never gets any disease at all and I never see any insect activity on it either. I have been trying to grow it on a trellis but I think I will move it and try to get it to grow on my rose shed aka "Rose Palace" where I think I can work with it easier and possibly train its' canes to grow horizontally and thus bloom more.
Any suggestions??
John