Agatha Christie Climbing Roses

Rosa Agatha Christie - Climbing Roses. 4 Litre Pots.

A good-sized climbing rose, with clusters of pink, fragrant flowers from June to September. Glossy, quite dark foliage. To 4.5m

Browse our Climbing Roses or all of our Rose Bushes.

Features:

• Colour: Pink
• Flower Shape: Double
• Fragrance: Medium to strong.
• Flower Period: Repeating June-September
• Leaves: Dark green, glossy.
• Height x Spread: 4.5m x 3m.
• Recommended for shady sites

Growing Agatha Christie Roses

Good, well drained soil in any aspect will do for this tough variety, which is recommended for North-facing walls.

How to Plant Climbing Roses

You can order bareroot roses for delivery from November to March. Containerised plants are available year round. 

Soak your roses' roots or pots for a little while before planting. This is an opportunity to prune the stems down to six to ten inches, and inspect the roots to trim off damaged ones.

Choose a spot with reasonable light: semi-shade will do, but full shade will not. Prepare the soil by breaking it up with a fork while removing roots, stones, etc.

• On dry, sandy and chalky soil, dig a big hole, then backfill it with a soil mix improved with three quarters organic material, including compost and manure for fertility, and leafmould for water retention.
• On good garden soil, adding some organic material is beneficial, especially manure. Dig a shallow hole, deep enough to allow the graft/union to settle right at soil level, and wider than the roots.
• On really heavy clay, which rose roots love, you do not need to improve the soil by digging stuff into it; use organic material as a mulch on top of the soil afterwards.

Spread some Rootgrow mycorrhizal fungi around the bottom of the hole,  where it will make contact with the roots.

Arrange a mound on the floor of the hole to set your rose's roots on, so they spread out, and the graft-union is slightly above soil level. Backfill the hole with the planting mix, firming it down as you go, at first with your hand to fix the rose in place, and then with your heel to firm it. Dust some bonemeal on the surface and water in thoroughly. In the process, the soil will settle down so that the graft is clear of the soil. 

How to prepare and plant a bareroot climbing rose video.

Mulch well in spring, and keep well watered during dry periods for the first year. Deadhead repeating roses to encourage continuous flowering. 

Newly planted roses shouldn't need much rose food, maybe a dash on poor dry soils. When they are settled in the second year onwards, feed them during the growing season with homemade compost teas and foraged sea weed, or some of our Neudorff rose food.

Mature shrub roses need gentle pruning compared to floribundas and hybrid teas. Prune to tidy the shape in winter. First remove the usual dead, diseased and badly positioned wood, ideally cutting out whole shoots back to a main stem, or outward facing bud. Then remove the wispiest stems, and some of the oldest wood from the centre. 

Did You Know?

Bred in 1988 by W. Kordes & Sons, registration code KORmeita. It is also sold as Ramira, and was the 1989 winner of the Dublin Rose Trials.

Agatha Christie (1890-1976) wrote a book called The Rose and the Yew Tree under the nom-de-plume Mary Westmacott. The title is taken from a line of T. S. Eliot's poem Little Gidding

The moment of the rose and the moment of the yew-tree
Are of equal duration. A people without history
Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern
Of timeless moments. So, while the light fails
On a winter's afternoon, in a secluded chapel
History is now and England.