The Old Vicarage B&B, Little Ouse

A couple of the standard roses by the front path have become top heavy with blooms. if left unchecked and with the possibility of wind and rain in the next days these stand a good chance of breaking those branches.

As the main support is lower than the head of the rose, I have tied a small stake to it and tied the those heavy branches to this. At the end of the season when the rose is pruned and as the leaves shed, it does not have this issue and I’ll remove the additional support.

With the first rose (My Dad), I needed to tie it up, as the branches were not robust enough to support the weight of the bloom on each stem. With the above standard rose (Simply Heaven), the stems in the majority are robust enough to support the blooms. However, from past experience, those branches are on their weight limit. If we get heavy rain or some wind while it is in full flower, it will snap a complete branch. So, as a precautionary measure, I have also supported the weight by tying a smaller stake to the main stake (not shown above) and ensuring that the main bulk of the rose can be tied to it as I did with the first rose (My Dad).

Several of the standards, especially those that are grown in containers have a more compact head, such as Hansestadt Rostock. Other than the stake to keep the rose upright, I find that on these roses with the smaller head, no additional staking is required to support the head.