Question
We have bought two Claire Austin (David Austin) climbing roses and would like to train them over a small bay window. The bay window is west facing and has a flat roof. What is the best way to train this rose for a lovely display? We live in East Anglia, England so not sure of the zone.

Answer
Claire Austin is basically a shrub rose which will grow to about 4 feet tall. However if you don't prune it, she will grow to about 8 feet tall. But you can't get away with not pruning it at all if you want to encourage the rose to climb. Plant the rose just a little to the left of the window and plant the other one just a little right of the window. Then when the rose is more mature it will cover the sides of the window and give a better appearance. When the rose starts to push up tall canes take tallest cane from the middle of the rose bush and tie it to the area next the window sides, now take the tallest cane from the left side of the rose bush and tie it to the left if the middle cane and finally the next tallest cane from the right of the bush goes on the right side of the middle cane.  Do the same with the rose on the other side of the window.   Now you have the tall middle cane going up the edge of the window edge of the window plus one cane  to the right of it and another to the left. That will be all the tall canes you need. Any others can fill up the base if you want them to so cut them however tall or low you want them to be.  These canes should be about 18 inches apart and tied about 36 inches across. There are many ways to anchor the galvanized wires to your house with eye screws. You thread the wire through the screws so the canes won't blow down in high winds. Don't make them tight just firm as canes will thicken with age.  It looks like the rose is horticulturally challenged for few years but in time the leaves will cover up the wires so you don't see them. Don't forget to get all the information you can about training the rose with wires as there are quite a few ways to do it. Here is the tricky part. To make it look like you have loads of flowers, you must cut back any lateral canes that are growing out or up from those three main ones. You simply prune these back in the spring because that is where most of your blooms will come from. Just cut them back to about 5 inches long every year. Also keep an eye on the ends of the canes as you don't want them climbing into the sky but turning onto the window roof.  Snip those off too so they don't become too long. Once you are happy with the amount of growth then pull back on the high nitrogen because that encourages growth and you now want mainly flowers.