QuestionI have a climbing rose that has been in my garden for 12 years ,but for the last 3 years i haven't had a lot of foliage on it,but it still flowers .it is in the corner of my garden has full sun until 7 p.m. at night then its shaded i use a rose feeder once a month and use a liquid feed weekly when it starts to bud but where are all my leaves gone it looks bare
AnswerSometimes when a climbing rose get older and taller, it hasn't enough vigour to make a lot of new leaves. What will help it make new leaves is a good hard pruning back. It won't kill your rose but will activate it into making a lot of new growth fresh growth which will have lots of leaves. After about 10 years I have cut scraggly climbers right to the base. You can't do this with a bush rose that has sported to a climber but it does revive those that are bred as a climber. I am not saying that is what you should do, just mentioning that it can be done in a very drastic way and it will sprout nice new canes. Cut your climber back by about one third, it will delay flowering by about a couple of weeks but you will see an improvement.