Question
I bought a yellow climbing rose last year and it didn't bloom....thought perhaps it was past the blooming season but the rose has not bloomed this year.  It is in a very sunny place and gets fed.  Are there such things as roses that do not bloom or what can I do?  Thankyou

Answer
Climbing Roses -- known also as 'Ramblers' -- do not really do any 'climbing' 30 feet up, sprawling over trellises, pergolas, walls and trees.  It's their arching canes that make them seem to grow so long they attach to supports.

Grown horizontally, these shrubs produce flushes of blooms that will on some repeat all summer long.

You just have to know one thing:  Climbing Roses bloom best when their canes are grown HORIZONTALLY!

They flower once, at the very tip of their branches if arranged vertically -- on a trellis or one of those beautiful Rose pillars they sell in the Smith & Hawkin catalog.

But if you grow the branches HORIZONTALLY, they will become long stems that bloom in clusters and provide the dazzling Summer spectacle they are famous for.

One problem you have not mentioned but is probably in the cards:  Blackspot.  You can count the Yellow genes for that weakness.  Reason being, the three Yellow species Roses that form the foundation for today's Yellow hybrids -- Rosa ecae, R. foetida and R. hemisphaerica -- were also Blackspot-prone.  The gene that carried the Yellow Petals in later Hybrids brought with it this tendency for Blackspot attack.  Let me know if this becomes a problem down the road and we can go over your options.

Eventually, to protect any buds you get, avoid pruning errors.  Don't prune until AFTER the last week in June, or you may remove future blooms.  When flowering is finished, you can prune back lateral branches to 5 to 15 inches.  But your Yellow Climber should NOT be pruned at all until it is AT LEAST 3 years old.

You did not provide a location for growing your Rose, but if it is cold, you should carefully mulch to protect tender
tissue from Winter harm.  In the Spring, trim the ends of the canes to get them to grow side branches.  Let me know if you need instructions for doing this properly.

Finally, there's the fertilizer factor.  Sure, you fertilize, but are you fertilizing properly?  You must make sure your Rose gets enough NITROGEN, in addition to flower-building Phosphorous.  Nitrogen builds Leaves; Leaves make Energy; Energy makes Flowers.  Make sure your Rosebush gets lots of ALL essential nutrients.

Apparently you have never heard that Old Gardener's Saying about Roses: 'First year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap.'  Give it time.  A few months hence, perhaps you'll be able to post some photos here.  Thanks for writing.