How to Design a Stunning Floral Rose Arch for Your Garden

Add Vibrant Colour and Drama to Your Garden with a Dramatic Rose Arch
Top Rose Varieties for Archways
Choose climbing rose types up to 15 feet tall to provide balance and stability to your archway and avoid top-heaviness. Avoid stiff-stemmed roses and instead choose those with pliable stems that can easily pass through an object quickly. These are some time-tested favorites:
‘Peggy Martin’ adorns the arch and is a thornless, robust climber renowned for toughness—it weathered being underwater in salt water for two weeks following Hurricane Katrina. Unscented but thriving in Zones 4–10 and doing well nearly anywhere.
‘America’ climbing rose yields large coral-pink blooms with pointed, spicy-scented buds. Hardy to Zones 6–9.
‘Mary Delany’ is a thornless English climbing rose with pale pink flowers that appear in sprays in the season. It tolerates partial shade and will do well in Zones 4–11.
‘Claire Austin’ has a strong myrrh scent and creamy white flowers that begin as pale lemon buds. This is a vigorous grower and is ideal for Zones 5–11.
‘Strawberry Hill’ is a reblooming English climber with strong fragrance, arching stems, and deep pink rosettes. Excellent in Zones 4–11.
‘Cécile Brunner’ is sweet cascading over an arch. Lightly scented pink buds, tea perfume, and long stems have made this a classic favorite in Zones 4–11.
Roses are extremely hardy, and most have some fascinating history behind their names and hardiness.
How to Install a Rose Arch in Your Garden
Garden arches are found in many styles, but choose a strong one—a heavy-duty metal arch held up on rebar stakes—is best to support vigorous rose growth.
Next, choose a spot. Good spots are garden doors or seating areas. More important, however, is that the spot gets full sun and good-draining soil (make soil modifications if needed). Level the area and install the arch with an assistant.
As soon as the risk of hard frost has passed (late spring or early spring), plant a bare-root climbing rose on either side of the arch. Dig in compost and water well at planting time.
Water always at the bottom to avoid getting leaves and flowers wet and encouraging disease. A drip irrigation system would be ideal. Otherwise, water deeply by hand once or twice a week, more frequently during heat waves.
How to Train and Maintain Climbing Roses
As your roses grow, guide the strongest stems over the archway with soft garden ties to hold them in position. Try to train stems out horizontally whenever possible—this encourages lateral growth and more blooms.
How to Prune Roses on an Archway
Continue to work in stems into the structure as they grow. Trim and deadhead wilted flowers after blooming. Severe pruning has to be conducted in late winter or early spring, cutting out dead, dying, or damaged canes.
Don’t be afraid to cut back for aesthetics and the health of the plant, especially in the first few years. Let one or two sturdy canes grow to the apex of the arbor and space the others along sides.
Remove dead growth and spray a fungicide to prevent the development of such diseases as black spot. Prune established main canes to different heights (e.g., 2, 3, and 5 feet) to encourage blooms all along the arch and not just at the tips.