Climbing Roses: The Explorer Series
William Baffin Climbing Rose
The Explorer Series of roses are a good choice, especially for those of us in cold climates. Developed at Canada’s Agricultural Research Stations, these hardy modern climbing roses are very winter hardy and disease resistant. They have a heavy bloom time in early summer followed by scattered blooms through the season. They don’t need much fuss or winter protection – very easy care.
My favorite Explorer Series climbing roses:
1.) ‘William Baffin’- This is one of the hardiest climbing roses you will ever find! It bears semi-double, deep pink flowers in abundance in late June, with recurrent bloom well into fall. This gorgeous climber is also exceptionally vigorous and disease resistant. I’ve grown this charmer for over 15 years now and it looks better each and every year. Grows 8 – 10 ft. tall.
2.) ‘John Davis’ - This climbing rose features clusters of loosely double blooms of medium pink with yellow stamens. A wonderful spicy fragrance and thornless canes are some of the outstanding characteristics of this strong climber. Very winter hardy. Grows 6 – 8 ft. tall.
3.) ‘Quadra’ - This Explorer Series rose is classified as a shrub rose or climbing rose since it is easily trained to climb due to its spreading habit. The large full blooms have curled inner petals that are shorter like an heirloom rose. The rich deep red blooms mature to lighter red. Quadra’s cut flowers are wonderful with a good fragrance. Grows to about 6 ft.
Quadra Rose
