Hmmmm, I had not realized that - the label just said "vigorous" which now that I think about it means HUGE OUT OF CONTROL GROWER. At the time I just thought "oh good. It will fill the arch and be pretty quickly then!" Sigh - I KNOW better than that!

I do have a pretty sturdy arch - my husband is a carpenter and likes to show off any chance he gets. However, I will make sure I keep it trimmed back as heavily as I can without sacrificing bloomage. I watched a friends arch collapse after a four year old wisteria snapped it like toothpicks.

I was going to second Eduarda's comment. Here in California, Cecile Brunner is a house eater. My neighbor had one growing on one side of a 6' arbor next to a fence. Cecile quickly outgrew that, throwing canes 10' beyond the top of the arbor. When they had to replace their fence, they decided to take down Cecile. Well, they didn't dig her up - they cut her to the ground. Three months later, Cecile was back up and running with her 10' canes....

Anne

Wow - 3 months???? YIKES!
With any luck my Washington weather will keep it in check a little. And what mother nature throws at me I will do my best with. The arch is 7 feet high, 6 feet across (double gates), 5 feet deep. Its a monster on its own so needs a monster of equal stature to soften it a little.

I'm not afraid of a little (or a lot) of pruning - I'll make it work this season and if it's too out of control I'll change it next year. Learn form mistakes right? I do have very long bare spot along both side property lines - I could always let cecile ramble to her hearts content over there.

Hi everyone- I have been a lurker quite a while here-I usually post on other forums . I just had to comment here-starfyre, I have to prune Cecile heavily twice a year to keep her this size. Note she is up to the second story. I took about 30% off in January (with wounds to prove it.) This pic was taken yesterday , with this years growth just beginning to kick in..

{{gwi:153558}}

Kathy in the Napa Valley.

Whoa......

Gonna go do some rethinking.....................

Anyone in Washington have this rose who can give me a voice of experience with it in our area?

Starfyre, I would indeed kindly ask you to rethink your choice for that arbour. As everyone else here has pointed out, Cécile is a house eater and you will be forever battling to keep her under control. There are so many beautiful roses you can grow on that arch that are more suitable, size wise. Why don't you have a look at the noisettes? Surely there has to be one that catches your fancy and they are substancial roses too, without being too rampant. If you like Cécile that much, find her another spot in your garden where she can grow rampant to her hearts content and choose a more mannerly climber for your arbour. Just a little piece of friendly advice from someone who has planted a border full of spiky things and now gets thorns stuck in her head while trying to keep them in check :-)

Eduarda

Wow! This rose really does look like a house eater! I've looked at it before and considered buying it, but wasn't sure how it would do in zone 4b/5a (Canada). Anyone in these or similar zones have this rose? Perhaps the colder zones keep Cecile in check a little better????

Balsam

Hey starfyre:
I have a cecile - I live in WA too, and yes, I must agree with everybody that this guy is a house eater! Also, Spring is soooo squishy here, I haven't been able to enjoy his bloom because the buds get wet, and don't open. I too love Cecil, his baby mini blooms are exquisite! It's so sad! If I were you I would go with a different rose. Cecil has only one bloom too. Get something you can enjoy all summer! I have a New Dawn that does just beautifully here, or it's relative Awakening would be pretty too, just like New Dawn, but double flowers! It's a pretty silvery pink color that puts out masses of blooms! Here's a pic of my New Dawn, with Nike Warsaw clematis climbing with it.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:244664}}

Well, I've decided to let cecile ramble along our fence line - on the ground, not climbing. We share that fence with a person of questionable criminal history so a particularly thick blanket of slight thornyness would be appreciated in that particular spot. There's over 100 feet to cover and it could go as wide as 8 feet without issue since that area of land will not be utilized at all because of it's proximity to the psychopath.

Back to the drawing board.

Dare I ask if anyone has tried the climbing angel face?

Starfyre, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the rose you name, so I won't be able to offer advice on it.

As per your previous request on your first post: "I would like a rose, but can't find a thornless variety that I like, and it must be thornless since it's on a heavily used walkway and I have small ones." - the only two completely thornless roses I'm aware of are Kathleen Harrop, which I have already suggested, and her parent Zéphirine Drouhin. I have both, but find Kathleen prettier and also I think it would befit your color combination better, hence my suggestion. Other than those two, I'm not aware of any more completely thornless roses. You might try Veilchenblau, which is nearly thornless and a show stopper when in bloom, but it is a once bloomer, so you could pair it up with a late blooming clematis for additional interest late in the season.

I find the suggestions of New Dawn and Awakening very nice, but they are thorny, especially Awakening, so if you really want thornless these are out.

Maybe you could inquire at the Antique Roses forum here at gardenweb. If there is a rose that fits your requirements the people there are bound to know. Please let us know what you decide.

Eduarda

Eduarda - thanks for your suggestions. I can't seem to find Kathleen anywhere. So I was leaning to zepherine.

I didn't know you were looking for a thornless variety. I will also now refer to Cecile - in the feminine. I guess I was thinking Cecil.... My mom always had a very difficult time growing Angel Face (not climbing). In California too, where roses are so easy to grow. It seems like those lavenderish varieties were tempermental. I grow Blue Girl here in WA with great success though. It gets really tall and is beautiful here!

starfyre, good luck with planting your rose, take heart, my DH swears Roses will keep Lions out of African Villages, we have extremely good neighbors now but some years back we had some that scared the pants off me, so I know how uncomfortable you can feel.

A......

Actually there are three related roses called Cecile Brunner, and they are not always labeled accurately. Plain 'Cecile Brunner' is a small shrub. Spray Cecile Brunner grows about 10 feet high and actually might suit your arbor nicely, It has some repeat as well. Cecile Brunner Climbing is the monster and usually does not repeat (though it can a bit in a favorable climate). I have recently removed a Spray Cecile Brunner and replaced it with a CB Climbing because I want it to climb up and fill a tree.

If you decide you want the Spray Cecile Bunner, order the one Heirloom Roses calls their repeat blooming Climbing Cecile Brunner. I'm sure there are other sources, too.

Rosefolly

You might want to investigate the 'Climbing Pinkie'. Blooms spring to frost, pretty pink blooms, and is thornless.

A nice, well behaved rose, but still vigorous enough to cover that arbor.

I know your dilema. I had 2 (TWO) 'Mermaids' before I knew they were killer roses. Talk about 'reach out and touch somebody'. Ha!

Janie

After reading all the posts, I have to agree with Eduarda. I have a Cecile Brunner next to my back fence. It is in it's third year of growth and is already three times the size as when I bought it. If you don't have a lot of room in your garden, another climber is not what I would go with.
What you could do is plant a Clematis at the base of your CB so that when it's finished blooming, the Clematis will take over, wrapping itself around the rose canes with new life and lots of blooms. There are tons of varieties with lots of different blooming times.

Heather

I have an antique rose grown from a cutting and it has very small light pink flowers i thought it was a fairy rose-looks like pictures of fairy but it has small thorns and seems to want to climb i prune it alot so it does not get too crazy shaped but now im thinking it may be a baby cecile brunner(cross between a fairy and a cecile brunner) does anyone have a picture of a baby cecile brunner? when I cut it back and put bayer rose /flower food on it- will rebloom.

Love this thread but not sure how to navigate through here I pray someone reads my post.
I really need some
Advise…
I had a climbing Cecil Bruner for over 15 years until we had to replace our fence, (no, the Cecil did not affect it) the fence was just old!
It Was a huge climber trained to arch across the fence. I hated to have to Pull It out. The fragrance was lovely but yea it definately gets Huge if you don’t keep it trimmed.
A year later. We put up wrought iron fencing along the front of our home (we live on a corner) I decided since I love the Cecil so Much That we would have it planted along the fencing ( and did) it’s unbelievably beautiful) I’ll try to post pics if I can.
This is the problem, (a couple of them actually)
I didn’t realize this was a one time bloomer, although the one we had in the backyard YARD bloomed several times, so we’ll see with this one)
With that said, I’m rethinking whether to remove it which would be a huge job! OR, research another rose to intertwine with the Cecil (if that’s possible? I’m older and live alone so a lot of this work I do on my own so a little skeptical. I actually did some gardening this weekend noticing that I had another climber that I had actually put in at the same times as the Cecil (darn!) it was the lady banks rose and I swear the bloom came and went so fast I had totally forgotten about it.
So I started trying to remove it and prayed that I was cutting the right branches!!
I’m freaking out right now.
I really don’t Want to lose the Cecil if I can help it… and wondering if I can actually plant a new rose climber that
Might work and if not thornless, at least very little thorns. Any suggestions would sure be appreciated. I hope I’m able to get back on this site but please know my email is sharonouka@comcast.net
In in californa (antioch ca) and believe I’m in zone 9b
It gets very hot here in the summer thank you

The area that are open is where I’ve pulled out the lady banks rose