Rambling Reds are tough roses. It should be budding out by now. Since this is the first year you've had it, I wouldn't prune it much except to remove any dead canes. I also wouldn't worry about a support for it. Mine has a pretty upright growth habit, and tends to sprawl, but I wouldn't say it's too floppy. A usually feed it Sam Kedem's rose food once in April and then again in July. It's the best slow release fertilizer I've found for roses. This is a low maintenance rose that blooms profusely all summer long. It's one of my favorite roses. I'm actually thinking of getting a second one.

Hope that helps.

thanks, It makes me feel a bit better. I should feed it now?

It is too early to feed anything...it is too cold for nutrients to travel.

Helen.

I wouldn't worry too much about it being too far away from it's "support". A trellis or support for this type of rose is really just a nice way to display the plant, it's not required for the plant itself. It will not naturally cling to the support like a twining vine. You will have to attach it to the trellis or train it by weaving the new canes between the posts.

StPaulite - does yours really bloom all summer? In my experience there is a huge flush, then MAYBE a smattering of blooms for part of the summer.

I've had really good luck with this rose. Yes, it blooms most profusely late spring/ early summer. But there are always a few blooms on it all summer long up until frost. It could be the plant food. I just follow the instructions--feed when the roses are just breaking dormancy (late April/ early May) and then again in July. I don't know how the cold affects the nutrients in the food. I'm not a chemist. Just an amateur gardener whose been growing hardy varieties of roses for the last few years. Through trial and error I've figured out what works and what doesn't for me. Don't know what will work for others, since part of it is (mostly) the rose, part of it is the soil, part of it is the location. For example, I have this beautiful New Dawn rose that bloomed profusely the last two years, made it through two winters without any special care (it's Zone 5), but it appears this winter was too much for it. I thought I had it sited in a well-protected spot. So much for that. It's not dead by any means, but most of the canes are.

I've had this rose for a couple of years. It doesn't seem to need any special attention compared to the other roses I grow. Its canes seems very hardy--similar to a baffin or john davis.

I don't fuss too much with my roses--I give them a good dose of fish emulsion fertilizer mid-May and again mid-june. You could use bone meal too for this purpose, but I prefer fish meal because its suppose to improve the soil by feeding the bacteria which then benefit the plant with nitrogen and other goodies.

Occasionally I have problems with sawflies--I just hose the rose with a jet spray of water to take care of these demons. Occasionally I have other pests which call for some insecticidal soap now and again. I haven't had a problem with black spot on this rose (unlike my Morden blush, which may be on its way to the compost pile this year because of it).

My rambler sits about a 1/2 foot from its trellis. I use gardeners tape to tie the canes to the trellis. If you could move your trellis closer, it probably would look nicer, but you could also train the rose to grow to the trellis by tying the tall canes to the trellis once they are long enough.

Good Luck--Carolyn