This is probably one of the first plants I put in after I bought my house (years ago). I planted it in the front yard, close to the chain link fence separating my property from the neighbor, hoping that it would trail along the top of the fence. It didn’t do well the first couple of seasons, and then I put in the amelanchier almost on top of it, which started to create a fair amount of shade, so the rose started doing worse. Eventually, it seemed to disappear entirely and then I forgot about it all together.

Years went by.

One summer, I noticed that something was weird with the amelanchier (which by now had turned into a full grown tree). There was something bright red in the tree. Upon investigation, I realized that it was that old climbing rose. It had sent up some really long canes into the tree, reaching for the sunlight and using the tree as a trellis. What a clever rose.

The rose is doing great now up in that tree. I do nothing to maintain it. I don’t prune, I don’t spray it, I don’t feed it, I don’t cover it in winter. I figure, why mess with something that is working on its own.

Passersby must think that it took a lot of planning on my part to achieve such a unique juxtaposition of plants. Little do they know that I had absolutely nothing to do with it.

(By the way, I did not climb up into the tree to take the pictures. One cane is trailing along the new iron fence, so I was able to photograph those blooms.)