Question: My climbing roses don’t bloom well. In fact, I haven’t seen any flowers at all for the first two years that I’ve had the several plants. What might be going wrong? They seem to be growing fairly well.

Answer: Climbing roses bloom on growth they made the prior year, so first-year plants will usually not have any flowers. Most people who ask this question also admit that they have pruned their climbing roses in late winter (by the bush-rose schedule). That removes the growth that would have been producing the buds for that season.