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Rose 'Ena Harkness' 1

Rose 'Ena Harkness' (Climbing)

Climbing Rose

£11.99
39002
Out of stock
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At a Glance

Rose 'Ena Harkness' - Climbing Rose

Overview

The Rosa 'Ena Harkness' climbing rose is a beloved classic that has graced British gardens since the 1940s. This vigorous climbing sport produces magnificent deep crimson-red blooms with exceptional fragrance, making it one of the most sought-after red climbing roses. Perfect for covering walls, pergolas, and fences, 'Ena Harkness' delivers old-world charm with reliable performance and stunning visual impact.

 

Key Features

  • Flower Colour: Deep crimson-red with velvety texture

  • Bloom Size: Large (10-12cm across)

  • Flowering Period: Repeat flowering from early summer through to autumn

  • Height: 3-4 metres when mature

  • Spread: 2.5-3.0 metres

  • Fragrance: Strong, classic rose fragrance

  • Hardiness: Fully hardy in UK climate zones

  • Award Winner: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit

 

Flower Characteristics

'Ena Harkness' produces exceptionally beautiful blooms in a rich, deep crimson-red colour that maintains its intensity throughout the flowering season. Each flower features fully double petals (35-40 petals per bloom) that open from elegant pointed buds to create perfect high-centred blooms reminiscent of hybrid tea roses. The flowers appear both singly and in small clusters, typically 1-3 blooms per stem. The velvety petal texture gives the blooms a luxurious appearance, whilst the strong fragrance carries the classic damask rose scent that perfumes the entire garden.

 

Growth Habit and Foliage

This robust climbing rose produces strong, sturdy canes that are excellent for training against supports. The foliage is semi-glossy, dark green, and provides a perfect backdrop for the dramatic red blooms. New growth emerges with attractive reddish tints before maturing to deep green. The plant has a vigorous, upright climbing habit with good branching, making it excellent for covering large areas. Whilst generally healthy, it benefits from good air circulation and proper siting to prevent fungal issues.

 

Growing Conditions

Soil Requirements: Thrives in well-drained, fertile soil with a pH between 6.0-7.0. Prefers rich, moisture-retentive soil enriched with plenty of organic matter such as well-rotted manure or garden compost.

Light Requirements: Performs best in full sun (6+ hours daily) for optimal flowering and fragrance development. Will tolerate light partial shade but may produce fewer blooms and be more susceptible to disease.

Watering: Requires consistent moisture, especially during dry periods. Deep, infrequent watering is preferable to frequent shallow watering. Always water at soil level to prevent fungal diseases.

Climate Tolerance: Fully hardy throughout the UK, tolerating temperatures down to -20°C. Performs well in most British microclimates including coastal and urban environments.

 

Planting and Care Instructions

Planting Time: Potted roses can be planted any time of the year, providing the ground is not frozen or waterlogged and its not excessively windy.

Planting Distance: Space 2-2.5 metres apart from other large roses or shrubs to ensure adequate air circulation.

Support: Requires robust support structure such as strong trellis, fence, or wall wires. The vigorous growth and large mature size demand secure anchoring. Train main stems as horizontally as possible to encourage flowering spurs along the entire length.

Pruning: Prune in late winter (February-March). Remove any dead, diseased, or weak growth first. Lightly tip-prune main stems and cut side shoots back to 2-3 buds from the main framework. Tie in new growth regularly throughout the growing season.

Feeding: Feed generously with rose fertiliser in early spring, followed by a second application after the first flush of flowers in mid-summer. Apply a thick mulch of organic matter annually in spring.

 

Garden Uses and Companion Planting

'Ena Harkness' is exceptional for:

  • Creating dramatic focal points on house walls

  • Covering unsightly structures or boundaries

  • Training over substantial pergolas and archways

  • Providing fragrant cut flowers for the home

  • Adding classical elegance to formal garden designs

Companion Plants: The deep red blooms pair beautifully with white roses, purple clematis, silver-leaved plants like lavender and artemisia, and classic cottage garden perennials such as catmint, delphiniums, and white campanulas.

 

Seasonal Interest

  • Spring: Vigorous new growth with attractive reddish young foliage

  • Early Summer: First spectacular flush of heavily fragrant blooms

  • Mid to Late Summer: Continued flowering with peak fragrance on warm evenings

  • Autumn: Final flush of blooms often with intensified colour

  • Winter: Strong architectural framework when properly trained

 

Special Notes

'Ena Harkness' is particularly treasured for its exceptional fragrance, which is strongest during warm, still evenings. The climbing sport retains all the magnificent flower qualities of the original bush rose whilst adding impressive height and coverage. This rose is often considered one of the finest red climbing roses for fragrance.

Cut Flower Performance: Outstanding for cutting with excellent vase life and room-filling fragrance. Buds can be cut just as they begin to open.

Heritage Value: Named after a prominent rosarian, this variety represents the golden age of rose breeding and remains a benchmark for red climbing roses.

Disease Considerations: May be susceptible to black spot in humid conditions or poor air circulation. Regular monitoring and preventive care are recommended.

 

Wildlife and Environmental Value

The strongly fragrant flowers attract bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects throughout the flowering season. If autumn blooms are left to develop, attractive rose hips will form, providing food for birds during winter months.

Reasons to Buy Roses from Jacksons Nurseries

(1) ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot

Buy with confidence from the only online rose grower rated ‘Excellent’ 4.9* on Trustpilot. We have been a trusted supplier of roses for 3 generations. We take pride in growing our own roses in the field before potting them up, allowing for meticulous quality control to sale.

 

Trustpilot Excellent

 

(2) Best Prices Guaranteed – Direct from the Grower

Save £££s by buying direct from a grower you can trust. We’ve already price checked all of our roses against competitors so you don’t have to. We are so confident we offer the best value, if you find a rose of the same type and grade elsewhere, we’ll beat it by 10%.

 

Price Promise

(3) 12 Month Plants Guarantee

We offer a 12 month guarantee on every plant that you buy from us that we have classified as Fully Hardy. If a plant you've bought from us fails in the first year, we will either replace it or refund you. See our satisfaction guarantee page for more details and conditions.

 

Roses 12 Months Plants Guarantee

(4) Third generation family-owned nursery specialising in roses

Jackson’s Nurseries is a 3rd generation family owned business which has been growing roses for over 60 years. Roses have always been our specialty, as you can see from the colourful array of blooms in the background to the old family photo below. Today, we offer over 200 different varieties of floribundas, hybrid teas, patio, shrub and David Austin roses. Our roses are initially grown in the field before being potted up for website dispatch.

 

Third Generation Rose Growing

(5) Grown at altitude to produce strong, healthy plants

Our North Staffordshire nursery is situated at 250 metres above sea level, producing strong, hardy plants that will thrive in your garden. Our nursery sits on clay, so you can be sure our roses can handle heavy soil too.

 

Grown at Altitude Healthy Plants

(6) Help & Advice and Aftercare

We are help to help you with any help and advice you need in choosing, planting and growing your roses before, during and after your purchase from us. The help and advice section of our website has extensive information, see below some examples of articles you may find useful:

 

Help and Advice Aftercare

How our roses are supplied through the seasons

All our roses are cultivated in an open field and are carefully dug up when the weather is optimal, typically in October or November. While other nurseries supply roses bare root, once our field-grown roses have been potted up we supply them freshly potted. This better protects the roots and helps keep them moist in transit, ensuring your roses arrive as healthy as when they left our nursery. So don’t be alarmed if the compost comes away from the roots when you remove them from the pot.

 

Pointing at Graft of Rose after Removing from Pot

The roses can remain in their pots over the winter, as long as they are properly watered and fed, but it's best to plant them out as soon as possible. If you do plant them straight away make sure the planting mix is prepared first, hold the root close to the top of the hole as you tip the pot upside down and try to keep as much compost as possible from falling away. They will already be pruned, so no additional pruning is needed except for trimming any dead tips. Regular pruning can start in late winter, the year after planting.

 

Tying up a Climbing Rose

Rose Types

Hybrid Tea Roses (HT)

Hybrid Tea roses are probably the most popular group of roses, available in both bush and standard form they have long flower stems and shapely blooms. Blooms are typically medium to large in size, with many petals which form a distinct central cone.

Floribunda Roses (FL)

Floribunda roses bears its flowers in clusters or trusses, with several blooms open at time in each truss. A popular choice the Floribunda rose group is unrivalled for colour, reliability and longevity as a bedding display however the flower form in generally inferior to the Hybrid Tea.

Patio Roses (PATIO)

Patio roses were introduced in the 1980’s and the group now contains several popular varieties. Generally low-growing roses that were once grouped with the Floribuna group but have now been put in their own group of compact versions. Usually growing about 50cm high they make excellent plants for patio containers or at the front of borders.

Climbing Roses (CLM)

Climbing roses as the name suggests are the perfect choice for covering a wall or screen. Often grouped together with Ramblers, Climbers tend to have stiffer stems, larger flowers but smaller trusses than Ramblers.

Rambling Roses (RAM)

Rambling roses are often grouped with Climbing Roses but the ramblers tend to have a more pliable stems that can be used to run along the soil to use as groundcover or can be used to make weeping standards.

Miniature Roses (MINI)

Miniature roses have increased in popularity in recent years due to their versatility, even grown indoors as temporary pot plants that grow to a maximum height of 40cm. An ideal choice for planting in tubs, edging beds and rockeries.

English Roses (ENG)

Often referred to as Austin or David Austin Roses, English roses are hybrids of old English roses and more modern varieties bread by David Austin to provide the best of both, mixing old rose shapes and scents with more modern colour range, compact habits and repeat flowering.

Diagram of different types of roses

Planting Advice

Roses like a generous root space, so dig a deep hole approximately twice as wide as the current root system, preferably adding composted organic matter to the soil. Never plant into frozen soil – in winter, await a frost-free period. Carefully remove the pot and gently tease the roots apart to spread them around the hole. Position the plant so that the ‘bud point’ (the place where the shoots emerge from, where the cultivated rose was grafted onto the rootstock) is at soil level. Replace the soil, firming it down gently, then water copiously. Ideally, a general purpose fertiliser should be applied to the surrounding soil as a top dressing. We also highly recommend the use of Rose Rootgrow, which provides a friendly fungus that prevents ‘rose replant syndrome’.

 

Digging Ground for Roses

 

Buying our Roses

Pot Size

Most of our roses are supplied in a 4 litre pot although this may vary slightly depending on rose variety. If the size of pot differes significatly from 4 litres then we will make this clear somewhere on the product page.

Seasonality

Our roses are grown outdoors and as such are subject to seasonal changes. As we sell potted stock throughout the year your rose may not arrive and look like you expect it to. If you are uncertain how your rose will arrive (especially if buying for a gift) then we suggest you contact us prior to making a purchase. 

Freshly Potted

Each year a new batch of roses is potted up ready for the following season. Once potted (usually November/December time) they go on sale as 'Freshly Potted'. If you purchase a freshly potted rose and plant it soon after you will find that when removing the rose from the pot there will be a lot of loose soil as the roots will not have had time to grow and bind the compost.

 

Rose Raised Ready to be Planted

 

Pruned/Cut Back

In autumn the majority of our roses have finished flowering and begin to look untidy, at this point we prune them quite hard in preparation for the following season. We continue to sell roses throughout the year, when a rose has been pruned in such a way we will identify it has being so. If you are not sure what to expect then please ask prior to making a purchase. Some garden centres/supermarkets sell stock that has been grown abroad or in poly-tunnels so they look 'picture perfect' out of season, while this is ideal for a gift they are short lived once planted.

Aftercare

Water regularly until established. In spring, apply a specialised rose fertiliser along with manure mulch, taking care to avoid direct contact of the mulch with the stems. In winter remove all branches which are dead, diseased or damaged along with any older stems as necessary to avoid overcrowding at the centre. Cut back new growth by about a quarter and prune side-shoots to within three buds of the main stem to encourage vigour. Prompt removal of ‘dead-heads’ will encourage further flowering.
 
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Rose 'Ena Harkness' 1 3-4 Litre pot
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