Abraham Darby? I don't think you can. He's not an upright grower.

You could stake and tie him upright but that would be pointless IMHO. For one thing he won't bloom as much. If what you really want is an upright grower, remove Abraham Darby and replace him with a rose that grows in an upright manner. Austin roses as a general rule are not upright growers but mounding arching spreading shrubs. You will be fighting a losing battle trying to make Abe Darby grow upright, and lose his natural grace and a lot of flowers in the process.

Abraham Darby is best grown with minimal pruning. None at all for the first couple years.

Thank you for the assistance. I love Abe, so he's a keeper. I didn't realize that I should go easy on the pruning. Should I clip more of the skinny(less than pencil thin)canes, or let them all just grow?

Olga has repeatedly posted her splendid Abe, which is pruned up into a self-supporting V-shape. This form is achieved by traditional shrub pruning in spring, cutting back to about 4' and leaving a cone-shape of the strongest canes as a framework. To get this you would remove most of the thinner canes and especially the ones that run horizontally. The cane on the lower right could be cut off just outside the strong, dark, more vertical shoot. In zone 9 you could probably prune any time of year.

I am sure Reg gets good results with his method too.

Thank you, Michael. I just pruned as you suggested. It's looking better already! (I can see the V!)

kimeko, here's a link to a recent post with several of Olga's photos in it. Gorgeous!

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: Olga's roses!

Wow! Those are truly amazing! Thank you for sharing!