Yes, this habit seems to annoy a lot of people which is probably why so many modern roses are bred to stand tall, but often look like popsicles to my eyes. I think placing them higher up, in a tall planter or one on a pedestal or focusing on the nodding climbers presents them in the best way. Obviously it's not great when they're stuck in mud, though. What could be more beautiful that Cl. Crimson Glory?

I love roses that nod! In my climate they all seem to grow tall, so it is no problem - when they are nodding I can see the blooms better if they are above my head. When cutting them for the house, I just put the vase on top of the mantle, or some other piece of tall furniture. Or, I fill a rose bowl entirely with nodding blooms for a center piece for the dinner table - if you put enough blooms in, you can make a lovely round ball of roses - they arrange themselves.

Jackie

What is wrong with these people? The nodding roses are gorgeous!

.. all very nice.. until it pours... which it usually does outside the confines of California... hence the need for upright or outward facing blooms...

The nodding blooms will shed rain very well. I wish I could experience that right now.

What does a nodding rose look like? What do they do? (Clueless)

Take a look atthis photo and notice how the flowers are held on the stems. Then, take a look at this photo and see how they hang, too. The weak peduncle is characteristic of Tea roses and early Hybrid Teas as well as many mid century HTs such as Charlotte Armstrong and many of her offspring.

@Artist-FKA-Novice Zone 7B GA, "nodding roses' are those with weak necks, that bend and hold the flower pendantly, rather than bolt upright like a modern hybrid tea. For exhibition purposes and floral arrangements it was once (and still, by some obviously) considered a fault. However, there are those of us who consider it graceful and romantic. It does make it a tad more difficult to make arrangements, but all you need are the right vases ;) And the roses that "nod" also tend to have more graceful bushes, though that's not a given.

And like Paul said above, nothing is as beautiful as looking UP into a bower of dangling roses that seem to be bending down to greet you.

OK...that might be a tad effusive, but you get my point, lol.

John

I am very fond of the nodding roses. Like Jackie, when I cut them for a bouquet, I put them on a higher shelf or on the mantle.

What looks good on a 6ft tall tea rose doesn't look good on a 3ft tall modern shrub bred for small gardens (unless that shrub is in a pot or raised bed). I have a small garden and can't grow too big roses. Some people are in cold climates and many roses stay small for them.

I also agree with Marlorena regarding the rain. Many roses have outer petals that go brown with the first sign of wet weather. On upward-facing blooms, these are not visible, while with nodding blooms, you don't see anything else.

Nodding blossoms, it has often been remarked, look wonderful on climbing roses you can look up into. Or planted on slopes.

Thank you, all.

Roseeek, the links don't seem to work for me, get a dark screen - but I get the idea.

We get an average of 40 inches of rain per year here in Northern CA (yes, it DOES rain in CA, just in the Fall & Winter, which are so mild that many of my roses keep blooming). My nodding rose bushes are indeed mostly large. The nodding blooms shed water very well - they are the same shape as an umbrella!

Jackie

I actually prefer roses whose flowers nod a bit. I've long considered Eden to be one of the most if not the most beautiful rose, and her flowers nod. Once I saw an Eden whose flowers were all upright, and it didn't do a thing for me. Likewise, I love cupped roses, and Queen of Sweden's flowers have that shape. But I've never developed an appreciation for this rose, and that may be because of the stiff carriage of the flowers. I greatly prefer the slightly nodding flowers on Alnwick Castle. On the other hand, if a rose has truly weak necks, I don't really like that either. Grande Dame, as an example has stiffly upright canes, and the flowers flop over at the neck like a rag doll. I want a rose that as a plant, has grace. Strangely however, I do like the stiff upright form of Italian cypress and columnar junipers, but dislike most "weeping" forms of trees, like weeping cherries. Go figure.

Nodding was a problem with my Mirandy -- maybe it' was the culture -- not enough sun and fertilizer in my yard, probably. I love that rose. I guess it's the way they nod that makes the difference.

One of my favorite roses, La Jolla, is a nodder, and it had just worked itself up to put on its first major flush for me, five blooms, which is a lot for what has been a pretty finicky shrub. And then the freak thunderstorm followed by record heat fried them all. General Schablikine nodded right on through the strange weather, though.

I can see both sides of the nodder/non-nodder debate.

I'm sorry noseometer. That's really odd. The rose I referenced was Marechal Niel on Help Me Find-Roses. If you look at how those nod, you have the perfect example. https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.4102

I LOVE nodding roses! And foliage down to the ground which seems a common trait for the nodding ones. They are so romantic. Upright is fine if the bush is shapely. I really dislike the look of Hybrid Teas that are narrow bushes with bare prickly legs and shoot up 3-4 foot tall stems with roses that go straight up. Tolerable only if surrounded by 2-3 foot tall flowers and companion plants to hide the ugly legs.

Stephanie ... My husband once said that Hybrid Tea Roses were "ugly plants with bare bottoms."

Jerijen, well said!

Roseseek, Marechal Niel looks like a good one! Lady Hillingdon also has some gracefully nodding flowers. I like also how David Austin said that he breeds roses with a certain grace. That's what I like also. I don't know how Queen of Sweden passed that criteria. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

I like nodding roses but they don't always look great in my weathery conditions... Austins succeed because their marketing hype goes into overdrive, until people get wise to the fact that the blooms droop.. and they don't all like that... I note their latest offerings do not droop..

I love Duchesse de Brabant but right now after rain, it doesn't look so great, but it will perk up.. I do think it depends which part of the world we live in as to how much we can appreciate this effect..

..clg Lady Hillingdon is fabulous when we get lucky with the weather.. as I did here..

Here is a pic of my favorite nodding rose (taken from way below, obviously).

Jackie

Belle Portugaise

Marlorena, yes I guess that makes sense about the weather. We don’t get any summer rain in California so they all gently nod. weighed down with water might just send them to the ground. So the rather upright DAs like Graham Thomas and Queen of Sweden, are they considered more rainproof? Certainly placement is important too. When I first joined Houzz in 2018 one of the first threads I remember was someone who wanted a really nodding rose at the top of a retaining wall as they would always be below it looking up at it.

Marlorena, I seem to remember it's been said before, but your Lady H is so much more yellow than any I have seen here. I used to see it in a few gardens here. I even inherited in one garden. I think it and Lorraine Lee were garden stalwarts here at one time. It's glorious, whatever it is.

Marlorena, having said the above, I've just seen photos on HMF taken by HubertG in midwinter in Sydney that look every bit as yellow. And some from someone in Spain!

Well, we DO get rain. Never in the summer, but we sure had rain all through spring. It can be rather lovely, I think.

Hillingdon CAN look that yellow/orange here, but most often when grown in the cool shade. Sun with any kind of heat bleaches her fairly quickly.

Trish... the photo was taken in May... I get the best colours on all my roses mid May to mid June... it's rarely hot at this time.. after that the colours get lighter, blooms get smaller.. so Lady H in July/August would be paler in colour, but main flush is well over by then..

Stephanie... most Austins are ok I have found, except those with most petals like Spirit of Freedom and Bathsheba to name but two.. they look a sodden mess after heavy rain..

I suppose Young Lycidas would be a good rose for the top of a retaining wall.

I love Duchesse de Brabant in the sun...

...but after a thunderstorm... not so much.. the humidity here is also very high..

I only mentioned it because I wondered if Jeri's poster on another forum lived in a climate like mine, and therefore did not want blooms that nod so much..