The rambling rose ‘New Dawn’ holds the distinction of holding the first plant patent issued in the United States. Considered by many to be a faultless rose, ‘New Dawn’ was the first fully hardy repeat blooming climber. It’s also a member of the World Rose Hall of Fame. A goodly number of the modern large flowered climbing roses are descendants of ‘New Dawn’. It now has at least eight generations of offspring which have produced well over a hundred new plants.
In 1930, ‘New Dawn’ arose as a sport (mutation) of the once blooming rambler ‘Dr. Van Fleet’. Fortunately, it happened in a nursery, where it was found and recognized for what it was. The flowers are the same as that of ‘Dr. Van Fleet’, but instead of only blooming in June, it blooms all summer until hard frosts. Ramblers tend to be tough, hardy, disease resistant plants, and ‘New Dawn’ inherited these traits.
A vigorous grower, ‘New Dawn’ climbs to 10′ tall, a reduction from ‘Dr. Van Fleet’s 20’ stature. It has plentiful canes and side branches, covered in dark green, shiny foliage. While usually very disease free, I have had some black spot in wet summers, but it’s never been bad enough to defoliate the plant. The buds are fat and round, with a slight point. They open to flowers that are semi-double and almost Hybrid Tea sized. The color is a light, cameo pink that fades to a pale, almost white pink. Books list this rose as sweetly fragrant but I detect only a slight but pleasing scent. Mostly bourn in clusters like a Floribunda rose, you’ll find an occasional one growing alone on a stem, suitable for cutting.
While most roses- especially repeat bloomers- like a rich soil, ‘New Dawn’ tolerates poor soils and even thrives in them. It also can grow in some shade, making it suitable for the north side of the house or growing on a tree. Since technically it’s a rambler rather than a climber, the canes are flexible enough to train however you want; it’s a particularly nice rose to grow horizontally on a fence. The bonus of growing a rose this way is that when a cane is horizontal, it makes more flowering stems and you get a really incredible show of blooms.
‘New Dawn’s neutral pink color goes with any other color, making it easy to place in the garden. It’s a great rose to combine with a clematis, growing them both up the same trellis. Use a clematis that doesn’t get cut back hard in spring; it’s really a pain to have to pull dead vines out of a rose.
Things that sound too good to be true usually are; for a change, this isn’t true. ‘New Dawn’ lives up to its reputation.
