How to Care for a New Dawn Climbing Rose

Find a suitable location in your garden. Select a planting location that provides your climbing roses with six to eight hours of direct sunlight per day. Take advantage of the climbing aspect of your New Dawn roses by choosing a planting location near a wall, fence, trellis, pergola or arbor. Boost the nutrients in the soil at your chosen planting location by tilling aged manure, coarse peat moss and perlite into the top 12 inches of soil. Plant the New Dawn roses in your garden at the same level they were planted in their nursery container.

Train your New Dawn climbing roses to grow along your fence, trellis, pergola or arbor. Tie the sturdiest canes on your newly planted New Dawn climbing rose bush to the support using strips of nylon pantyhose. Tie the canes to the support loosely, so they won't be "choked" as they grow.

Water your New Dawn climbing roses often to keep the soil slightly moist. Use a drip, soaker or bubbler hose to provide the roses with at least one inch of water per week during dry spells.

Fertilize your New Dawn climbing roses in the spring, as soon as you observe new growth. Use a half-strength solution of a specially formulated rose fertilizer or a water-soluble general fertilizer such as Miracle-Gro, Bloom Plus or Grow More. After the first growing season, fertilize your New Dawn climbing roses twice a year, in early spring and again at the beginning of summer.

Prune New Dawn climbing roses in the spring, after the leaf buds begin to open. Use sharpened, sterilized pruning shears to remove any discolored, damaged or dead branches, canes and foliage. Pinch the dead blossoms off your climbing roses to keep them looking healthy and attractive, as well as encourage them to form new blooms. After your New Dawn roses have stopped blooming for the season, cut back the horizontal canes by half to encourage healthy new growth the following season.