Sun; semi-evergreen. A vigorous, climbing antique rose with saucer-sized (5-inch) yellow flowers. It can grow up to 20 feet tall and wide, covering trellises, garden structures and roofs. Without support, it forms a vast, mounding shrub. It blooms continuously throughout the warm season.
‘Mermaid’ was hybridized over a century ago; according to various reviewers it has never been bested. Fiercely thorny, it has been suggested as one of the few truly “deer-resistant” roses, capable of forming an impenetrable hedge barrier.
Prune in early summer after flowering. Remove old, dead yellow or brown canes with loppers; this helps improve air circulation within the bush. Where they extend into pathways or over buildings, canes can be cut back to an outward-facing bud.
