Growing Piñata Climbing Rose
‘Piñata’ is a large-flowered climbing rose bearing clusters of incredibly vibrant orange, coral, yellow, scarlet and bright pink flowers all on one plant.
In our new garden, all of our roses are “recent additions” and ‘Piñata’ was one we planted summer of 2010. Only in it’s second season, it already lights up the front of our house with it’s gorgeous, vibrant blooms of coral, orange, yellow, scarlet and bright pink.
Piñata’s blossoms open up first as shades of yellow, coral and orange and fade to shades of deep pink, reddish-orange, and scarlet.
Hybridized by Seizo Suzuki of Japan, ‘Piñata’ was introduced by Jackson and Perkins in 1978 and is classified as a large-flowered climbing floribunda-type rose. I’ve read a lot of reviews about ‘Piñata’ and they conflict with what I’ve experienced, namely it’s susceptibility to fungal disease. In our garden, black spot is prevalent, but I have yet (where is the nearest piece of wood for me to knock on) to see a single spot on our rose; the foliage is incredibly healthy. EDIT: ‘Piñata’ succumbed to a pretty major spider mite infestation my garden experienced last summer. I had to prune severely. You can read more about that HERE.
Foliage is a semi-glossy, medium green and disease resistant
‘Piñata’ is also listed as a rose that can “tolerate shade” and in this case I think the better phrase would be “appreciates shade.” Our ‘Piñata’ is planted against our house in a south-facing position so it gets that morning sun roses crave and shade from the late afternoon heat. Giving Piñata a break from the sun will also help preserve the color of the flowers. In late afternoon shade, the colors of each rose will positively glow!
‘Piñata’ will appreciate bright morning sun and afternoon shade.
What our rose doesn’t get is a lot of is water because of it’s proximity to the house and the fact my hose doesn’t reach that far. So, even though many have described ‘Piñata’ as a remarkably thirsty rose, I’m not seeing that where we live. However, that doesn’t mean that isn’t true in another garden in another climate and location. EDIT: I’ve since corrected the hose situation. 
The scent is very mild, almost imperceptible. The color of the blooms more than makes up for it.
‘Piñata’ likes warmth (planting against the house might actually be the best location for it) and is hardy to zones 6-9 (we are in zone 6). Carrying on average 28 petals, each bloom is considered a “double” meaning it is rounded and full with overlapping petals. In our garden, we get a big flush of blooms in June followed by sporadic blooming the rest of the summer and into fall.
‘Piñata’ has been compared to a similar rose called, Joseph’s Coat. However, ‘Piñata’ is smaller in stature, the flowers are fuller, and, this is debatable, has better disease resistance.
‘Piñata’ can grow to heights of 4-8 ft and can be trained on a trellis or a pillar. In our garden, we have ‘Piñata’ trained horizontally on a trellis under a large picture window. Training a climbing rose’s canes to grow horizontally will increase the number of flowers it produces.
‘Piñata’ is the perfect rose for an entryway or front path and combines beautifully with other colorful perennials and roses.
I learned the hard way from over-pruning my beautiful ‘Zephirine Drouhin‘ years ago (she never fully recovered) that it’s best to practice a little restraint when it comes to pruning climbing roses. Although ‘Piñata’ is a modern rose and blooms on new wood, I have only pruned the canes to shape (I do dead-head the flowers, though), and actually haven’t had to do much of that since it’s such a recent addition. ‘Piñata’ combines beautifully with other colorful perennials and roses and I highly recommend this rose. But in case you are still unsure, I’ll just leave you with this…
‘Piñata’ can be purchased for spring 2012 planting at Wayside Gardens
Soooo gorgeous! The colors on that rose are amazing!
Thank you Analisa! Yes, they really look as though they are lit from within!
Wow! This rose has such vibrant colors!
I have just planted this Rose on a south facing white wall adjacent to our house. I’m just hoping it does as well as yours – beautiful. Thank you for all the gorgeous photos. I live in the Bay Area south of San Francisco.
Hi Margaret, welcome!
I think yours will do marvelously…you have the perfect climate for it. Let me know what you think!
I’m getting ready to plant mine Ware would be a great place . And how high do they grow Do I need a teires for it to climb
Roses grow beautifully here! Do you think this variety would survive here! I’m from Louisiana and I believe the climate here is much easier for roses! We ate in Santa Rosa, California! Our soil is not the best!
Hi Sally, Piñata is hardy to zone 6b so you should be just fine in Louisiana.
I think you’ll really love this rose. We recently moved from PA to NC and I had to plant another one as soon as we got here. Best of luck with yours!!
I want to grow my piñata rose outside my window so that I can see the flowers from inside. However as it needs support I will also see the support from inside. I am rethinking should I still plant it outside the window or change the position.
Thanks
Hi Reshma, Piñata definitely wants some support as it grows but it is a small enough climber that you could also train it on a “pillar,” something like this. This way you could plant it far enough back from your window that you can see it as it grows. Good luck!
I have ordered two of these beautiful rose bushes to plant in front of my front deck. They will be great here, as it gets morning sun. I want them to give me some privacy from the road. When our door is open, everybody driving by can see in. I think these gorgeous colors will really add some color to the front of our house. We live in the desert and our house is beige. We live in AZ and I first saw these planted in front of a restaurant here. They do great there and so they should do well at my house.
Hello again was wondering if I was to plant my rode Ware I have a garden on top of my seller should I plant it and let it start growing over the top it will have plenty of room .to explorer thank you
Hi Tina, you’ll want to provide some support for the long canes. A trellis will be fine. This rose does not get that tall for a climbing rose–around 7′. HERE is a link for more info!
I loved your article… I live in Hot
Phoenix, Arizona. I just purchased four (4) Piñata Rose bushes… They’re are so beautiful… I swear I have at least 45 rose bushes, but I when I saw this stunning rose, I could not pass it up
(my husband is really going to kill me). I never heard of this rose or ever saw it before, but I hope it does well in Phoenix.. Thanks again for your article. All the Best, Charlene
Hi Charlene! That’s wonderful to hear, thank you so much for taking the time to comment.
I think you’re going to love Piñata…I’m so excited for you to try it!
I’ve been considering this rose because of the beautiful colors but also because the foliage looks so full and glossy. That’s been my chief complaint about roses is there is so little foliage and it sounds like this is not the case with the Piñata.
Hi Debbie, thank you so much for being here! If you like apricot/warm-colored roses, you might like to take a look at ‘Colette’, a climbing rose. It does well here in our blackspot-ridden climate and is quite pretty.