Compassion Rose Bushes

• Variety: Compassion — the UK's best-selling climbing rose for over fifty years
• Type: Climbing
• Colour: Warm apricot pink, deepening at the centre
• Fragrance: Strong — one of the most fragrant climbers we sell
• Height: Up to 300cm (10ft) trained against a support
• Spread: Trained to fit your wall, fence or pergola — typically 150 to 250cm wide
• Flowering: June to autumn, repeat-flowering
• RHS AGM: Yes — holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit
• Pruning: Remove a few of the oldest stems at the base each late winter and tie in new growth
• Good for: Walls, fences, pergolas and arches; tolerates a shadier wall better than most climbers
• Container suitable: Not ideal — climbing roses need root room and a permanent support
• Similar varieties: Climbing Iceberg, for a white-flowered alternative with the same reliable habit
• Sold as: Potted (4 litre) or bareroot, grown for us by specialist rose growers
• Plant: Bareroot November to March while dormant; potted plants any time of year
• Delivered: Bareroot November to March. Collection from Castle Cary also available

Compassion has been the UK's best-selling climbing rose for more than fifty years, and it earns the position honestly: strong scent, repeat flowering all summer, and a reliability in British weather that few climbers match.

Compassion, Fifty Years at the Top

Bred by Harkness in 1973 from White Cockade crossed with Prima Ballerina — both already in the Harkness range — Compassion was an in-house success from the start. Jack Harkness, the rosarian who bred it, described it as the rose he was most proud of in a lifetime of breeding. The name was chosen by his daughter. It holds the RHS Award of Garden Merit, the Royal National Rose Society Gold Medal, and awards in eight other countries.

Harkness is a British breeding house with a long record of roses bred specifically for UK growing conditions — rain-resistant flowers and strong stems rather than a rose that only performs in a warmer, drier climate. Compassion is their best-known introduction, and still one of the most reliable performers in the range.

Planting Companions

Compassion's warm apricot pink works well against blue and purple flowering companions at its base — Hidcote lavender for scent and colour contrast, or a group-3 clematis trained through the lower growth. If you'd like a white-flowered climber to pair alongside it, Climbing Iceberg shares the same reliable habit. Browse our full climbing rose range or our scented roses.

Why Buy Compassion from Ashridge?

Every Ashridge rose is grown for us by specialist rose growers and dispatched bareroot in season, or potted for planting at any time of year. We've supplied UK gardens since 1949, hold Which? Gardening's Best Plant Supplier award and a Feefo Platinum Trusted Service Award, and grow peat-free with no neonicotinoids. All our roses are guaranteed.

When is the best time to prune a climbing rose like Compassion?

Late February to early March for established plants — remove a few of the oldest stems at the base and tie in the new growth from last year. Our pruning guide covers climbers step by step.

How fragrant is Compassion?

Strongly scented — one of the most reliably fragrant climbing roses available, which is part of why it has stayed a best-seller for over fifty years.

Will Compassion grow on a north-facing wall?

Better than most climbing roses. It tolerates some shade, though a sunnier aspect will always flower more freely.

Is Compassion repeat-flowering?

Yes — it flowers from June through to autumn rather than in a single summer flush, unlike many older climbing roses.

What's the difference between Compassion and Climbing Iceberg?

Colour, mainly: Compassion is a warm apricot pink, Climbing Iceberg pure white. Both are reliable, repeat-flowering climbers that suit the same growing conditions.