Rose perhaps is flexible after start of career (7)
I believe the answer is:
climber
'rose' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both plants as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'is flexible after start of career' is the wordplay.
'is flexible' becomes 'limber' (similar in meaning).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'start of career' becomes 'c' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'limber' after 'c' is 'CLIMBER'.
'perhaps' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for climber that I've seen before include "in the garden" , "Bonnington" , "Plant such as ivy" , "Mountaineer" , "Edward Whymper, for example" .)