suzi, yes mam, I certainly have and am growing some climbers in large pots. And yes,it can be done sucessfully.I have a climbing America in a large pot that I've had growing for years now.And also a climbing Blaze.I just refresh the soil yearly and make sure that you feed these guys thru the growing and blooming season.I use a rose food with systemic.I used equal parts of sterile potting soil/sand/peat moss/steer manure.Mixed up well and planted.You'll want a good sized container with good drainage holes.I also used gravel on the bottom.Anything that grows can be grown and maintained in a container even trees.Just make sure you have it in plenty of sun light.And stake it up well as for your climber, plenty of water and feed it regularly.***Suzanne

Dear lola-lemon, diane_nj and jaxondel! Thank you so much for your feedback and help! I appreciate it so much! LOLA: Thank you for the compliment about my Pergola :-) I too see lots of potential in it :-) and am eager to put it to good use! Thank you for recommending helpmefind.com this is a really cool website and I found such beautiful flowers on it! "pierre de ronsard" sounds so pretty already! It still is one of my top favourites! Now I am trying to find out if there is a way I would be able to maybe bring the roses indoor over the winter...at least the first few... I don't know yet. Maybe if I lean trellises up the sides leading to the pergola roof and then take the containers with trellis and roses indoor. For the Clematis I am lucky because I have another additional roof from which I can see the top of the pergola so it might even ass some extra beauty to have Clematis bloom on the top? I have, and am still considering wisteria, thank you! I have just read so many things of them being such an "aggressive" grower and it made me a little shy away from them! I do love the amethyst one and have read that I could grow these in containers! I wouldn't want to do any harm to a plant so if growing roses which I fell SO IN LOVE WITH would be too risky, Wisteria definitely would be my go to choice! With some lavender close by in other containers :-) DIANE: thank you so much for the great resource! I have been browsing the Manhattan Rose Society and am thrilled!! I heard of covering the containers and bottom of the roses with blankets and such over the winter, do you think that would be sufficient? For the size of containers I could have any size built I would need! I will get in touch with people at the society certainly someone will know! JAXONDEL: That's a thought I didn't even consider until now! Thank you for making me aware! the picture shows the view on to the top of the Pergola from the higher roof level:

Moe, wooden barrels are fine for temporary plantings. The wood rots out after a few seasons, leaving you with a real witch of a repotting chore. What kinds of trees are you talking about and how far away from where your first choice for the roses are they? How close to the house will you have to plant the roses if you choose ground option 2? It's possible the roots may not be an issue. It's also possible the sun along the house may be quite sufficient. That spot I would want to determine three things about...how intense would the reflected/radiated heat from the house walls or any paving be? How decent would the drainage be? Depending upon where you are, the age of the construction and local building codes, it might be you have engineered soil which is compacted to remove all air space, eliminating drainage, but making it more secure footing. And, how extreme would alkalinity leaching from the house foundation be for the planting holes? If you're going to pot the roses, you will need tall trellises upon which to grow them and those become sails with any wind. Plan on picking them up regularly if it's windy where you are. Large, more permanent pots, such as concrete, would last worlds longer and be heavier making them more stable in the wind, but you would still have the issue of the drainage water leaking out on the paving upon which the pots will rest. If you go that route, put smaller, bush type roses in them so they can't as easily blow over and once the pots fail, you won't have a horribly prickly, Jack and the Beanstalk plant to repot. That job CAN be done, but it's often worth paying someone else to accomplish. It ain't NO danged fun! Been there. (I was the one paid to accomplish it and I looked as if I'd been making love to a bale of barbed wire!) If the tree root issue is potentially too extreme for your comfort, do some more exploration concerning planting them by the house. I think that may be your safest, easiest choice. Kim

Over here, I see this quite often, roses grown in containers including climbers and ramblers, and in half barrels attached to posts and trellis.... ..for an almost thornless climber, you might like to consider the English rose 'Mortimer Sackler'... it grows 8 to 10 feet for us and can be trained across poles.... I have it in the ground but would imagine it would be alright for that size of pot too... ..I probably wouldn't go for any of the very large ramblers though... and limit my choice to those that can achieve 10 foot... ..here is 'Mortimer Sackler' growing in my garden... the top part, it does flower down to the ground, but as you can see there are no thorns on the upper parts...it has a lovely scent too and flowers almost continuously.... just an idea for you to consider.... I expect there are a number of others that might be better for your location....and if your area is especially cold in winter, then some protection for the container might be necessary... ...I should add, the Clematis suggestion of Christopher's above is a good idea too, I've done that before with one called 'Nelly Moser' grown in a half barrel..... This post was edited by Marlorena on Fri, Dec 26, 14 at 19:27