I've seen pictures of Viking Queen, and it's a gorgeous rose for cooler-climate gardens. I don't know about eventual size but the flowers are really beautiful.

Ingrid

Don Juan (red) climbers are wonderful, serious profusion of blooms almost all summer long.

Queen Elizabeth's (pink) are nice but they can get very lanky very quickly.

Lady Banks - white and yellow are great and almost thornless but you would be looking at once maybe twice splashes of color per year if you are lucky.

Now, you could always go with something like a Zephirine Drouhin (hot pink), which would look awesome against a gray house.

Good luck!

randeeki, that Zephirine Drouhin looks lovely, but isn't is susceptible to black spot and/or mildew? I do like the fact that it is nearly thornless. My New Dawn is brutal to prune.

I like the Don Juan for color, though, and it is supposed to be less likely to develop disease. Hopefully I can find it locally, I prefer to support the local nurseries as much as I can --there are so few locals left.

Don't get QE climber. I love mine, but she puts out monster canes and gets BS. I also love Don Juan, it's a bit tender and does get PM.

Fourth of July is outstanding. Very showy with the striped flowers and yellow stamens. At the same time, it will thrive with neglect. The only thing you need remember to do is deadhead the flowers - or else you'll get nothing but hips.

rosetom, I haven't seen that one before. Very pretty! I'm going to look for that one too.

1) Zephirine Drouhin is not disease resistant.
2) Don Juan will not survive winters like this one in NE. You will need to protect it - not easy with a climber.
3) For multi colored climber - now they offer Jacob's robe, supposedly more resistant then Joseph's coat, but no personal experience.
4) I will add Westerland to your list.

Thanks for the info mikeber! The Westerland looks very pretty too!

I don't think I'm going to find a zone-hardy, disease-resistant, showy, not too-aggressive, repeat bloomer from what's been said so far. I can, however, get two or three of those requirements. I'm going to have to see what I can find locally (since that's my preference for purchasing) and then decide which requirements are the most important to me.

I won't be shopping for at least another week or so, the nurseries are just getting in their stock now so if anyone has any other suggestions I'm still window shopping.

Thanks again to everyone who helped!

Among the climbers that I have experience with, Rosarium Uetersen, Illusion, Aloha, and Dublin Bay all have been winter hardy and disease resistant. I don't spray or winter protect. They have also all repeated for me but were not all that impressive after the first bloom.

Fourth of July is not disease resistant in NJ.

My recommendations would be: Viking Queen, Quietness, Quadra.

i have a viking queen and it is a bulletproof climber of around 8 feet high here in the west coast- i never spray for anything.
wonderful fragrance and is of a hot pink colour with 45 petals; the blooms are just different enough from the others to make it unique.

westerland is the other bulletproof climber in the west.
similar constitution and gorgeous orange hued fragarnt blooms

What about Sally Holmes? I have 4th of July on my fence out front, and while it is quite spectacular, I do have to use Bayer All in One as it gets a little bit of Black Spot in the early spring for me here in Vista, California. We get just enough marine layer and late winter/early spring moisture, and our temps at that time are unfortunately ideal for fungal infections to get a foothold, especially if we get a lot of rain (like this year). My Sally Holmes, on the other hand, is only getting dripped and zero fertilization (I am actually afraid to fertilize it!) and it is gorgeous, spectacular and super disease resistant. Several of them were nearly dead when I moved in due to lack of water. I just ran drips to them and they have quadrupled in size (maybe more than than) since we bought our place in Sept. '09. It is covered with lovely single white tinged with pink blossoms from now until October for me. It can be so covered that from a distance, it almost looks like Hydrangeas. One blooms even in the shade of a large California Pepper tree. The most carefree rose I've ever grown. Another nice climber that did well for me in the past was New Dawn. Golden Showers is another good choice, and looks really pretty with a dark purple Clematis along with. The flowers fade as they age, so you end up with this lovely two-tone look. If you remove the spent flowers it will keep blooming and blooming.

Patty S.

One that you might like is Aloha Hawaii. I have no personal experience with it, but according to HMF it stays pretty small and has excellent BS resistance. I don't know how well it would be able to push the zone (it's to zone 6b on HMF by default), but others could probably speak to that.

Here is a link that might be useful: Aloha Hawaii on HMF

Sally Holmes, although very pretty, isn't disease resistant in NJ. Nor is Golden Showers.

1) foreokil: where did you read that Aloha Hawaii is pretty small? Most comments point to the opposite...
2) More hardy climbers to consider are: "Golden Gate" (yellow), John Cabot and William Baffin. Like Quandra, The last two originate from Canada and were bred to withstand seriously cold weather.

diane, when you say the roses aren't disease resistant in NJ, do you mean your part of the state? I'm up in Sussex County which different climate than the southern part, at least for some plants. I'm not sure if roses fall into that category.

It is the humidity on the east coast, not just central NJ. Our disease pressures are different from California's, and what is disease resistant there is usually not here.

I agree with Patty on Sally Holmes. I've never had a rose that blooms more vigorously or consistently throughout the season. She's a wonderful rose!

Climbing Coral Dawn is a gorgeous pink (not really coral), and has the same all-season blooming qualities as SH. I once had them growing together on a fence, with a blue clematis growing through them both, and it was a site to behold.

Joseph's Coat is beautiful, but only for a few weeks and it never re-blooms. Likewise, Zephirine Drouhin is said to bloom only once. Lady Banks is gorgeous, but it "may" be in the same category with the one-time bloomers. You might want to check these out if you're looking for all-season blooms.

TV host P. Allen Smith is always touting New Dawn.

Climbing Queen Eliz. has had some poor reviews in this forum.

The east coast disease issues cover a very, very large area. Coastal New England gets some relief, as does zone 8. Aside from that, it's pretty much all bad east of the Appalachians. So it's not only the Californians you have to watch, but also the midwesterners. There are a lot of roses they can grow well that cannot handle eastern humidity.

The rose I'd recommend is Captain Samuel Holland. It's another Canadian Explorer, but isn't quite the beast Quadra is. I believe they are full siblings, and share the good qualities of excellent disease resistance and good rebloom. Hardiness isn't a question with any of the Canadians in 6a.

Simply for completeness, since nobody has mentioned it, I'll throw out William Baffin. I don't grow it since I've never really been able to come to terms with that particular PINK, but if you are really looking for showy, it qualifies. Some people have had trouble getting it to rebloom, but it seems to not like heat. It is by far the most likely of the Explorers to show up in a local garden center.

You said you want to buy the plant locally. However, be aware that most local garden centers sell roses they think will sell. They do not sell roses they think will do well in the local area. You will be lucky to find a climber locally that will not need a regular spray program, and probably about half of the ones available will not be cane hardy. This is really where growing roses in this region gets tricky.

Kirsten Flower:

I just received my Ramblin Reds last week from High Country Roses. If mine turn out 1/2 as nice as yours, I will be pleased! I live in Northern NJ.