Since you have not worked with climbing roses before, those with few-to-no-thorns and flexible canes might be a good place to start. Consider 'Renae', which is not the most commonly available rose, but it has a few strong virtues: almost completely thornless, very fragrant, and the canes are quite flexible so that it is easy to work with (the thornlessness helps there too). Good bloomer, once established. Another would be 'Crepuscule', which has the same virtue of thornlessness and has quite good disease resistance. Very good bloomer, once established, though it might be a little large for your arbor. Keep in mind that climbing roses don't bloom as well when they are young. They tend to build up a large structure of canes (branches) before they turn their energies to flowering. Even a rose that repeats very, very well once established may only bloom a little the first and second years in the ground.

Some examples: On Nov 12, 2007, Kell from Northern California, CA (Zone 9b) wrote: I am not too happy with this climber. I have 2 of them. The one in the front yard I grow as a fountain rose, pruning it every winter to a few feet. It has many canes now and puts on a grand spring show. The blooms are long lasting and it takes a long time for all the roses in the cluster opens. However the repeat bloom is poor. In the back yard, I have this growing on an arbor but not for much longer. Again the blooms are sparse but here even in the spring. The plant has had powdery mildew and just looks unhappy. On Jul 8, 2010, levon1972 from Rio Rancho, NM wrote: Initially, was very happy with this rosa social climber "Jacweave". Planted on two trellises, each plant produced small, lovely, pink roses in its 1st season, then in 2nd season did the same but must say blooms did not last long from April. Now in our 3rd season we had in April a mass of new buds everywhere at first, but we pruned them after blooming and then"" Nada,Zip, Nothing" since then. On Mar 7, 2011, monniemon from Lansdale, PA wrote: Social climber is in her 3rd season, she had taken our zone 6 winters well. This rose is a very fast grower, gives beautiful blooms but did not rebloom for me at all last year. So i have decided to shovel her and to put Aloha Climber in her place. Jackson & Perkins has Social Climber listed as a repeat bloomer, they really need to change that to (occasional/once blooming)!. Iam sure that others purchased this rose and wasted 3 seasons on it to see it grow and then was very disappointed that it has no reblooming cycle. Social climber had one great show in the end of april and has had no other blooms since, not even a bud. The rose only blooms once. I have had social climber for four seasons now and have given it every opportunity to produce the 35plus petals that Jackson Perkins says it has and to rebloom as stated in the JP descripiton of this rose. I find it all to be misleading, first of all, i have seen no more that 16-20 petals on this rose, secondly, it does NOT REPEAT!!! For this reason, i will shovel and replace this rose next growing season with Aloha Climber. And there are good reviews too: Just thought I'd add my 2 cents in here. I've now had this climber for 6 years - nearly shoveled it years 2-3 as it grew, but only had a single mediocre flush in the spring, and nothing more. HOWEVER, the last 3 years, it just gets better and better. HUGE spring/early summer flush, several smaller ones during the hottest part of summer, and then a nice finale in the late summer early fall. Not much scent to mine, but it sure is pretty. On May 3, 2009, patricia4 from Beaumont, CA wrote: Absolutely love this rose! I have two climbing on the block wall fence here in Beaumont, CA where temperatures reach over a 100 degrees every summer and it sometimes snows in March. Plus we get a great deal of wind. In April and May the roses put on a magnificient show. The flowers seem to glow in the sun. Even though the repeat bloom is not as showy as in April, the roses still put on a fine show. Social Climber has been trouble free. My husband and I love to sit out in our yard and look at these beautiful roses. I am moving to Tennessee and hope to be able to grow them there. From others' comments, I'm wondering if this is a rose that really needs to be fanned strongly. If a rose blooms less as it gets older, but still very young, maybe it's growing too upright? I'm going to go on and put mine where she can be trained more horizontally than I'd planned. It could possibly be that she's a heavy feeder? Maybe she blooms less later because she needs a bunch of goodies each year. Hollie

I suggested the Clematis for the spot because I wasn't sure a climbing rose would work there. I am imagining that a rose vigorous enough to grow into the cedars would also want to get wide and massive, and keeping it attached to the cedar may get annoying. Clematis montana cultivars do get big, but their stems are thin and light, and will climb on their own into the cedars once they reach the lower branches. If you want later color that isn't dark, consider Clematis virginiana or Clematis flammula (both are fragrant white Autumn-blooming clematis) or the pink-edged white 'Rubromarginata' hybrid (also very fragrant). Brushwood Nursery is a great place to order clematis (and other climbers). Copy and paste the links below to see: Clematis montana cultivars http://www.gardenvines.com/shop/search/results.html?search_in_description=1&ignore_special_flag=1&keyword=montana&inc_subcat=0&page=1&sort=3a Clematis flammula http://www.gardenvines.com/shop/small-flowered-clematis-4/clematis-flammula-89.html Clematis 'Rubromarginata' http://www.gardenvines.com/shop/small-flowered-clematis-4/clematis-triternata-rubromarginata-218.html Clematis virginiana http://www.gardenvines.com/shop/small-flowered-clematis-4/clematis-virginiana-227.html And then, of course, google their names to see more pics and info. To break down the clematis "groups" simply, Type 1 are large plants with small flowers, and bloom in late Spring, a little earlier than most of the once-blooming roses. They bloom on old wood, so if you need to prune, you do it right after they flower, giving them time to grow more wood to be hardened over winter and bloom the following Spring. These include the montanas and Clematis armandii (both are fragrant), as well as some others. Type 2 are medium-sized climbers, usually with large flowers. They bloom on old and new wood, and usually twice -- once in late Spring to early Summer (usually just after the Type 1) on old wood, then they pause during the peak of Summer, and bloom again in August/September on new wood. Most don't need much pruning at all besides tidying up in the Spring. Type 3 includes the non-climbing herbaceous clematis, large-flowered Summer-blooming clematis like 'Jackmanii', the small-flowered Summer-blooming species and close hybrids, and the small-flowered Autumn-blooming species and close hybrids (the latter are often fragrant). Those that bloom in Summer usually start just as the Type 2 finish their fist bloom, while the Autumn-blooming ones usually bloom when the Type 2 are finishing their second bloom. Type 3 blooms only on new wood, and so are typically pruned harshly to keep them from getting bare at the base. The general rule of thumb is to find the lowest set of healthy leaf buds, and prune to just above them in the Spring. This might be only 12" from the ground. Of course, you could leave them unpruned higher up if they're trained into trees. In that case, I'd just snip them right above where they first reach into the branches, and only worry about pulling out last year's growth if it looks obvious and messy. :-) ~Christopher

Those are very pretty, cAROL - but I tend to stick to species instead of hybrids for the most part. A lot of hybrids are sterile or weak seed producers and with the species (especially a broad range of them) I figure I have a better chance of getting seed that will grow if I direct sow it out in our goatland area. I need really tough plants to grow there because the land is often very dry and the plants will need to grow in rocks, clay and coal - and survive being nibbled by goats & a cow, of course. :) Lynda