I think it would work, though I think he would need to attach the 4 poles somewhere lower down as well with another square. And judging how big roses get, I wonder if 18 inches would be a better size.

If you want to avoid welding, I made a pillar using a bicycle wheel instead of a wagon wheel. If you don't have a gonza mountain biker in the family, you can get bent rims at any bike shop for free. I attached the rim to the 4 foot stump of a small tree that died. You could use 4 x 4 pressure treated or redwood, not cheap, sunk in Quikrete or however they spell it. I spray painted the wheel flat black using a particular spray paint primer a metal metal fabricator said to use for stuff outdoors. You'll never see the wheel or the post eventually. If you have access to hardwood forest, you could make rustic pillars from saplings about 4 inches in diameter (uggh, sounds like work).

Cweathersby, that sounds nice. I would love to have a wagon wheel.
Berndoodle, what did you use to attach the bike rim to the stump?...bolts of some sort? (I assume the rubber tire was removed)...I have a bike tire.

Berndoodle,
How long have you used the bike wheel? Did it hold up to the weight?
Thanks for the hint of attaching the rebar lower down as well as at the top. I was thinking about that. I am trying to make this as simple as possible because my little brother has never welded anything before and this would be his first project. If anyone can think of anything simpler, please let me know. Actually, the reason it's going to be a square at the top instead of a circle is because he won't be able to bend the rebar.

We were also looking for bicycle wheels when it seemed that we would not find wagon wheel but Kaye warned us that it would not be strong enough. I guess it depends on the rose. In our case Kaye was right because we gave the wagon wheel to Jaune Desprez and that is a big rose. Marechal Niel and Buff Beauty were placed at smaller wagon wheels and they already outgrown them.

Cass, which roses did you use the bicycle wheel for? How long have those roses been there?

Ahem. Well, good point, the bike isn't for the largest rose in the universe. But bikes these days take a lot abuse. I have this pillar for Out of Yesterday, which is a huge thorny 8 x 8 shrub, and I needed to bring order out of chaos. So the bike wheel is bolted down where the axle would be on a bike. Actually it's a screw, big stout thing. We drilled out some construct that was in the way, and it came out clean and easy. Bike rims will not doubt eventually rust out, but they can be made out of fairly interesting alloys that will give you some years' useful life. Nothing that lives out in the sun, wind and rain lasts forever. This is about using what's around. I'll take a shot tomorrow. I have 60 arriving for dinner in an hours. Just resting my dogs for a sec while I get my second wind. Ciao.

Carrie, I read this to my "structural engineer" and he had a few suggestions. He agrees that 12" is not enough to be stable..go at least 18" apart like Cass recommended..24 might be better. Another thing he says..use diagonal cross bracing along the height of each side. In other words, it may take 3-4 pieces of additional rebar to diagonally cross brace the side but you would have the stability you need. This way you could buy the cheaper 1/2" or 5/8" rebar for the whole structure and have something that will not come down if you plant at least 12" in concrete at the base. He also said to tell you that he would send you detailed drawings for a small fee..LOL.

Kaye, please thank your structural engineer for me! Next I'll be asking you which roses will flop out of the top just right. There are about 8 climbers over here in pots to choose from. Speaking of climbers, do you grow Renae? Or does just Hilda grow it? I need to know more about it. I planted it this spring and there is so much growth that I'm getting kind of scared.

Hilda has Renae...I don't.

Here's the bicycle wheel pillar. Click {{gwi:311444}}

And here is{{gwi:311445}} Not much to it.

If you're going to go to the trouble of welding, then I think this is the way {{gwi:311446}} often with square tubing. Fancy spears can be welded on the top. A good metal worker could no doubt improve on the structural integrity of this basic outline. I copied this from memory after seeing pillars like this. I didn't get the proportion of the bottom to top right, but you get the idea. The wider base allows you to secure by both driving the ends into the ground and then also securing the horizontal bars using rebar bent at a right angle like an angle iron. Or you could use landscape stakes (those metal stakes with predrilled holes) and wire them down.

I dunno...I harbor doubts about the ability of rebar to support the ultimate size of many climbers.