Jeanne La Joi (Pink) is a very highly rated "climbing" mini rose (ARS rating=9.1). I've grown mine for 20+ years and it truly is a good rose. The negative is that it must be sprayed for B.S. during prime Blackspot season in my climate, but then there are few roses that don't suffer from some sort of fungus in the south if left unsprayed...Others that friends have said do well in our warmer zones are SWALK (stands for "Sealed with a loving kiss") and climbing Rainbow's End. I've also heard good things about a climbing Polyantha (like a miniature) called Pinkie. It's reputation is very good on disease resistance. Since I have no experience with putting a climbing rose next to a painted surface such as a house, I also don't know how fungicides used for long periods (if you choose to spray) and house paint will coexist. And too, remember that the miniature title in miniature rose relates to the size of the flower, not the size of the bush. Jeanne La Joie for instance can get 10 feet high. Also many climbers bloom better when trained horizontally as opposed to vertically. They do well draped over arbors for instance, or along fences. Not trying to discourage you, but these are things to think about.

As Cecily said climbers do not have tendrils, like vines do, to latch on to things and climb on their own. They must be trained and tied to trellises and supports in order to do climbing. If left untrained or unsupported they will form large fountaining bushes. Climbers take at least 3 years, and more often 5, to begin to climb. It takes that long for the plant to build up a large enough root ball in order to feed and support those long canes all the way to the tips. And during that time they need to have support behind them. It's thought that if they know there is something there to support them they will then send out those long canes. If not they may not produce them.

I don't think Don Juan is a climber that particularly likes the cold. Obviously Hrose and Seil are successful with theirs in zone 6, but in my zone 5 Don Juan is one that has failed to overwinter for me at least twice. It wasn't in a prime spot, but I'd be leery about it in the Chicago area unless you can give it a nice protected location. If climbers survive but need to be pruned to the ground each winter, you never really get a chance for the kind of blooming you want for a climber. In contrast, Dublin Bay has done consistently well for me and even survived with some cane over the winter. It's not the ridiculously hardy rose like Quadra or Ramblin Red or Illusion, but it has the more classic red rose shape and seems to survive well. Fields of the Wood is also a good survivor, and there's some speculation that this found rose is the same as another named survivor (either Rhode Island Red or Ramblin Red). Either way, I think there are probably some more reliable red climbers for zone 5 than Don Juan. Just my experience with this rose in Nebraska. Cynthia

The advantage of cape honeysuckle is it takes clipping well too, so if you want to shape it, it won't hurt. The foliage is quite pretty. There's the standard red orange variety and there are also orange and pale yellow variants. Like the roses you will need to tie it to your porch post. Clytostoma is a lovely choice but it blooms once a year. If you like the tropical asymmetrical flower look, Distictis Buccinatoria is a good choice. The flowers open scarlet with yellow throats. I have that on on my fence and I have it trained into one of the 'doors' of my gate. The flexible branches don't mind the opening and shutting of the gate. It flowers as long as the weather is warm, but it does take a few years before it really performs.