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.

Being from zone 5 as well, I can give you some feedback about the roses you list, since I grow or have grown all of them: Fourth of July - tried it last year but it didn't overwinter. Reports are that it has grown in zone 5 but might be marginal hardiness Dublin Bay - in its second year in my yard and overwintered OK with protection. Reports are that it doesn't grow very tall, and if you want to cover an arbor you want a climber that doesn't die back in the winter, since it needs the old canes to support new blooming growth (as Seil mentions) Eden - hardy enough to bloom in my yard, but hasn't maintained enough old cane to cover an arch. It loses about half its canes for me each winter, and blooms at about 6-7' tall. I grow mine next to a monster climber that's extremely hardy (Quadra) so it can shine in contrast partway up the arch. My Eden took at least 4 years to have ANY blooms at all, though a friend nearby had hers bloom earlier Jacob's Robe - Also tried this one last year and it didn't overwinter. Others have reported it surviving zone 5 so I'll probably try again, but the same concerns with maintaining enough cane to cover an arch apply Westerland/Autumn Sunset - these are both closely related climbers, Westerland is more orange toned and Autumn Sunset is more yellow. Both are reasonably hardy in my zone, and they've both survived the winters with most of their cane, even in my zone 4 pocket of my yard. Not a huge climber for me, but nice flexible canes and I've seen reports of others in zone 5 that have it covering an arch. Ramblin Red - this is by far your most hardy and trouble free of the roses they listed for you. It's a crimson sort of red, but it has very strong canes and is a fast grower. You should have no trouble having this one grow over an arch, but be sure to tie the canes early as they grow and stretch them horizontally on the arches so that they send up laterals (the blooming part of the canes). This one gets pretty thick canes as it matures. Where are you in KS? Since you're south of us I would have thought you'd be at least zone 6, which makes any of the climbers you mention a much more feasible option. Regardless, a little extra hardiness in a climber can't hurt with the variable winters we've been having. Cynthia

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:

Ms. Lee, I'm sorry to be a stick in the mud, but I recommend a change of plan. From your altitude, location and description, I think large climbing roses are going to have a very hard time getting very far up either of those structures. I'm in 5B Fort Collins, and I have 4 New Dawn, mentioned above by Domino, which are now 6 or 7 years old. At best they've been only half cane hardy, staying alive 3 or 4 feet up from the ground (when covered) and most years, pretty well dying to the ground. Before that I had Don Juan on this small pergola, which was totally hopeless. I haven't given up. This winter I've covered the entire pergola (about 5x4 x 7 foot tall) with plastic and I've put one of those pipe freeze heater cables in there with the roses. The pipe heater only turns on when temp drops below 35F. There are some of those really hearty roses, but they're not that pretty, slow growing, and they're not re-blooming. Maybe there's a variety out there somewhere that can withstand winters here that is still pretty and blooms through the summer, and gets big enough to cover a medium size pergola. Maybe I'll figure out which variety that is over the next decade or two. But I'm not going to get my hopes up. Zone 5 in Wisconsin is a TOTALLY different story than Zone 5 here in Colorado. It's the extremely dry air, bright hot winter sunshine, and dramatic temperature fluctuations throughout our winters that desiccate the rose stems. I know I'm going to get pelted for this, because it's moderately invasive, but my recommendation is that you plant a couple of Virginia Creepers toward the back of your large pergola. These guys will fairly well cover the pergola in 4 or 5 years. It's very hardy, and has little miniature grape like fruit that hangs down, and looks nice. It also has nice red color in the fall. At the front of the pergola either don't have anything at all on those front 2 columns, or maybe put some medium size trellises there and plant some of the larger size clematis there, or maybe instead plant some honeysuckle. Then maybe put some regular (not climbing) roses in front of that, or nearby. For your pergola over the pond, I think I'd put honeysuckle on two of the corners and large clematis on the other two. This one is small enough, a really hearty grape vine might be able to cover it, (maybe valiant) but since there's a pond under it, that would make it rather tricky to pick the grapes! Good luck, Bruce