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:

ALOHA RDogg.. Welcome to the joys of gardening in the city... I assume you are saying 3 to 4 hours of sun... bot blessed with 3/4 hours or 45 minutes of sun .. Can yo u build the greenhouse off the window or door of your apartment... you can keep the door open to provide some heat... but perhaps a heater should be factored in a greenhousewwould free up the inside space... and provide more light than inside aganst a window..with supplemental light... I grow alot of Z 9 plants... plenty of plumeria... and brugmancias... by the score... inside is lovely all planted out ... but other family members often have a diffrent otlook.. don't look to us first... but your living mates.. Will you want to dismantle the greenhouse next summer... but get started right away... fall has a way of comming faster than you imagine.. Gordon

I have no head for heights and that makes me feel a bit giddy but it must be fun to look out from there on a sunny day... I think I would grow the rose up the wall on the left and a clematis along the railings.. I would plant the clematis on the right at the corner junction to train the clematis along both railings. However, depending where the sun rises, you might find most of the flower stems try to grow on the other side of the railings away from you and some pulling back in and training this side may be necessary, so you get the most benefit. I'm not sure if I would use 2 individual pots rather than 1 large one. I grow a rose in a pot that's much smaller... it's about 1 foot from front to back, about 2 and half feet lengthways, and about 2 feet deep. The rose I grow in it is 'Benjamin Britten' and it's been there for 3 seasons now and is thriving. It will be good for another 3 I should think and I won't change the soil until I see signs of deterioration. It's about 5 foot tall and I've had about 4 flushes this year, and it's trying for a 5th but the weather has cooled.. I grow bulbs, Pelargoniums, Violas, Candytuft, along with the rose during summer.. nothing too invasive rootwise though. 9th Sept '16 'Benjamin Britten' in a pot... ..you can see a glimpse of my container here below, it's quite narrow across the top. I was taking a photo of my Molinia 'Karl Foerster'. I know I'm a long way off but just trying to give you some encouragement. Hope all goes well....

If you like Japanese maples there are hundreds of kinds of those including dwarf growing ones. So if you have seen one you have not seen them all. However any of these being out on a balcony through a New York winter could backfire some time due to it getting too cold for their roots. A crab would be hardier but I don't know which of those you might find that would fit the space. Even the comparatively small number of dwarf shrubby selections tend to be sold perched on long trunks and looking like a hat rack in nursery sizes. Also any that are selections of Malus sargentii will have stinky flowers. Really as with so many plant selection questions it gets down to what is to your taste. And not just what will take the environmental conditions you have.