You would be best off building (or having someone build) something yourself. The ones you can buy are usually too flimsy to hold up to a large rose in a strong wind. I would stick with something thornless or near-thornless and not too large to begin with because it will be so much easier for you to learn on. Renae, Allister Stella Gray, Crepuscule, or a modern like Berries n Cream or Eden (tho Eden's a Ruster). Mme Alfred is a monster, way to big for your chosen area. Check youtube for Ashdown Roses videos on climbing roses, attaching roses to structures, there are a couple good ones. Honestly it is far far easier for a beginner to grow a climbing rose on a lowish (5') wide (10'+) fence than it is up columns on a porch. On a low fence you can fan out the canes pretty easily and tie them securely and get a nice show of blooms in a relatively short 2-3 year period. Going straight up and then out is certainly doable but it takes a lot more pruning, tying, thinking, patience, time, etc. What about a couple free standing teepee type structures in front of the columns and the roses on that. That way you keep the roses off your house but still get the height. Key thing in your windy area, let them grow in spring and summer, but get everything securely tied up before the fall/winter winds begin. Widen out the too narrow planting bed in front to reduce your lawn size and give you room to really plant some ROSES! :)

Gggrrrrr...must have been a GW quirk that didn't show the January photo when I first re-opened this thread. My apologies for the double post of that photo (I WISH there was some way for the originator of a post to delete it afterwards, as one can on other websites!). Anyway, here's a few photos I found that show a bit more detail on the LH side, upper half, where the two tree roses "Double Delight" and "Delany Sister" reside. This is an older photo and some of these plants didn't work out so were replaced. The little clump of silver-leafed gazania, at the foot of the variegated dianella, was outcompeted by the ceratostigma and eventually died. The vine on the trellis is a purple passiflora. In the above photo, the green groundcover leaning into the walkway, past the second "Ladies in Waiting" pink shrub rose, is Santa Barbara daisy. This is in front of a very pretty mid-height pink-and-white alstroemeria, and surprisingly, has never managed to overrun it. It makes a super companion to the roses when cutting for the vase. This is a more recent photo. Bottom left you can see the "Ruby Comet" argyranthemum. This is an improved descendant of "Ruby Slippers" which was super-tender. "Comet" seems much more hardy, it hardly blinked this winter. That flourishing bright green plant at the foot of "Delany Sisters" is....flat leaf parsley! Worked great and I think I may try to keep one regularly here. It did a great job hiding the tree rose 'legginess'. The small yellow flowers are those of the yellow erysimum, when it was young and sitting up straight, not leaning into the pathway as it does now, LOL:

Great ideas, thank you :) I like the look of the Devoniensis, Reve d'Or and Lady Hillingdon, I'll ask about those at the nursery. In regards to the colour on the house, it is washed out in the strong sunlight. It is actually more like this but a bit lighter: Sorry for the huge colour swatch lol! So I do think white could work as well as pick. Apricot I'm actually less sure about but given that a lot of the colour on the house will be covered by foliage I think it could be ok. Sounds like Kiftsgate and Mermaid are out - I don't want the house to be eaten alive! And definitely no staff here to do the hard work! Thornless would make life easier - I did like how limber and thornless Renae was - but it's not an area that receives any traffic, it's really just seen from the nearby path. So thorns aren't really a make-or-break for me. Swane's used to be one of the biggest rose specialists and I think they still have a great modern selection but I would generally go with Green E Roses for potted plants or Mistydowns for bare rooted. Both have a great selection of OGRs, Austins etc. I went to Swane's recently and didn't find much except for a very spotty Buff Beauty and a few sad Austins that I rescued from the bargain section. I like the climbing Austins but from what I've seen I think they would be too high maintenance for what I'm looking for - all my Austins here need spraying regularly unfortunately and are fairly temperamental (but lovely) creatures. Of course I only have a small selection of Austins and I'm far from an expert but that's just my gut instinct! Anyway perhaps it's been narrowed down to a Noisette or a climbing Tea? Does anyone know if Blush Noisette would get fried?

I wonder, Summer, if it is a semantic issue with ARE calling it essentially a once blooming rambler, while another company can say it repeats with an occasional bloom. ARE might be steering people away if they really want a steady, constant bloomer. They could be the same rose. I got Blairii no 2 from Palatine who called it a repeat bloomer, but everything I read said not really. It will bloom for the first time this Spring and I will follow but won't expect significant or any rebloom.