Are these the yellow Lady Banks? That's the one I have. I think 4 is actually OK, although you could cover the structure with two. As for pruning, a grocery store in our town has grown 8 yellow Lady Banks in its parking lot for 20 years, each one on a 2 ft high, 4 ft wide metal trellis. They prune the heck out of them each Spring, and although I think it is ridiculous, the roses are thriving and look great (that is, they look healthy, although like miniature hedges). My point is that this rose will put up with a lot of pruning without going into a decline. Re the vertical posts - my one yellow Lady Banks, which grew to 25 feet tall and 15 feet wide on our house, was still pretty narrow at the base. It had 2-3 main canes which got 2-3 inches in diameter. So, if you train the main canes vertically up the posts, and then after they have gotten bigger prune off any little branches that come out too far down, you should be able to keep them narrow. Jackie

How cool, Aimeekitty! Up Whites Canyon from Soledad on the hill? Yes, Banksiae and Purezza are completely evergreen up there. And, yes, they both have been successfully grown in pots, much the same way you can bonsai a full sized tree in a pot. It requires excellent drainage, a pot of sufficient minimum size for the size plant you want, a pot of suitable material to prevent it from cooking in the sun/heat and religious watering. I've seen Banksiae grown in five gallon sizes for many, many years. Yes, they become root bound, but preventing the roots from getting to the soil, keeping it properly watered and fertilized occasionally, as well as keeping it sheared to maintain a proper balance between root and top growth sizes keep it alive. It will flower in those conditions, on any sufficiently mature wood and anywhere that wood receives enough sun. The potential for sunburn of the wood is much higher growing in pots because of the water stress from lack of spreading, foraging roots. I've seen it grown as a tiered "poodle" topiary, and as a standard where the trunk was incredibly thick with side buds removed as you would for a standard trunk. The top branches were permitted to grow and were continually kept sheared to maintain a rounded head. Those also flowered in spring, paving themselves over the surface with bloom. It CAN be done. It takes time and a LOT of effort and attention. I had a client in The Palisades who was a very long time gardener. He was widowed and did all manner of odd things for his own amusement. I teased him his garden was like visiting The Island of Dr. Moreau because of the unusual things he accomplished, but he spent every day in his garden. It was his life. You could also train a Banksiae like the braided trunk ficus you see everywhere, then either round the head or allow it to fountain out. They are amazingly versatile and enduring plants. They will suffer just about anything you can think to do TO them, as long as their basic requirements are met. Victorian and Edwardian florists raised many types of ramblers and other climbers in pots, training them into fantastic shapes and forcing them to flower for holiday decoration. Think bougainvillea or even what is done to potted florist azaleas in today's markets and you get the idea. Aimeekitty, you have plenty of room for the Banksiae as long as you aren't afraid to prune and shear it as you would a bougainvillea, pyracantha or other indeterminate shrub or climber. Don't be afraid to prune it. It honestly will thumb its nose at you and grow more vigorously, just in a different direction. If you train it along the top of your fence, you can shear it to form a dense topper which will then flower each spring. Banksiae will make free standing shrubs, totally capable of supporting themselves on the thick wood they will develop. You can see a few of them outside the gates of Scenic Hills along Rainbow Glen, just off Sierra Hwy. Kim

That is exciting---Many years ago we went to Martha's Vineyard for our yearly visit in Oct.---much to my surprise the Lilacs and Forsythia were all in bloom----One of my friends who lives year-round on the Island said it was because of Hurricane Bob---seems the water washed up on all the plants and then the temps dropped so everything was frozen----well according to my friend the plants all thought winter had come and gone so they proceeded to burst into their "spring bloom"----it was really something to see Florence

Jan, both white and yellow banksia roses flower once in spring and, as far as I know, you prune them after flowering. Sometimes it's best to leave pruning a climber for a few years until it reaches the required height. I'd never appreciated the white banksia until I moved to the mountains where there are some really spectacular ones, so maybe it likes the cold. I'm not fond of the yellow one though as it doesn't seem to be the right yellow in relation to the foliage. It looks ok up against a dark background, but out in the open, such as over an archway, I never think the flowers show up enough. You ask if they are worth the trouble. I would say banksia roses are trouble free, but then, so are a lot of climbing roses. If you don't like them, don't be afraid to pull them out and replace them. I always think roses are cheap to buy but expensive to look after, so why look after a rose that disappoints. There are plenty of other roses which will give you many more flowers over a much longer period.