I grow sweet peas extensively and use grape vine stakes about 10 feet tall and put into the ground about a foot or two. Netting is placed between these; and the peas climb up the netting. Sweet peas are not in flower for long however; remember, you seem to want privacy and the flowers do not last all season. They are rather short-lived and this is something for you to consider if you want long term vines. The perennial version of sweet pea is too short and they do not really climb. Hops might be a better choice as they seem to get dense. I grow these too, but on the other end of the garden. At any rate, the grape stakes work very well and are sturdy, strong, rust proof, and not that expensive. Think about your choice of vine.

I take all of your cautions about Morning Glories to heart, and I won't plant them so that they actually use the roses as trellises, but I do think that those of you who rail against them are thinking of the perennial version and not the annual versions that are available. I am well aware of the shed or house-eating qualities of the perennial Morning Glory; I planted one because I wanted it to hide an ugly shed, and it does a pretty good job of that. But the annuals are....just that....annuals which die back (at least here in Zone 9), and occasionally (only occasionally) reseed and even then only minimally. To get MG's to do well here I have to start them indoors because they like more heat than we get. Still, I do think you are all right that they would be too big and too heavy and block too much air if planted as a true companion to roses, and so....I'm just not gonna do it. Gee, it's so much fun to have been able to log on at all that I'm just going on and on.... Susan

I finally learned what these like. A new spot every season and sandy soil for the first 8 inches and then rich composty soil that retains water under that. If you can put down some chicken manure the depth of a spade they love that. Some people say to start them early but I always wait until the dry winds pass. If the spring is mild, mature vines will keep going until the summer comes. You should still be having sweetpeas with the spring flush roses. The lower part of the vines always get ugly so I cut the leaves off then. Any developing seeds will stop the flowering. I would sow another group just before Thanksgiving. Soak the seeds at least 2 days before planting. If you have the space, the A frame trellises are the best. Mine grow on bamboo teepees or the metal cement reinforcement that is sold on a roll.

Our framer was supposed to come out one more time. He'd called a month before we needed him to see if we were ready. When we called him, his wife said he "wasn't available", but his crew was! His crew, who he was always yelling at, included his 25 year old son, who had previously missed a day of work on our job because he was jailed for a DUI. We never did find out what happened to the framer. Since things have been really slow here for the building trades, our builder/consultant and another contractor who'd helped us with other things and were familiar with our job helped us finish up. The original framer's work had not been without problems. He arrived the day they were supposed to frame the interior walls of the first floor without the plans. I loaned him mine, and asked him to return them. At the end of the day I found them blowing around the house. He made several obvious mistakes that day, among them, framing a wall across where the stairs to the 2nd floor were supposed to be, framing a wall where the door between the back hall and eating area was supposed to be, framing 2 sets of double pocket doors to the dining room 4" too narrow, centering once set of these doors on the wall, and the master bedroom door on its wall, instead of where I had them drawn (his comment--"But that's where most people put them!"--DUH--try LOOKING AT THE PLANS!!!), cutting the stair stringer the wrong size, and not supporting the main sets of 2x4s that supported the dormers. These are only the most obvious mistakes. I quickly changed from checking his work at the end of the day to checking it at lunch, too, to catch his mistakes. One day he walked off the job, and told DH he wouldn't continue unless I was not there. I was happy to stay home where it was warm in the dead of winter, and let DH continue doing the checking! We ended up paying another carpenter and a builder who was our consultant to go through and check all of the framer's work. I'm including all of this as a caution to anyone having anything structural being done in their kitchen. If you have ANY doubts, find someone else to check out the work. It's difficult to switch contractors mid-stream because a new one usually doesn't want to take on the responsibility of what's already been done, especially if it may be hidden by later work. flatcoat, I can empathize with what you're going through and know how upset you must be, but at least you are very fortunate that your contractor did good work! Anne