You didn't state what the grapes were--muscadine, concord type, white/amber/ thin skins etc... I went to a 'pruning clinic' at the local 'pick your own' vineyard and the County AG agent used a saw on the oldest, heaviest of the vines, He cut them to the ground, The next spring, he chose two of the sprouts to use as the main trunk,, by the third yr he had it on the wire that was 6' tall. Pruning is always a little scary to me but after watching this-- I decided I could do it.. Good luck..

I applaud your eagerness, virtu, but I think you need to consider quite a few things before you plant anything. About those pots. Christopher is correct, you need something that will stand up to your winters. Do not use terracotta or any kind of ceramic pots. They will freeze and shatter probably the first winter. Find the thick walled foam or resin pots and go WAY BIGGER than you think you need. Roses grown in pots occasionally have to be root pruned and given new soil or they'll die. Root pruning means you have to take the pot off and cut back the root ball. That's going to be difficult to do with a 10 ft rose. The bigger the pot the less often you'll have to do that. I have 50 some roses in pots and in my zone 6 I root prune about every 5 years but it also depends a lot on the vigor of the rose you're growing. Roses also require pruning some times and particularly in cold climates where there is winter kill. It's going to be very difficult to prune them on top of that structure. Another thing is the pergola itself. What is it made of and is it going to need regular maintenance of some kind? You'll have to be able to remove any growth for that. Some things can be lifted and laid down for maintenance and then put back up. I know I've done that with clematis before in order to paint some posts I have it growing on. Roses tend to be stiffer though and that could be harder to do. You said there was soil at the base of the posts. How big an area and how deep can you dig there? It looks like you have patio block. You may be able to plant them there if they are small plants to start with. If they can still get water through the patio blocks the roots will be able to spread out beneath it. They'll really do better planted in the ground and will be way less up keep for you too. My other concern is sunlight. Looks like there's a big tree near by. How much sun does the area get? Roses need at least 6 hours of full sun and more like 8 to grow and bloom well. I'm not trying do dissuade you. I agree with you that it would be gorgeous. I'm just trying to make sure you enter this well prepared. It's always better to know what to expect and be ready to deal with it.

I'd cut off a twig with the symptom, and take it to a real plant nursery (not a box garden center like HD), and have them take a look at it. Sounds like some kind of mildew to me. You may need to spray them with something. All grapevines go dormant in the winter (lose their leaves), and that is the time to replant them and prune them. It's really hard to kill a grapevine. Once they bud out, it's best to leave them alone and not re-pot until they go dormant again. Winepress.US has great advice for grape growers. These are forums dedicated to wine makers and grape growers. Most growers put the vines directly into the ground, but there are a few who grow them in containers. I intend to become a container grower mainly because I want more vines, and don't have the room for them. There are tons of ways to prune the vines, and my container vines will be growin with a 4-5' high trunk, and branching down from the top, creating a tree like vine. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Forums Dedicated to Grape Growing

I used Silver Lace over part of the pergola that covers a portion of my pool patio. Pergola is about 9' tall, about 40' wide and 16' deep. Planted two vines, one over the arched arbor that leads into the pool area. The other vine went up against the pergola. The Silver lace was to cover about half of the pergola, a few New Dawn rose climbers were to cover the other half. Planted the vines a few years ago, they were about 5' tall when planted. The arched arbor is in the bottom left corner of the following photo. You can barely see the vine I planted against the pergola, but you can see the unweathered support pole I used to train it, it's leaning against the second pergola post from the left. By late summer the vines were flowering and had grown over the top of the arbor and over the top of the Pergola. Here's a photo I took today, the vine has grown about 9' vertical to the top, then the full 16' depth of the pergola: I had this same vine when I lived in Wisconsin, on a lake about a half-hour north of MKE. Here in CT it's done well through several winters. No issues. I've seen Silver Lace listed in some places as invasive, but it's never strayed by root, nor has it crowded out some of the other plants near it in the gardens. I think it's just a rigorous climber. The flowers are white and somewhat delicate looking. I guess that's where the "lace" in the name comes from. The petals, when they fall, are not a nuisance. I don't consider it to be a dirty plant in terms of shedding. It's been winter and wind hardy, and provides a nice dappled shade in the summer.