Thanks everyone! Very early yet, but I think itâÂÂs going to be a good rose here. Sara Ann, still weeding through zillions of pictures I took earlier this season. Right now, 99% of my roses are being decimated by thousands of Japanese beetles, so maybe I can get caught up on downloading the older ones while nothing much is photo worthy. Predfern, winter hardiness is something I really never paid much attention to, but after our polar vortex winter, that trait has moved way up on my list of desirables.

Glad my list was helpful! Richard - that idea of growing Lunar Mist and Colette across from each other would be just lovely and nicely complementary. I'd forgotten that they're related, but you're right the flower forms would do nicely together. Here's a picture of Lunar Mist, a portion of the sprays from late May last year (it's also an early bloomer) - look at all the big fat buds ready to pop soon: Here's a corresponding picture of my young Colette (nothing as lovely as Diane's, but there's still time). You can see the apricot shading in cool weather that would complement Lunar Mist well. And speaking of Diane - heavens, I appreciate the complement but EVERYONE on this forum knows many things about roses I do not, yourself included. The topic happens to be something I've had a lot of experience in, namely ROSES THAT DIE IN ZONE 5. I've now officially killed more roses than I have in my yard, so it's one claim to fame (however dubious). The climbers I can indulge in because of that big black fence all around the large-ish back yard. Let's see - to tempt you on the zone 4 and below climbers that will easily eat that trellis for lunch, let's start with Quadra below. He's very thorny and needs to be trained when young, and in your case I might put him behind the protective wall and let him smother the arch and keep from poking people in the trellis too badly. This is one Quadra bush I mistakenly grew as a bush for about 5 years and I lost a lot of blood trying to wrestle him into this arch for about 3 hours. In my list above, I meant John Cabot. My John Davis isn't really big enough to climb yet. Here's a sample of John Cabot growth, with Alexander MacKenzie just visible off to the right (the blooms are VERY similar). I really need something for them to grow on next year. I'd mentioned Polka - here's a modest spray from a few years back that shows the color progression. It fades from a deep apricot to a pale cream over time. This plant was about 5' at the time and supported itself. Now it's stretched over a pedestal horizontally (one bend in the stiff canes) and I'm making it put out more laterals. Mostly it could support itself. Here are several climbers all mushed in together (I like rose chaos) in a good spring a few years ago. From left, the dark pink is Laguna, the light pink Madame Bovary, the white is Cornelia (hybrid musk), the light pink is Bonica, and the yellow is Elina. The last three aren't officially climbers, but they can get pretty big in a good year - the fence is 6' tall. I don't think any of them would climb an arch though. Here's my favorite shot of Dames des Chenonceau (far back at right, pinker) and Champagne Moment (cream at the right) in a good year (2013) where they absolutely overwhelmed the 3' wire fence they're behind. They wouldn't cover your arch but would make a great statement up each side of it on their own. Even in an average year like last year, they flop out widely and reliably at a good 6-8 of cane with profuse blooms, even if pruned back severely. Here's an arch shot that includes Mme. Carolyn Testout (pink to the left of the arch) and Harlequin (pink picotee to right of arch, appears mostly pink from here). Lots of other roses in the way, as I say 2013 was a good year. Here's Reine des Violette - since mine is the "not" RdV, it only blooms once and is thorny, but if you get the real one (Burlington has it), it reblooms and isn't thorny. That's a good consideration by a seat placement, and it smells heavenly. Lastly, here's a shot of Rosarium Uetersen. It is growing low here but the plant stretches from way to the right side clear to the left of the picture, and the color is a more coral tone than this picture shows. Have fun making your decision! Of course we want to see the pictures against that elegant looking seated arch. Cynthia

Kelly - I noted on the antique site that Dame de Coeur failed to overwinter last year in an average zone 5 winter. I'm trying again in a more protected spot this year, but I suspect it's marginally hardy in zone 5 and a long shot for you. A much better shorter double red for zone 4 would be LavaGlut. It has small flowers but is pretty indestructible and around 3' tall. Surprisingly Preference has been a good and hardy true red rose for me in my zone 4 pocket, and it's mostly double and larger at 4-5'. Hope For Humanity is a nice double darkish red in a zone 4 pocket for me too and it has huge luscious blooms. Cynthia

Came back to this thread to check on Comte de Chambord, yes, Val grows it, and I agree that needs loamy soil, lots of rain, and healthier if alkaline. Comte is rooting easily in my wet baggie, and rooted easily in heavy out-door rain, while other cuttings rot. Comte has aggressive root and can root easily in alkaline sand, but I need to make my rooting-medium more acidic for the cuttings which are harder to root. Pink Pet definitely likes dry/loamy soil and warmer climate (Val's pic. is awesome). But died in my soaking wet clay last winter.