What's the alkalinity of the soil at the base of the cypresses?

Banksia lutea, with the caveat that I am ignorant about its alkaline soil toleration.

Jackie

Stillann and Jackie, my soil in general ranges from alkaline (7.5) to very alkaline (8.4), is mostly calcareous and yes, BL is tolerant of alkaline conditions.

Are the cypress trunks bare up a certain distance?

Some yes, some no.

It so happens I have a young BL in a pot, destined for another spot. Maybe I should reconsider.. BL blooms mainly in March to mid April over here.

Any other suggestions?

Sort of a suggestion: stay away from big roses with multiflora in their parentage.

Some of the once blooming R. setigera hybrids would be magnificent, but I'm not sure their availabilty in Europe.
And then there's R. gigantea which covers houses in tropical climates.

I don't know about the alkalinity issues. Would any of the Sempervirens/Arvensis (Ayrshire) hybrids work? 'Felicite-Perpetue', 'Adelaide d'Orleans', and all that tribe? How about 'Kiftsgate' and its offspring 'Brenda Colvin'? Barbier Wichuriana ramblers, starting with 'Alberic Barbier'; the Giganteas; Noisettes and Tea Noisettes like 'Lamarque' (which I've never grown) and 'Duchesse d'Auerstaedt'. You'll know better than I how well some of these classes will do in your conditions. I do second the Lady Banks roses, also because they're early, and, I suppose, less likely to fry.

I have 'Awakening' going up one young cypress, and am hoping to get 'Sombreuil' climbing another. The idea has a lot of appeal, especially since we don't have any mature trees in the big garden.

I am imagining how beautiful those cypresses would look with Lady Banks climbing up them. What a lovely picture!

Thanks for these suggestions, keep them coming. I'm trying FetP but so far, after 3 and a half years, it has still not stood up to its name as a huge and vigorous rambler, prefering to slowly scramble with very thin canes than climb. Maybe it has too much root competition or it is too shady where it is planted. PHM, planted nearby has also been slow but this year it seems it is finally taking off reaching up to sunnier heights.

How far away from the base of the cypress trunks do you plant the roses? I didn't even think this was do-able! but now of course I want to try it! Though I'll have to wait a few years; most of my cypresses are still babies...

Bart, about 3-4 feet away. A grown up tree does not tend to have too many feeding roots that near the trunk but a young one will. The probem with planting near the trunk of a big tree is managing to dig the hole in the first place.. These here are 30 year old cypresses. Huge rosemarys and pistacia lentiscuses nearby do not make the life of the roses any easier either..

Madame Alfred Carriere? Mine grow happily up very tall trees, and bloom in flushes from March to November here. Also fragrant.

Again with the caveat that I have no idea about whether they could thrive in your soil.

Jackie

Did you see those pictures taken of Ralph Moore's former SoCal nursery, after it had all run wild? (What I always believed to be) mild-mannered 'Renae' had gone feral, and was way up into the surrounding tall trees, a wonderful sight. I'll see if I can find the thread again and post a link, if you're interested.

Thanks, Nik. The oldest of mine have only been in my garden about 4 years, though they were bought as fairly large plants,and are by now about 2 meters tall...

I'll second 'Mme. Alfred Carriere'. Mine is rather huge this year, and is both beautiful and marvelously fragrant.

P.S. 'La Mortola'? and its relative R. brunonii? (edited, I got the species name wrong initially)