It's in an alley along a fence. You want something vicious that requires very little maintenance and is disease free. But unless you want to be bothered with quite a bit of pruning (which won't be fun) and tying up to the fence (which won't be fun either) I would stay away from the ramblers such as New Dawn, Dr. W. van Fleet, Alberic barbier, etc. These will climb, but left on their own will also sprawl all over, including the alley. I would use something that will stand up on its own without a lot of help and can just be sheared back from the alley when necessary--eglantyne, rugosa, and a number of others mentioned here should do fine. One also has to consider the quality of soil in an alley -- likely not the greatest. We assume you have sun, but sweet briars will do fine in considerable shade. A modern rose that will keep blooming, stand-up on its own, and is quite thorny,large and tall, over six feet, is Austin's The Pilgram, a yellow rose, that some think to be the most handsome and best of all the Austin roses, but alas it won't be as bullet proof as the sweet briars or rugosas, will require more water during droughty periods, and can get a little blackspot. It also requires more fertilizer to be at its best. I'd stick with the species and near species roses.

If you plant your grafted roses 1-2 inches below the soil line (which is what you should do in Zone 6), you don't really need to winter mulch for protection. In fact, I mulch nothing for winter protection. I mulch for summer protection--to conserve moisture and to hold down the weeds. If you do winter mulch, it should be done AFTER a hard freeze (like in January) and pulled back every time the weather warms up. As you can see--too much work! Leaves from my neighbor's oak trees blow randomly through my back yard and probably give some random protection -- but a lot of the roses still are exposed to the temps and still do fine. In the spring you will start trimming back until you reach healthy WHITE interior of the cane. For HTs, that might be a few inches from the soil line--which is fine. With the spring sun, they will start growing fine. If you just need a limited amount of mulch, buy a few bags from Home Depot for about $6.00. Kate

My ND rose is doing ok, it has sent out a few really long stems..I’d say about 5’ -6’ long...but only like 3 of them so far...I put it in a place next to my ugly chain link fence so it could get as big as it likes because the more it hides that fence the better...this will be it’s 2nd full year in the new spot, so I’m sure I’ll see more growth from it this year...as far as that area...idk if I’m going to put any roses there...ideally I’d love to, but we already have a ton of bees near the pool and I think putting more flowers will just bring even more...I love bees don’t get me wrong, but I don’t love them buzzing around my head when I’m trying to relax by the pool...and my yard seems to have all the aggressive types..so not only cute little bumblebees..I have those huge black and white hornets, yellow jackets, and these tiny little black ones that sting like a b***h!! So I more want to discourage them there, than encourage them lol...which stinks because it’s a perfect area for a nice climber :’(

Matt, Winter hardy to the cane tips for me without any protection, nothing: Quietness - very fragrant Aunt Honey - moderately fragrant, some say very Lady Ashe (climber) - very fragrant Earth Angel - very fragrant Pink Climbing Don Juan - very fragrant (You gotta' get this rose. It's better than Climbing Red Don Juan, all around, IMHO.) That's it so far for fragrant, to the cane tip hardy, and winter hardy in my garden. The following are expected to be equal to the above in my garden, but are too new to say 'yes', positively, yet: Scepter'd Isle - very fragrant Dee-Lish - very fragrant Quick Silver - moderately fragrant Milwaukee's Calatrava - very fragrant Everything else I grow, and I grow fragrant roses only, no deadbeats in my garden, needs protection over winter to thrive. I don't spare on the protection for those that need it. It's a small price to pay to be able to grow fragrant roses in this colder climate. Fragrant roses are the ones for me, roses that without protection would limp along needlessly. They thrive because I pile the medium to fine pine bark mulch (never large chunks), high over them for the winter to give them every advantage I can. Having a rose struggle simply because it did not get winter protection, and just come back every year, dying to or nearly to the ground, is not success to me. Having it thrive, and come back bigger every year until it reaches mature equilibrium is success to me. Moses