Apparently not since you haven't received an answer, and I'm too far from your zone to help. However, whenever I've seen pictures of the Madame she's always looked like a very wide sprawler, which makes me wonder whether this rose might not be too bulky for an arbor. I hope someone else will see this post who can give you a more definitive answer.

flowers, I've held off as I thought someone in your zone and with more rose knowledge would be a lot more help. Ingrid's right, she sends up a lot of 10' thorny canes in all directions. She's also very disease prone here. You probably have seen pictures of fragrancenutter's MIP. She lives in a hot dry climate, and has trained hers against a wall. It looks incredible.

My feeling is that it would be a bit of a battle with her growth habit. The blooms are lovely, and highly fragrant, however.

Thank you, Ingrid. David Austin has a wonderful photo of it growing on an arbor, but it, of course, has two things going for it - the English climate and David Austin. I have cold winters and HOT summers and I am no David Austin. I bought two this spring. One is a very bushy band and the other is a 3 gal. with long long canes. I wish I knew if those canes could be persuaded to climb.

Trish, I had not given those thorns much thought, but thorny roses are not the best for an arbor. My two new ones have such flexible canes, but I know they won't always be as trainable as they get older. I have another option, so should probably put my MIPs in more appropriate places where the fragrance can be enjoyed and the thorns avoided.

flowers, FWIW, I recently bought MIP and tried to read about her from as many sources as I could and also inquired on this forum. My initial idea was to have her climb a 6' trellis and I got a very encouraging response from Cynthia in zone 5 Nebraska, who posted a photo of her gorgeous MIP. In the end I decided against this idea because her MIP looked too vigorous for the trellis I had in mind. I've instead bought Reine des Violettes (at ARE sale) and planted her there, while MIP went to a larger border, still close to the fence in case she decides to climb. But I plan to peg her because I read in more than one source that she is perfect for pegging. She is already having three buds after we had planted her last week and I can't wait to smell her scent.

Consider that she has huge, VICIOUS prickles . . .

As for pegging. I did that. I would NEVER do it again. After that experience, I just removed the rose. (But of course, in my climate, it is a disease-ridden monster.)

jerijen, I never did pegging and thought it could be a good learning experience because it was highly recommended for MIP, but now I'm wondering if it's a good idea at all. Are those MIP's thorns or something else that made you decide against it?

Mine was not cane hardy enough to get any height, sorry.

Vesfl, I have almost decided to just let her be a big shrub unless someone can convince me she will be a nicely behaved climber. I loved Reine des Violettes when I grew her in So. Cal. but don't have her here.

Jerijen, I had to laugh. Not that getting whacked by thorns is funny, but everything grows to huge dimensions in your garden. I don't think Mme. P would be that enormous here, but she would still have those thorns. I've pegged Colette and lived to tell the tale, but I'm not really into that kind of self inflicted torture anymore.

I appreciate your input, altorama. You have confirmed it! Growing them as a shrubs will be a better plan. I planted a lot of climbers along my long and curving driveway to grow as shrubs. Looks like the two Madames will be joining them. These two are own root, so if they suffer winter dieback, they should come back.

I just dug up some MIP's today to put in pots to give away. Huge canes in a very short time so a very fast grower. I didn't notice particularly awful thorns, but then I have New Dawn to compare to!

Planted at the same time, my RDV's aren't a fraction as tall, but nice and soft to deal with though. I realize that I'm not in your zone, but MIP grew so much faster to compare.

To those of you who have wonderful MIP scent, do you have clay? Mine were scentless in fluffy, sandy soil.

Lavender, I hope the recipients of those MIPs will appreciate and love them. Unless they're gardeners and love roses, some people just don't get it. All this mention of RdV makes me think I need to get one again. To answer your question, I detect good scent in my roses, and yes, I have hard, compacted, rocky, sticky when wet, clay soil. But, the roses grow in huge holes filled mostly with compost.

Oh my goodness, Sheila! Those are breathtaking!

Yes, I do think I need that one! Gorgeous, Sheila!

Flowers, according to one of the organic experts, MIP likes clay and there's a complicated reason why she's scentless in my sandy soil but I can't repeat it accurately or coherently so won't even try!

RdV is absolutely stunning.

Lavender, that's good to know about MIP. I hope she turns out fragrant for me. Our soil is clay (though amended with compost and a bit of gypsum).

Lavender, are we supposed to be accurate and coherent on this forum?? I'm in trouble.

Ha ha Flowers! Especially after a day of gardening in boiling heat, not a chance!

I saw RdV(for the first time, ever) yesterday at the fair. I saw it from one table over, and made a bee line for it! At that point, I had no idea what it was. I said to my daughter, "Ingrid! Look at THAT one, over there. Whatever it is, it's about the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" Sure enough, the card said Reine des Violettes. Lisa