Here are some pictures of my kiwi arbor. The first two are drawings I made in the 3D drawing program Sketchup, the last is a photograph taken shortly after completion: The fence was already there when I built the arbor. This is visible from the street, so I wanted something that looked nice. You can email me if you want any info about the construction Alex

Wow, what beautiful structures everyone has! You are all a very creative bunch of rosarians. Here is one that I built with 4x4s set in concrete, 4x6 "lintel", and copper trellises on the sides. I still have not put the cross pieces on the top. Closer view: The trellis: Now I'm working on an "allee" made with rebar arches mounted on 4x4 posts. I really like Cheryl and mendocinorose's tunnel/allees, too. And awesome double rainbow Sue! Did you see the faint second rainbow outside of the first? That is so cool that you saw the end of one. I always wondered what they look like. -Stephanie

Well we worked on the roses and fence all morning. Unfortunately it's in the 90s today, so no long pants or sleeves:( My husband worked on removing the damaged slats of the fence. I first separated Sombreuil, which was on the left from Reve d'Or. That was fairly easy. Then I had to de-tantle Veilchenblau from RdO. That was a bit harder. Luckily Veil is almost thornless, but the canes are very long and flexible. I removed to very old thick canes from the base and a lot of growth. Unfortunately I think RdO took the worst of it. I had to cut a lot off that was attached to the arbor to get it off and then when trying to untangle it from itself. So it's going to be a bit bare for awhile. But at least it wasn't loaded with buds or anything. I tried to leave as many long canes as I could. We replaced the fence boards and now just have to reattach the arbor and then place the roses on it. I'll probably tackle that next week. I have 2 huge pile of debris that I have to deal with. But that's for tomorrow. It's too hot and this is my last chance to go in my sneighbors pool while they are away (yes, they let us use it!)

I really like growing clematis up into shrubs and have been growing them that way for several years. IME clematis and shrub pairings do best when they are paired well as to size, the shrub has relatively stiff branches, and the clematis has relatively long lengths between leaf nodes so that the clematis doesn't provide too much shade to the shrub. Rooguchi is a good choice as far as internodal length, and it isn't so large that it will smother your mock orange. However, I don't think that the mock orange will be a great choice for clematis support because it has quite flexible branches, so either the weight of the clematis pulls the shrub out of shape, or when it's windy the branches move around too much, making Philadelphus an instable support. It might work if you give the clematis a short trellis such as the one Mae Taylor shows above so that the lower part of the plant has some support and stability. The other issue is that Philadelphus tends to sucker IME and so may get much wider than expected and overgrow the clematis. I've found that spicebush/Lindera benzoin with its flexible branches doesn't work well, and Physocarpus/ninebark only works for a relatively light clematis in an area sheltered from wind. Some shrubs that have worked successfully: Hydrangea paniculatas 'Quickfire' (shown below with C. 'Little Bas') and H. paniculata 'Pinky Winky', both of which have stiffer branches than some H. p. selections. Thuja 'Sunkist' with C. 'Fascination' has more rigidity to its branches than many Thuja Lilac (Syringa x prestoniae) 'Donald Wyman' with C. 'Guernsey Cream'. This one was the first combo I planted, and the clematis is too close to the lilac so it grows up too much to the inside of the shrub, but I like the combination. An unnamed bell hybrid on blue spruce and Ilex verticilata (winterberry holly). This is a big vine, so though it is planted between the two, it wanders all over both of them. I've learned that shrub-clem combos work best for longest if I take half of the published shrub width and then add a couple of feet and plant the clematis there. Otherwise the clematis ends up more inside the shrub than on it like the 'Guernsey Cream' above. Initially I provide the clematis an inexpensive support such as bamboo, and in a couple of years the clematis will grow up into the shrub on its own. Rooguchi may need a bit of guidance since it doesn't cling on its own.