Thanks

IF I were going to put climbing roses against the garage wall in pots, they would have to be LARGE pots, preferably a minimum of 22" in diameter, to provide for enough room for roots and a large enough root ball to prevent it from baking thoroughly in the heat. Plus, they would preferably be constructed of concrete, which insulates MUCH better than clay or ceramic. Ideally, there would be some way to open the pavement under them to permit the drain water to enter the ground, rather than run across the hard scape, staining it. Also, ideally, there would be the ability to integrate them nto the automatic irrigation. All you need is to set these things up and miss watering them during a heat wave...Does any of this sound like anything you can accommodate?

According to the USDA interactive map, you should be about Zone 10a. I'm familiar with where Bell Canyon is and I'm in the same zone here in Encino. Your east-south east facing situation is much better than a western exposure, but it is still hot and can be tremendously so depending upon how dark colored the house is, combined with all that reflected, radiated heat from your drive.

The ideal situation would be for there to be open ground at the foot of the walls you want to grow any plants against so their roots would be IN the ground, where they are much better insulated against the heat, rather than up IN the air where air temps will more severely affect them.

I've dealt with MANY situations where homeowners thought of using urns and other containers in situations which sounded very similar to what you've described, in hopes of being able to grow pretty, flowering plants on the walls. The vast majority of them were eventually unsatisfactory because of heat, drainage, hard scape staining, plant litter and plant size in too restricted spaces. Kim

If the spot was not so hot, 'Climbing Iceberg' or 'Renae' are good beginner climbers for Southern California. Very few to no thorns make them much easier to handle.