this is my first time posting on this site and I am very much looking forward to possibly receiving some help and insight!

I have a wooden Pergola on the roof and am hoping to grow Climbing Roses and Clematis on it, from Containers! I have had my eyes on Eden in rose or white and New Dawn. I like the Roses with big "Cabbage" looking flowers, soft and big.

Now, I was about to order all my containers and plants when I realized, WINTER in NYC!

Will I be able to grow these beautiful flowers on my pergola in containers and leave them out over the winter on the roof??

Maybe there are other plants better suited for this! Any advice, tips, experiences all is very much appreciated! Also a tip on where you believe it would be best for me to order the plants!

I have a wonderful deck planted with Jasmine, Hibiscus, Bougainvillea, Snapdragon, Oleander, all of which I will be able to bring indoors during frost but the roof Pergola Plants would be constant in their containers.

Thank you so so much in advance! All the Best, Nina

I am in Southern Cal. and so my climate is different than yours. I hope you will find all the answers to create your dream garden.

Kasie

Ingrid

I am in zone 6 NJ, and grow quite a few roses in containers. You are probably in zone 7, so it should work well for you (although I would be a little concerned that a roof-top garden might be a little windy?) In general, I try to only use very hardy roses in containers (like Frontenac), but I do grow 2 climbers in containers, Karlsrhue and Polka, and I don't think they are necessarily particularly hardy below my zone, 6. I have done this for at least 5 years, and have been successful. So, it certainly can be done!

I would, however, suggest that you protect them a bit. I protect my containers by mounding straw around them, and then wrapping them with burlap or an old blanket. I also usually protect the upper growth, just so I don't lose too much growth to die-back, although as the climbers get bigger, the tops of the plants are left exposed.

Viking Queen is an excellent suggestion for cold climates, and very full and lovely looking. I grow and love Eden, too (although I grow both VQ and Eden in the ground, not containers.) VQ in particular can get quite big and thorny! Eden not so much. You also mentioned New Dawn - another lovely rose, but also big and thorny. Anyway, I think its well worth experimenting with! A good source might be Pickering in Canada. However, if I were you I think I'd wait til next spring. It might be a little risky to start container growers in the fall!

Best of luck, look forward to seeing pictures of your rose-covered pergola!

Frances

I've seen in growing in Sebastopol CA like a beautifil dream! If you are truly in zone 7, maybe you could grow it?

You also asked about clematis. You could easily grow clematis there, i bet. The one consideration i'd offer is that many mature clematis like to bloom on the top only and left to its own devices you might find you can't see the blooms because they are above the foliage on the top of your pergola. On a land based arbor this is okay because you still see it at the distance.
I suppose If you choose one that blooms on new wood and you regularly cut it back you could remedy this.
Have you considered wisteria? Downside is It can take a loooong time to mature enough to bloom- But it is one of the few vinesi know which blooms on the bottom because the flower hangs.

Thank you so much for your feedback and help! I appreciate it so much!

LOLA: Thank you for the compliment about my Pergola :-) I too see lots of potential in it :-) and am eager to put it to good use! Thank you for recommending helpmefind.com this is a really cool website and I found such beautiful flowers on it! "pierre de ronsard" sounds so pretty already! It still is one of my top favourites! Now I am trying to find out if there is a way I would be able to maybe bring the roses indoor over the winter...at least the first few... I don't know yet. Maybe if I lean trellises up the sides leading to the pergola roof and then take the containers with trellis and roses indoor.
For the Clematis I am lucky because I have another additional roof from which I can see the top of the pergola so it might even ass some extra beauty to have Clematis bloom on the top? I have, and am still considering wisteria, thank you! I have just read so many things of them being such an "aggressive" grower and it made me a little shy away from them! I do love the amethyst one and have read that I could grow these in containers! I wouldn't want to do any harm to a plant so if growing roses which I fell SO IN LOVE WITH would be too risky, Wisteria definitely would be my go to choice! With some lavender close by in other containers :-)

DIANE: thank you so much for the great resource! I have been browsing the Manhattan Rose Society and am thrilled!!
I heard of covering the containers and bottom of the roses with blankets and such over the winter, do you think that would be sufficient?
For the size of containers I could have any size built I would need! I will get in touch with people at the society certainly someone will know!

JAXONDEL: That's a thought I didn't even consider until now! Thank you for making me aware!

the picture shows the view on to the top of the Pergola from the higher roof level:

I know wisteria is apt to be invasive in warmer climes, but if it's in a pot it can't really go anywhere. Plus being potted will probably restrict it's growth generally. They can require pruning (boy, i've seen some big BIG old ones in hot san Jose, ca that harbor giant spiderwebs and look filthy and full of bugs And are practically creepy. But I would guess in new york it would be a long time before you had a monster- if ever- and pllenty of time to train it and keep it tidy.) A bonus is they have such cool gnarled wood out of season.

As for roses, I'd put a rose on an exposed western exposure and let it fill out a wall abd then over the top. You'll get a nice wall display at eye height. If your climate is cold, the viking queen, as suggested by Frances, might indeed be closest to your giant dream rose ideal in a cold climate.

I know you asked for flowers, but here's a different thot: Another cold season vine is kiwi! The male actinidia kolomitka is whitesplashed (they always show pink splashed -- but i never got any pink Before it died in my zone 3 cabin garden). If you plant a male and female you can have fruit.

Which actuallly makes me aleo think- what about an
Espaliered pear? Get a self fruitful kind, of course. And pears have lovely foliage. With fall color.

Because you will be importing soil, you will be able to choose what you have (instead of making do, like many of us, with belligerent clay or rubbishy stony sand. Have the biggest containers you can get - the bigger the 'pot' the easier it is to maintain moisture, allow for good rooting and can usually lay down a protective mulch between plants, especially when they are young.

My whole garden is a pot garden so I could ramble on at great (tedious) length. There are many roses which would look lovely on your pergola but I would continue to ask advice from local rose people but especially for roses which have an ability to withstand the particular visscitudes of root-top planting.

By the way, grasses, mostly architectural ones such as miscanthus, molinia, stipas, panicums and hakenochloa are your friends - they have style, grace and movement: tremendous plants for this sort of situation.