I just moved a Westerland rose to my new arbor coming into my garden...I LOVE it! Peachy/orangy pink! Nice scent too!

How about a New Dawn and clematis combination?

How lovely! My favorite combo is Aloha & her sport Dixieland Linda (also called Lady Ashe). Aloha is a blend of salmon, medium pink & terracotta & Linda blooms apricot, buff & pastel salmon. Both are identical in form & habit - lush double roses with powerfully rich fragrance & continuous clustered bloom from mid-Spring right through to hard freeze. They have healthy dark green plentiful foliage, pliable canes, grow 8-10' high by 6' wide & are rated to zone 5. In my lazy no-spray garden neither blackspots nor mildews. David Austin has used Aloha to breed many of his English roses. Dixieland Linda is part of the Biltmore collection under the name Lady Ashe.

Mine started as own-roots (in gallon pots) which do best in the icestorms we sometimes suffer in Winter, lack of snow cover & numerous freeze-thaw cycles. Three years old now, they're a lush 8'. I don't do anything to protect them over Winter besides leave the last blooms to become hips, put a light layer of fallen oak leaves under them & find little die-back here. They're not usually available at garden centers, so you will likely need to mailorder them (start with gallons or larger) or wait till early next Spring for bareroots.

I know you asked for a white climber, but the apricot of Linda pales as the bloom ages to tinted cream & reads antique white, especially in twilight & evening. Some bright white rose blooms age unbecomingly to pale sepia. Unless you're planning a very deep arch (more than 6'), two roses will do fine & be much easier to train over the arch.

I've planted potted roses whenever they're available & transplanted garden roses to new locations anytime the ground isn't frozen, even during heatwaves with no trouble, even in a previous zone 6 garden. Sounds like your composted soil will do well - if you grow good vegetables you'll grow good roses. Enjoy!

Here is a link that might be useful: both roses

Make your arch really wide or your roses thornless, as you don't want a main passageway to have sharp thorns reaching out to grab folks walking through.

I have just gotten Zephirine Drouhin rose which has few thorns, a lovely scent, and a rich pink color. It blooms most heavily in spring, but has some through the summer and a few more in the fall, though not as heavy as the spring flush. I also have what I think is New Dawn, but it grows rapidly and has wicked thorns, so wouldn't be good for an arch.

I like Ianna's idea of having a clematis (or several) weaving through your roses so that when the roses aren't blooming, perhaps the clematis will be.

I think the most important thing is to make sure you get a climbing rose that will do well in your climate, are there any public gardens you can visit to see if you like their roses? Do you plan on spraying fungicide and pesticides to keep them healthy, or do you want no-spray roses that will thrive without chemical intervention?

There are a huge number of pink and white climbing roses, many of which are fragrant and most of which will probably not thrive in your climate. I seriously recommend that you head over to the Rose Forum and ask for advice from the pros over there, give as much info as you can about your particular climate and you should get some good suggestions. Consider Old Garden Roses, because they tend to be more fragrant and can be hardier and more disease resistant than many modern introductions. Although there are modern roses also bread for health and vitality, which may be right for you. Pay close attention to mature size, some climbing roses are relatively restrained growers and other are often called 'house eaters' because they will eventually engulf an entire building.

This post was edited by peachymomo on Thu, Jun 13, 13 at 11:11

All so beautiful!

Do you all purchase your roses locally, or mail order? If you place online orders, any recommendations.

Good point about the arch....need it high and wide....

Taking vendor recs on that too!

I get mine mail order since climbing roses for me are sort of zone pushing, so most venders around here don't carry them. I use Brushwood Nursery since I am already getting clematis there. I prefer getting own root roses rather than grafted, so that is something to think about when choosing a vendor.

I usually order my bare roots from vendors who are as close to me as possible, Vintage Gardens is about half an hour away from my house so they have been my #1, but unfortunately they are closing and will stop taking orders June 30. I have also ordered from Rogue Valley Roses and Heirloom Roses, both of which are in Oregon. I have been happy with all of the band roses I received, they've all grown nicely. If you've never gotten a band rose before I warn you that they are small, cuttings are much smaller than bare-roots but given time they can outgrow and outperform their chimera cousins.

This Buff Beauty hybrid musk and it repeat blooms. It is supposed to be for up to USDA Zone 6a: to -23.3 ðC (-10 ðF)

It is very well mannered. I almost never need to prune it.

I only have one rose but it happens to be a thornless climber, Zephrine Droughn-I'm sure that's spelled wrong-but close enough for you to google it. It has a nice old rose scent-to me. I've heard it described as a raspberry scent but I don't get that. It is thornless & climbs nicely. I also like the new growth is rosy red.
Susan