Beginner Gardening: Evergreen Vines Climbing Roses, 0 by Twincol

Twincol wrote:
Glynnes, I have New Dawn here. They are readily available in our nurseries. I can't imagine that it's not available online for you if you truly desire a New Dawn. Another rose which will take over your fence is the Mary ummmm Mary oh Mary What'sername (please, someone pls fill in the blank here). Both of these keep their leaves in Central California, but I doubt they'll do so in Kansas. Nevertheless, they are both good specimens for your purposes.

I went to a "Plants for Security" workshop at our local Ag Commissioner's office earlier this year and the best candidate to deter those who would enter your space was considered to be a rose, be it a creep-on-the-ground or a crawl-on-the-wall variety. And it didn't matter what time of year, BTW, because the thorns were considered the deterrent, of course. Another consideration was the height of any fence, which needs to be short enuf to keep your intruders visible, while keeping you screened some. The denser the plant the shorter the fence.

So, I did the following; planted a 3 1/2-foot metal wire fence (hog fencing) fence, then Star Jasmine. This surrounds the front of my corner-lot-home, with two wire arbors, one to be covered with a rose and clematis, the other with the ubiquitous Star Jasmine approaching it. Since I am on a corner with considerable foot and vehicle traffic I am less concerned about entry through my front yard than I am my back yard, which is how the last creeper got into the house in my absence, and I live in a neighborhood which is a potential security problem. What may or may not be evident in the attached photo is that the windows are fully visible, as a walker or driver on the street, above the little fence. I was primarily looking to provide some garden privacy, rather than house security, although I did not want to lose my corner lot security in the process, if that makes sense.

I would not have hesitated, though, would have planted, in a heartbeat, roses. And, were the neighborhood to change, could do so after killing-off the Jasmine. I don't think I'd hesitate to plant roses, even given Kansas winters, were the leaves to fall (oh my, did I say that?) come Fall/winter. The thorns remain even after the leaves fall. But, I don't live with your needs and certainly can't speak to what you need for either security or plant landscape or architecture.

Good luck with your project. Mine has been fun . . . will be fun, as you can see, it is still a work in progress and is likely to remain so for another year, LOL. Enjoy!

Linda