Think about the Brownell rose, 'Golden Glow.' It's one of the "Sub-Zero" series.
I'd be sort of worried about some of the others. You're right on the cusp, climate-zone-wise.

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful: Golden Glow at HelpMeFind

I have and love Roberta Bondar. Got it from Pickering or Hortico, cant remember which, but it grows and blooms well and I really like it.
Judith

I don't know how badly most climbers die-back in zone 6 over winter so I was wondering how you intended to winter protect the climber to avoid having to start out with a climber winter killed to 3 feet or however far back they die every year. Graham Thomas with protection and frequent summer pruning has been good for me but I think Golden Wings would be super for a potager garden.

I like Autumn Sunset which is a yellow blend.
Blooms like crazy, will cover the arbor quickly and fragrance to die for.
If the Austins do well in your zone Teasing Georgia gets big and might also fir the bill.

Well, I wish I had the problem of selecting a yellow climber for an arbor. Here in MN zone 4a, my good yellow climbers grow as pillars (at best).

For interesting bloom form, I like Roberta Bodnar and Brownell's Golden Arctic. An artist who lives down the street and spends hours photographing my roses claims Roberta Bodnar is the perfect rose form. I think she is nice. but I also am partial to the very full "old fashioned" form of GA.

You might get more color from a rose like Autumn Sunset, but the individual blooms are not as interesting as the larger flowered climbers.

Regards,

Charles

The old Kordes yellow climber Leverkusen from the '50s is very hardy and is well worth a look.

Ruth

We grow Lemon Meringue--very vigorous and lots of blooms. Ours came from Pickering. For winter protection, we have planted it near our furnace chimney, which is at least a zone warmer than the rest of the yard. The colder it gets the harder our funace works.

Hi Marcy,

When you say you want a rose that will cover your arbour entrance, I assume you mean a rose that will more or less, permanently cover the arbour and smother it in blooms like you see in all those magazines and catalogues. I also assume you would like the rose to repeat bloom.

Although I don't know the height of your arbour, to accomplish what I mentioned, you will typically need a rose that is guaranteed to be cane hardy in your zone and also one that has above average vigour to produce lots of growth. Unfortuately, for cold zoners- and zone 6a is still cold and can be quite variable- the colour yellow is not the easiest choice to make recommendations that meet this criteria. However, there are a few suitable choices.

This said, before I list some yellows, you did ask about the 'perfect rose' to cover your arbour and one that may also look nice interplanted with clematis. Usually, my first recommendation for the perfect rose to cover an arbour is New Dawn, or it's many more petalled sport, Awakening. In all but your harshest winters, New Dawn should be almost entirely cane hardy for you and if it does die back, it is so darn vigorous that it will easily regrow what cane it may have lost. It takes a good 3 years to repeat heavily and consistently, but once established it flowers prolifically and also has the great advantage of being almost bullet-proof in terms of disease resistance. The canes are also quite plaible when young and easy to train on a support, but be warned that they are wickedly thorny.

So, if you want a rose that will smother your arbour and likely over it in two years; that will also be cane hardy, disease resistant and flower prolifically and be very maintenance free, well, then you'd be hard pressed to better New Dawn in your zone. If you want a reddish rose, I'd suggest the Explorer rose, Quadra, for all the same reasons as New Dawn.

As for yellows that will also work, but will take longer to cover your arbour, there are precious few that will do this adequately in your zone on a consistent basis. The list of 3 below, are the only repeat blooming yellows that I can think of off the top of my head, that could be trained on an arbour and that will be reliably cane hardy in your zone:

Leverkusen- the best true, hardy yellow climber. A very beautiful and charming rose. Will take at least 3 years to cover your arbour. It is also very thorny, but is very disease resistant and low care.

Goldstern- Can be used as a climber if trained well, but grows more like a large arching shrub. Flowers very well, but is more prone to disease, particularly BS than Leverkusen. Is very cane hardy, particularly for a yellow.

Lichtkonigin Lucia- Probably the best overall repeat flowering and hardy yellow rose that few people grow. The translation from German to English means "Queen of Light", I believe. Again, this rose wants to be a large shrub, but it can easily be trained as a climber, although it would take a number of years to cover an arbour. This one is arguably a better and more consistent bloom producer than Leverkusen and Goldstern, but it is not quite as hardy as either of those two. Disease resistance is also very good.

The list of yellows or yellow blends below, are likely not reliably hardy in your zone, but may work well for you pending microclimate of your planting area and severity of your winters. However, I believe in most years you will find that you will need to prune most of these back significantly, which means they need to start all over again each spring and will not give you the look you are striving for.

Graham Thomas
Teasing Georgia
Autumn Sunset
Lemon Meringue

Good luck in your search.

Thanks to everyone for sharing your expertise. Jerijen was my brain and reminded me of Brownell roses of which I have several. In fact, I have to laugh about them, because when you check the size of Brownell's 'Nearly Wild' I believe it will tell you it is a 3 x 4 size. Mine are about 6 x 8 and cover some two-ton boulders on my property line. So I will defintely check out 'Golden Arctic'.

I also have another favorite climber, Heirloom's Cl. James Galway which has almost no cane die-back after winter and is now well over 10 feet. And it's almost thornless!!

I have always believed if the thorns deter you, then you're not a true rosarian. Well, maybe Queen Elizabeth.....what a monster she "WAS".

Morden Man, if I can take Brownell's Nearly Wild thorns, surely I can handle New Dawn? I'm considering it.

Well, I'm off to check out Golden Wings, Roberta Bodnar and Queen of Light. You guys rock. Thanks.

Marcy