Where in the country do you live (what state)? How big will the arbor be (height & width)? How important will it be that the canes be thornless (it matters if there will be much foot traffic nearby)? Do you want the roses to be fragrant? How important is it that the rose reblooms after the big burst of flowers most roses have in late spring/early summer?

(I know, I know. Lots of questions! However, your answering them will enormously improve the recommendations you get here! There's a world of difference between zone 5 in the Rockies and zone 5 in Maine or Massachusetts.)

I live in Michigan. The arbor will be about 10 foot high? (does it need to go higher?), continuous bloom would be nice but not a must.

Rayford Reddell once wrote that when he first became entranced by roses, he swore that he would grow no single roses, and NOT PINK roses.
As time went on, and he came to really know roses, he realized that many of the finest roses were Single. Or PINK.
Or Pink Singles.

:-)

I hope you find what you need, Donna, but you might have to reconsider that prohibition against pink.

Jeri

You must consider the hardiness in your area also. All but a few of the hardiest climbers will die back each winter and require severe pruning. The hardiest is a red Canadian Explorer Climber named Quadra. It stays green to the tip in my zone 5 winter in NW Indiana and grows quite large. It repeats bloom well all season after it gets established. Mine came of age its 3rd year. A nicer shaped bloom but not quite so hardy is Dublin Bay. I have to prune it back to about 3-4 feet each spring.
Ramblin Red is another red repeat blooming hardy rose from the man who brought us Knock Out. Like Dublin Bay, it experiences some dieback.
A very light pink, almost white in my yard is New Dawn, which is hardy and can get quite large.
In our growing zone big climbers are a rarity due to winter dieback. I grow some 30 plus climbing varieties but most require severe pruning each spring.
All those mentioned repeat best if deadheaded, which would be very difficult on a 10' arbor.

How about City of York, Blaze improved, or Alba Maxima? Alba Maxima and City of York are whites. Blaze is red. There's also White Dawn, which may get tall enough. Alba Maxima supposedly blooms on old wood, which would be great for a 10 ft arbor. I don't know how their repeat would be though. You can check out Pickering Nurseries for info. Also try Helpmefind.com/roses.

I forgot, there's always Westerland rose, which is an orange/pink. But, I don't know that it will cover the 10 ft because of winter dieback. But, I planted one this year and it threw out a very long cane of almost 10 ft! :) See it on helpmefind.com. Good repeat too.

I have City of York in a place where it's far too vigorous & once circumstances allow I'm replacing it with a more lax, smaller climber, but I'm talking about a 3' high fence!

City of York is lovely & disease-resistant (although I don't know about rust resistance), but it's quite vigorous. I've seen one in Rockport, MA (on the ocean, about an hour's drive northeast of me) that must be 15'+ long, trained along an arbor and fence. It only blooms in one burst in late spring/early summer, but it's lovely when it does so. The flowers are large & semi-double, and white. The fragrance is nice. The leaves are shiny & dark green.

However, the canes are viciously thorny. Here's a picture of one in a garden in Kansas City.

Alba Maxima is the original Alba rose. None of them bloom more than once a year. I used to grow Alba Semi-plena (the semi-double version of the same rose, also known as the White Rose of York, and since I'm a fan I adopted a version of that name as my GardenWeb name). I wouldn't recommend it for a 10' arbor. I think it makes a much better freestanding shrub. I'm also not sure it would dependably grow 10' high without a lot of annual fertilizing.

I think there are plenty of other roses that will work better for less work.

There are climbing roses (& roses that can be trained as climbers) in just about any height you're likely to want, from just a few feet high (& many feet long) to 25'+ high roses that will happily climb through (or smother) a small tree. If I was you I would decide first how large I wanted the arbor to be (you have to look at it even when the rose has no leaves or flowers, so it should be beautiful to your eyes all by itself and proper proportion is a significant part of beauty), and then look for a rose that will be an appropriate size for it.

Probably the two most common colors in roses are white & pink, so that's a potential issue (although there are plenty of white climbers). When you say "not pink", what sorts of "pink" are you thinking of? (For instance, does that include salmon pink, or apricot pink, or coral pink, or mother of pearl (yes, there is such a pink rose)?)

With roses there are TONS of ways to be pink!

Thank you for the great reply's. Those are some really nice pictures York rose, thank you for sharing.
I like the color of Dublin bay, and have to admit that Westerland ranks high on my list also despite the pink/orange color. Maybe there are to many choices(lol).

How important is the width of an arbor? I see that some roses get quite wide.

You can find roses that are narrowly upright and also many (probably many more) that will arch out and then sprawl. I still suggest you find a size that will architecturally suit the place you have in mind for the arbor, and then pick among your rose choices bearing in mind the size of the arbor.

Given that the most important factor in a climbing rose in zone 5 is cane hardiness, as is the second, third and fourth most important factor, it may be a lot easier to pick the rose, then pick the arbor to suit the rose.

BTW, both Dublin Bay and Westerland were total failures as climbers for me. At this point, if it isn't an Explorer, or a once-bloomer, the odds are so massively against it being a good climber, it's rarely worth trying.

There are other posts here that mention how good Westerland does and gets tall for others though, and they are in Eastern PA. I won't mention names either. Mine threw out a long cane in this first year of nearly 8 ft long! Very pliable too. So, in all due respect to mad gallica, it may not do good for your garden, but others find it does just fine.
I don't know about Dublin Bay so I can't comment on that one. I've heard great comments about Iceberg climbing rose also, in spite of some negative comments also.

You know, since the OP doesn't want PINK, how about 'Fourth Of July'???
I recall being told that FoJ has very good tolerance for cold.

Jeri

Fourth of July's tolerance for cold is limited. Mine requires pruning back to two feet or so each spring. It is crown hardy but not so cane hardy. For an arbor it would require a lot of work each spring removing the dead canes and starting over each year covering the arbor.
The arbor mine grows on is small and I don't mind the rose bush being small but it takes half the summer to cover the arbor. I don't think it'd work on a large arbor in zone 5 without a lot of winter protection and work.

Hi Donna,

I'm also in Michigan (northern MI) and I grow a number of climbers. Most of them need quite a bit of pruning back in the spring from winter damage (although wrapping in three layers of burlap definitely helps)
. Ramblin'Red, Dortmund and William Baffin get no protection at all and come through the winter with little or not dieback. Here's a picture of Dortmund trained on an arch at the Cleveland Botanic Garden. Mine's on a split rail fence, but I don't have a picture.
{{gwi:273943}}

Altissimo is another climbing red one encounters in these posts from time to time. Does it perform decently in Midwestern zone 5's?

My Altissimo died back quite a bit each year. It has thick stiff canes so I doubt it would make a good arbor rose. It'd do well as a pillar type.

I am in zone 5b/6a in northwest Missouri.
I have four climbers and they have been cane hardy for me so far.
New Dawn--White with pink blush and very tall and vigorous.
Roberta Bondar-Beautiful large medium yellow flowers that gets to about 10" tall and winters well.
Salita==Orange blend large pretty flowers also about 10" and has the most canes of all.
Harlekin-is a white with pink edge that is octopussy and about 12' tall but doesn't bloom yet as much as I like. The last three are going through the second winter. I wrap the canes to the bottom of the plant with several rounds of burlap for winter protection and that really helps save the canes.
John

Quadra is the only climbing rose that I know that fill fit your criteria. Most of the other Explorer roses are pink so they won't work. Most non-Explorers aren't hardy enough to cover a 10 foot arbor in Michigan. You might be a bit warmer than me especially if you get some lake effect, but Quadra will be absolutely reliable unlike most of the other suggestions. Westerland did not do well for me, it died back to the ground over the winter. It would have long canes, but without the winter hardiness it was too much work to retrain the canes every year and I was actually glad when it died of canker.

It looks that Quadra might increase my chance for success and since i am a beginner i might stick with that one for now(lol). Hopefully i can share some pictures with you all this coming year.

Thanks again for the many great replies!!

It took mine three years to reach it's full size and another one to bloom repeatedly as well as it should so don't expect much the first year. Now I can't keep it contained. It wants to grow all over the place.
Mine was a one year old own root plant. A grafted plant might do better the first year.