I made a lovely trellis out of copper pipe (you can see nice examples on the Garden Accoutrements forum), but when the price of copper jumped I moved it to the back yard for fear it would be stolen.

Another trellis in my yard is a giant E of iron pipe set with the three poles in the ground; they were ten-foot lengths and now stand about 7 feet above the ground.I set padeyes into the inner edges and strung metal cable in a diamond pattern. This has worked well for climbing roses.

Or if you want an arched arbor, an inexpensive way to go is to get a few Cattle Panels from a local feed store; they cost about $18 each. A cattle panel is a 16-foot by four-foot section of welded heavy wire mesh. You can set a double row of metal snow-fence stakes in the ground at 3.5-foot intervals with about six or eight feet between the two rows, then arch the panel(s) between the rows. I built an inexpensive canoe storage hut (we call it the Longhouse) using about five such panels, with tarps over the top.

Does this help?

Lynn

Hi Lynn,
Thanks for your reply. My post wasn't clear. Sorry. I meant I want to vet what to grow on the trellis. Will pyracantha fruit enough on the north side? Can anyone recommend an old climbing rose with huge hips that would work in my area? Are there other suggestions for climbing plants that do double- and triple-duty? That's what I meant to ask, but obviously bungled the post.

OTOH, I find your metal pipe trellises intriguing, and am going to Garden Accoutrements to check them out. I had thought of simply wood -- pressure-treated or cedar, depending on cost -- and a simple design since it will be covered up quickly by the pyracantha.

Thanks,
Deepti

Deepti, the rugosas set nice hips, but those roses don't really climb or even sprawl very well - they tend to be upright and a bit stiff. I very much like 'Snowdwarf', which you can get from Pickering. It's got a nicer, rounder, more branched shape than many rugosa hybrids, plus shining white, semi-double flowers and round, cherry-red hips. Not a prolific repeat bloomer and not, to my recollection, all that fragrant.

Rosa glauca also sets nice, smaller hips, but the bluish foliage might clash with the orange pyracantha fruit!

Both pyracantha and roses require full sun -- particularly for heavy bloom and berry set. The north side of a structure is not typically a full (or even partial) sun site. Also, both climbing roses and pyracanthas get huge. The trellis you describe might be adequate for ONE plant -- certainly not "a few" pyracanthas plus a rose or two. Yikes.

Assuming your north facing wall is only in partial sun at best, I recommend either climbing hydrangea (hydrangea petiolaris) or cross vine (bignonia) both of which will perform very nicely in such a location.

Mary,
Your advice is dead on. Someone else knowledgeable said nearly exactly the same thing. I want to try pyracantha because of the winter berries. I really want something with winter color. The area does get a fair amount of direct sun, though clearly not as much as on a south side. I was thinking I would try pyracantha for a season or so, and if it doesn't berry well, I'd replace it with the hydrangea or something else.

The reason I thought of two pyracantha varieties (Mohave and something else) is to stimulate the berrying. I did wonder if 2 plants plus one rose might be too much, in which case I could drop one pyracantha.

Leslie, I was recommended Mme. Gregoire Staechelin and Autumn Sunset on the Antique Roses forum. They are not rugosas but may have more disease resistance. I looked up Snow Dwarf, and as you say, it's more of a shrub. I think a climber would be better, so maybe I have to move away from rugosas. Have you had any good experience with these or other climbers that don't defoliate?

Thanks!