Florentina is a red climber but it can also be grown as a large free standing shrub. It might look good with Cloud 10. Sorry i have no experience with Cloud 10. If you want a large nearly thornless white climber for the rail try Mme Alfred Carriere. That one may climb up the roof if you let it.

Growing it up the stairs, lack of vicious prickles would be at the top of my list. I don't have any specific suggestions because I'm not as knowledgeable as the others but I think a rose would be lovely climbing up your stairs.

If "Ascot" would do well in your climate, I think if woulf be fabulous in front of the landing to hide the area as long as you didn't mind it blocking it. Diane's "Ascot" is to die for!

Diane, the way those yellow roses look with that white railing is just stunning. I'm really re-thinking my ideas on yellow!

Thank you for all the lovely comments! I absolutely love the yellow, though I do think it wouldn't pop as well without the white railing. The flowers are so beautiful and I love that it's always in bloom. I already have a red located in a different spot, so I'm thinking something different. The Ascot is absolutely beautiful! Does anyone know how well it would grow in my climate? They're both such good picks, I may need them both for next year...

I'm sure Ascot would be hardy there.

Hardiness is less an issue than blackspot resistance.

Rachael- I live in MA in the tristate state area. Most DA's do get black spot if you don't spray. A couple that have done well for me are 'Windermere' and 'Queen of Sweden'. These are virtually disease free and flower nicely. Windermere is creamy white and QOS is soft pink. I have a rescued 'Wedgewood Rose'. She flowered nicely and was pretty disease resistant and winter hardy but was eaten by a vole this past winter. I was able to save one small root cluster and she's growing again. 'Teasing Georgia' did well here but she was eaten by voles too! Darcy Busells was okay for disease resistance and is a deep pink red. Not a lot of fragrance but she does flower nicely. 'Heritage' is disease resistant for me and repeats okay. Pale pink roses that shatter quickly though. 'The Generous Gardener' was lost to voles too but was pretty disease resistant, nicely scented and flowered well. The roses are pale pink.

Easy Elegance has some nice roses but most have little to no fragrance if that is a must. 'Sweet Fragrance' has deep peach colored flowers that fade to a paler pink as they age. 'Yellow Submarine' is bright yellow and fades to soft yellow as the flowers age. 'My Girl' has cherry red blooms that stay red until the petals drop.

Julia Child is a nice yellow and has nice scent. She is pretty disease free for me. My own root Julia seems hardier and more disease resistant than the grafted one I have.

Have you considered Kordes roses? All of the ones I grow are very hardy and very disease resistant. They haven't hit their stride for flowering yet since all are own root and none are more than two years old. Are you looking to stay pastel or more bold colors? Kordes 'Dark Desire' is deep red with a hint of purple. 'Fiji' is cherry red pink. Their arbor series roses are highly recommended as short climbers. 'Florentina' is red, 'Tangerine Skies' is deep orange. 'Honeymoon' is cream and is completely cane hardy for me and flowers well considering she's only two years old own root which take a while to catch up to their grafted cousins. 'Quicksilver' is a lavender color. 'Kiss Me Kate' is pink and is listed as fragrant but new to the US this year so there's not a lot of feedback yet. 'Jasmina', which I don't grow, is a more vivid pink and fragrant. 'Zaide' is medium pink and fragrant. Both of mine came through winter well and have no black spot. Palatine from Canada has many grafted bare root Kordes roses available.

Are you going to paint your porch railings white? The roses would "pop" more against white as opposed to weathered wood.

Sharon