Zobe 5B where? It will help people help you. Different areas of 5B have better and worse choices.

Climbers in cold zones are usually not fast growers, but some do climb. I don't zigzag the canes so i can get more height, but that sacrifices blooms. If I tied them horizontally, they wouldn't get very high.

Out of 5 Edens, one grew fast to 10 - 12' and is still growing. It is next to a rain spout. The other 4 have taken years to reach 5'. They get plenty of water, but rain water is best.

Isabella Skinner (Victorian Memory) is 3 years old and has reached about 4'

Jeanne Lajoie is 6 to 8 years old and has finally reached the top of a very tall arbor this year.

Peggy Martin is as wide as she is tall, but looks like the 3 yr old will gain a lot of height.

Lunar Mist (very pale yellow) can get tall, and actually, pretty fast. Mine was eaten by voles.

There are the Canadians, John Davis, John Cabot, Wm. Baffin, Quadra (red). Quadra and John Cabot have been the fastest growers for me. Isabella Skinner belongs in this group.

New Dawn (very thorny)

Above and Beyond (apricot & cream). No experience with this one, but was recommended by Northland. Might be a once bloomer.

Bonny is my only really true climber. One plant covers both sides of an arbor. But, it is an old Kordes, once bloomer and no longer available unless a nursery would root one for you.

I wish Kiss Me Kate would get taller in cold zones. New for me, so not sure about height.

You can plant a tall clematis next to a climbing rose to extend the color higher. Clematis love cold climates.

Check some of the nurseries in areas with winter for recommendations. High Country Roses, Edmunds and Northland Rosarium are all happy to make suggestions.

If you don't mind a once blooming rose, there are more options.

It will help with recommendations from others here if you add your growing zone and part of the country you're in. Good luck and please share what you decide to plant.

John Cabot is great!

Flowersaremusic that's a great list, very helpful!! I'm making notes from it.

My next door neighbor has Above & Beyond, planted last fall as a 1ft tall plant in a gallon pot. It is currently 4 feet tall and 4 feet wide, nice flexible canes for weaving through a trellis, and although it is technically a once-bloomer, it started with a gorgeous flush in late May and still had some blooms on it day before yesterday when I was up there. So its one flush lasts a good long time.

In 5b it's going to be hard to find ones that will be cane hardy through your winters. I would stick with the Canadian Explorers series as your best chance to cover an arbor. Even in my zone 6 I have trouble getting climbers to get tall. I keep losing cane length to winter kill.

Zepherine Drouhin, 100% thornless with a raspberry scent that wafts 30 feet along. LONG BLOOMING (1 month) in spring, plus scattered blooms (3 or 4) for latter flush .. I don't water it, so if it gets watered it probably will give more blooms. Mine is in only 4 hours of sun, zone 5a. It's a spreading shrub, about 3 feet tall, and doesn't get 16 feet like James Galway (low-thorn). James is slender tall, versus Zeph. is spreading-vase. Crown Princess Mag (thorns spaced apart) gets wide and tall (5 feet wide and up to 10 feet tall). All bloom well in partial shade, 4 hours of sun. Zeph has the most blooms since it has less petals.

Crown princess Magareta in 4 hours of sun, gets 3 flushes a year with plenty of rain-water & fertilizer. James Galway is less generous in partial shade ... perhaps need more sun?

James Galway grows that tall for you, Straw? I've been thinking of having a friend order that for his shed.

Here's James Galway as 1st year own-root .. I had to stake it at 3 feet tall. Second year it shot up to 16 feet. Latter years I give it ONLY SULFATE OF POTASH to control the growth. It's a pillar-shaped rose (compact and vertically tall), versus MESSY Crown Princess Magareta. I would choose James for a vertical-climber, Zeph. Drouhin for dense & wide-spreading shield, Ezcellenz von Shubert for tall fountain shaped (4 feet bush), and Crown Princess Mag for a trellis (many uneven canes). James Galway would be best for a slender & tall arbor .. it has fantastic carnation scent which changes to old-rose when blooms age. Very low-thorn & cane hardy in my zone 5a.

Thank you for all of your comments and suggestions. I thought I did write I live in Syracuse,NY..zone 5B . Cold and snowy winters.

So between the William Baffin , Zepherine Drouhin, and John Cabot for An arbor 91 inches high and 24 in depth ...zone 5B Syracuse. I want something that will be easy, bloom and grow fast.

Straw, wow! Your own root James Galway sent up 16 ft canes! My own root JG is 2 years old and has only sent up 4 foot canes in soil that’s ph 7 and more on the sandy side. Yours is acidic clay right? Of course I don’t get much winter (gets below freezing just a few nights a year) so maybe it likes cold winters? It does have a great fragrance, not very strong for me, but very lovely.

El, of the three in your comment above, they are all easy to grow. Wm. Baffin has been at the end of my house for 20 years and I have done absolutely nothing for him, yet he is faithful with a big flush every spring and continues with a few blooms through summer. He's in almost complete shade. The blooms are nondescript. My John Cabot borders on red and has a fantastic spring bloom, then has blooms all season. Totally trouble free like W Baffin. Zepherine has a semi double bloom in a beautiful shade of pink, plus, no thorns, plus a strong fragrance.

You can't go wrong with these, but I think JCabot and ZDrouhin are the prettiest.

Are you familiar with Help Me Find? https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.2572&tab=1 You can look each of these up and see photos of how they're grown in gardens around the world.

You did put your zone in your comment. Sorry, I was being daft.

Straw, I had no idea James Galway would climb here. I love those blooms.

Stephanie: My clay is alkaline but with heavy rain. James Galway shot up to 16 feet growth on the HUGE BAG of Holly-Tone (has sulfur for growth plus NPK 4-3-4). Plus I topped James with high-nitrogen top-soil. It also gets lots of rain (next to the rain spout). But it was stingy that fall. Lesson learned. This year I use zero nitrogen on James Galway & brutally pruned it, and it stays 6 feet and blooms more.

Fertile clay does make roses taller. Cantigny park (with alkaline clay) had taller roses than Chicago Botanical Garden (loamy soil). John Cabot is a 5 feet tall shrub in early summer at Chicago Botanical Garden (zone 5b) and NOT a climber. John Cabot has prettier bush shape & prettier blooms than Zeph. Drouhin ... Zeph can't climb in my zone 5a garden, but Zeph has the best wafting scent.

El your snow cover will probably be helpful to you. I have very few roses here that have much surviving cane at all, but we do not have reliable snow cover here throughout the winter. I do grow Above and Beyond, it's probably one of the hardier ones I grow, I've had it several years now and it is re blooming better for me. I do not have William Baffin but I should, also Quadra is a tough red that would probably get large for you. I've had Mel's Heritage for 2 years now and it is making it's way up my arbor, started as a very small band. Being honest, I've bought lots of roses and very few are arbor size - I think snow would be helpful though, but it's an experiment for sure.

Could we see a picture of the arbor? Some just aren't big enough, or sturdy enough for a climbing rose.

My suspicion is that Quadra or John Cabot will eat it alive. Captain Samuel Holland is a more reasonable size, and may fit better.

I cannot emphasize enough that for a repeat blooming, disease resistant, hardy climber, you are looking at one of the Explorer roses.