Thanks, everyone, for your input. I've made a decision (although knowing me, I'll probably change my mind several times before I buy anything!) For the ugly fence, and to eventually ramble up into the Indian Bean trees I'm going with "Bobbie James", really pretty pink flowers - which I think will look gorgeous peeping through the massive lime coloured leaves plus I think the lighter colour will sing out of the shade - strong scent and lots of hips in autumn. For an arch that leads up to those trees, and towards the 'business' end of the garden (the compost heaps, nature corner, the pond in a bath when we get round to it) I'm trying one called Crimson Glory, again loads of scent. Little bit of personal info, I've had sinus/nose issues since I was a kid but I've got an incredible sense of smell, so good scents are really important to me. And if I'm spending time in that part of the garden, turning the compost and looking after the pond then I want to be bathed in glorious smells while I'm doing it!
It's knowing what to do with things that counts - Robert Frost
Large rambler + good fragrance + shade tolerant + some repeat is a big ask, but Albéric Barbier is the closest I can think of, but only light fragrance. I had it briefly, it did repeat for me, but it didn’t like my hot climate.
I was looking at this recently as a possibility for my pergola. Any other views on this @Nollie , health, growth, size etc ? Owd.
@owd potter, it seemed vigorous, very healthy foliage and with flexible canes as you would expect, plus generous of bloom even in such a young plant. The early blooms were a really pretty ruffled style with hints of lemon yellow but later ones were pure white and browned quickly in heat. That was possibly my climate though, so better to have a report from someone in the UK if you can get it!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
One of my neighbourhood neighbours has AB, @owd potter. Hers is huge and vigorous, but she has it on a fence. She's taking it out because it's too big for the space it's in- she has it looping back and forth across a couple of fence panels in the bottom corner of her garden. I don't think it repeats much either.
I had Mme Alfred Carriere once which I really loved, flowered really well and was fragrant but too vigorous for the spot I had it in. Numerous long thin canes all the time which I had thought I would be able to manage on a high raised sleeper bed in front of a wired 4-5ft wall, plus 6ft fence on top of the wall but in the end couldn't. Didn't help that I'm under 5ft!
I did know that it can easily get to 20ft tall but thought I could keep it shorter - wrong!
@Lizzie27Mme Alfred Carriere is one i'm considering too, seems to tick a lot of boxes, strong fragrance, repeat blooming, healthy, pliable stems easy to train and good for shade, but I do wonder if it would be too big or too vigorous for my purposes. I want it over a pergola that is now around 15m long in total. Can I translate a height of 20' into 20ft growth horizontally? How long did it take to grow to the point of being out of hand?
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Any other views on this @Nollie , health, growth, size etc ?
Owd.
I'm shortlisting contenders atm.
I did know that it can easily get to 20ft tall but thought I could keep it shorter - wrong!
I want it over a pergola that is now around 15m long in total.
Can I translate a height of 20' into 20ft growth horizontally?
How long did it take to grow to the point of being out of hand?