Next to my stairs I have this 12" round hole in the concrete sidewalk/driveway where currently there's a climbing rose. The stairs and front porch have a typical white wrought iron railing all around that I attach the canes to as they get longer. Mild winters in the Chicago area the long canes all survive and it does look nice up the iron railing. But during a harsher winter, or with more snow than usual, all the canes die off to the ground, so it's like starting all over every year lately.

I've read of people bending the canes over in severe winter zones and covering them with thick mulch or even dirt, but that's just not possible to do in this position. So after starting once again with new growth only this spring, I'm ready to replace it with something else. I would like something that flowers through most of the season into fall, attract birds and butterflies would be a huge plus as well.

I've been looking at Major Wheeler's Honeysuckle as one choice. I've got an old trumpet vine on the back fence that I've considered moving a new shoot to this hole. Inspite of killing off the main trunk, new runners still keep coming up that I continually kill all summer, but I don't really want that there, I know runners will start coming up in the lawn areas, including my neighbor's lawn, that will create another constant war zone for me each season. I've considered Clematis also, but I'm worried about it again dying off each year and starting with new growth every spring. Unless there's a very hard variety with a long bloom time for Zone 5.

Any other suggestions or advice? I'm even ready to plant morning glories or cardinal flowers or moonflowers there, at least it would be full each summer. I only rent the house, and the owner is fine with whatever I do with the garden, including this rose.

I think your small planting area surrounded by concrete will not give good growing results, it just looks way to small. How about putting a large pot there with annual climbing vines in it they might give you seasonal color if the area doesn't get too hot.

I've thought of that as well, I could probably fit a 20" dia. pot there without it being in the way. But in the past, I've had canes reaching 8'-10' that would do great all summer and keep flowering all summer into fall.

I've never dug it up, but my guess is that there's no bottom to the hole, the dirt connects to the lawns on both sides of the driveway. Otherwise I can't see it doing as well as it has in the past if there was a bottom to it with such limited space. And it definitely gets enough sun to keep it blooming all summer from the west. It's just when we're hit with more severe winters is when the canes all die off.

I have a John Cabot Canadian explorer rose that is very hardy, it is not really a climber but the canes get very tall (10 ft) it has plenty of thorns. I also am growing a Major Wheeler honeysuckle vine which gets tall, it does bloom from spring until frost. My growing conditions are open areas with plenty of ground space allowing the soil as much air and water as needed.

Since you already have cracks in the concrete, you might think about getting a cement saw and cutting a larger planting area.

I'm too new here to post links, but if you go to heirloom roses, look under characteristics, and filter for "pots." Those are the roses that can handle small spaces.

I haven't grown it, I'm still in the research phase, but it is my understanding that ghost honeysuckle stays small and manageable. Again, couldn't add the link, but if you google it, you'll find it.

I was looking for info from an old post and ran into this one and thought I'd post an update. I did end up planting a Major Wheeler's Honeysuckle in that spot that I ordered online from White Flower Farm. I was very impressed with the quality of the plant, vines were 3' and it was in bloom, packed very well to avoid any damage or drying out.

I planted it mid-May 2019 and it has been performing beautifully in that awful cement hole. I did not enlarge the hole at all, just swapped as much soil out that I could with Miracle-Gro Tree & Shrub Soil, poked 3 stakes into the hole to form a teepee shape so the vines could attach to something until they could reach the higher wrought iron. Care is minimal... I trim off any dead parts in spring, which might be just a few ends here and there, and a few stragglers so it doesn't stick out too far at the bottom, give it water no more than once a week only if there hasn't been any rain, and give it 1 cup of Espoma Plant-Tone once a year in spring. Hummers keep coming back for it each year as well, so that alone makes me happy with the choice.