I'm looking for a freestanding rose that grows to about 6 feet. There are lots of climbers out there, but not a freestanding one. I've seen them before and they've been described in books as pillar roses. It's for my balcony. I live in an apartment and don't think my landlord will let me put up another lattice so I need something self supporting and thought a rose would be the inexpensive solution for now.
Pillar roses are those lending themselves to training on pillars. Many of these might splay open awkwardly if not supported. Look for those described as shrub or bush roses. Most kinds fall into such categories. For ease of care pay particular attention to assessments of disease resistance, focusing on those that are described as disease FREE. There will not be nearly as many of these as those which will require some spraying in order to remain unblemished.
A few names that come to mind are Ballerina, Fairy and I have a David Austin rose called Francine Austin that I've trained into a pillar rose because it seemed to grow that way anyways. All of these are small flowered growing in clusters arching out from the main stems.
You used two terms - "free standing" and "pillar". It really depends on what you envisage. A "free standing" rose has very loose connotations. If you are thinking of a 6 foot tall rose that does not need support, then, that's not the usual perception of a "pillar" rose. However, a standard or "tree rose" would fit the bill - partly. These are ornamental roses which have been grafted onto a tall stock with a straight, stout and long-lived stem. Most commercially grown standard roses are grafted on to stocks that produce a 36 inch (90 cm) stem, giving an overall height of 3-6 feet, depending on the height of the ornamental top growth. You could get someone to custom graft to a taller stem to get a taller rose. "Pillar" roses also have a somewhat loose definition. Most of us would envision a rose trained around a single tall post. It is a rose that is trained to have an upright shape, taller than it is wide, producing flowers through-out the column (not just at the top). To achieve uniform flowering through-out the column, the cane needs to be encouraged to produce lateral shoots. It is from these lateral shoots that flowers will be produced. The tip of a rose cane that grows straight up has apical dominance, suppressing the production of laterals. Therefore, if a rose cane is allowed to grow straight up, the flowers will be produced at the top of the cane, several feet up in the air - a less than desirable effect called the "candelabra" effect. To encourage uniform flowering along the height of the column, therefore, the cane needs to be trained slanting towards the horizontal line. With pillar roses, this is achieved by training the young cane to spiral up the post. This is important, because you will want to select varieties that not only will provide sufficient height, but also produce canes that remain pliable for long enough to make training easier. Those roses that has thick canes that stiffen up quickly will be difficult train. It is still possible to train roses with stiff canes, though. I do this with Altissimo by training the direction of the cane very early, when the cane is still very young and soft. But this needs to be done frequently - once every 2-3 days, which means a lot more effort and time commitment to train these varieties into a pillar forms. Another form of "free standing rose" may be a shrub rose that is pruned and trained into a more upright habit without additional support. Without the additional support, the canes invariable grow straight up, and then arch towards the top. Most of the shrub roses that I have grown this way have "naked knees" - i.e., the foliage and flowers are in the top half of the plant, the bottom being all bare stems. This may not be as aesthetically pleasing as a properly trained pillar rose. However, the lower bare stems can usually be hidden effectively behind companion plants grown in front of it. You may find this article useful. It gives lists of rose varieties that are suitable for training into pillars.
