Kiftsgate Rose - is it impossible to keep small?

[Catabogus]

I saw this fabulous rose covered in the most amazing rose hips in a botanic garden and fell in love with it. I really want it in the garden. But then I read about it online and was a bit put off by a review that said “if you plant this up the side of your garage on Friday, you won’t be able to get your car out by Monday”!! I was hoping to grow it up a fence or tree...

Can I really not prune it regularly to keep it small? The botanic garden one was small and neat (but I guess they have a team of gardeners which I, sadly, don’t).

We have the white Phillipe de Kiftsgate and absolutely love it. The rose hips bring plenty of birds in the autumn and the flowers smell gorgeous in the summer. We have let it scramble through the edge of woodland at the back of our house, so we never have to prune the bits on the other side of the fence. Within a couple of years it had found itself half way up a fully grown ash tree and it caused a 30 foot holly tree to collapse.
One year we were a bit lazy in pruning any tendrils that came over the fence and in one season it covered the greenhouse and out house.
Its thorns are evil, so it is painful to cut back if you let it go wild, however its also great as a barrier! Ain't no one going to get past it unscathed on a dark night.
I think they used to use it on castles to deter intruders.

Kiftsgate isn't the only rambler with clusters of small white flowers. I'd suggest almost any alternative that wasn't Rambling Rector.

My Kiftsgate is 4 trees away from where it started, and I'm losing the battle to stop it taking over my neighbour's barbecue area, so on my job list this winter is to crawl in under the holly hedge and saw it off at the base.

Isn’t Kiftsgate the one that will easily reach 20 feet? Probably better to get onto (say) the David Austin website to pick something else with lovely rosehips! Rosa glauca does, for example.

20ft - 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Actually, if it's hips you're after, try Rosa moyesii which has even more amazing hips - in fact it's usually grown for its hips rather than its flowers. It's also a rambler, but far less vigorous than Kiftsgate - I have it growing under the tree that Kiftsgate is going over the top of.
here

Rosa rugosa also has good hips, less glossy than R moyesii, but bigger, somewhere between gobstopper and golf ball. The flesh is appreciated by greenfinches.

Good advice - thank you everyone! I’m a bit devastated about the Kiftsgate (am getting a very strong sense it would be a BAD idea!) but will look up all the other recommendations. It’s the hips I fell in love with, especially the way they seemed to be arranged on the stems - sort of held up in like small red lights in bright circles (if that makes any sense). But moyesii sounds like it might be a good alternative.

I have Kiftsgate, I thought for years that it was Rambling Rector (came with the garden) but the flowers are slightly different. It is fairly big now but it is manageable with brave pruning.