My RDV did. It didn't bloom much at all last year, I moved it and it was covered this spring. Also, it's getting huge!

Sorry for the lousy pic
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My biggest surprise was that my potted roses grew so well this year. I never grew roses in pots before, so was rather skeptical about the whole ordeal, but they did fine.

Another surprise was that after reading all the horror stories about the bourbons I was expecting them to get all sorts of diseases, but so far they are cleaner than clean in my not sprayed garden.

I also was surprised my the fragrance of Alnwick castle - I got it as replacement for Heritage, which nursery run out of stock and so far it seems that is was very fair trade off.

Other positive surprises came from more modern roses, Our Molly (Bright Eyes) that I got to stretch my order to 10 plants, turned out to be a very lovely rose, blooms pretty much continuously here. Another one is Euphoria, I bought it last year from the local nursery not giving much thought to it (hubby liked the flowers), almost murdered it forgetting to water (as in completely dry leaves and soil gaping away from the pot wall by an inch). It recovered and grew a lot, blooms pretty much continuously too.

I also had a few not so nice surprises, MAC mildewing horribly, a few roses being a bit of a disappointment compared to the pictures, the fact that I can't detect alba fragrance it seems.

Also guess who is black spot queen in my garden at the moment? New Dawn! I grew that rose for about 15 years (not same plant, but I had one in my old garden) and never saw it get so much of it. The only difference was that I actually fertilized it this year - next year she is going back on diet! :D

We've had the worst winter since 1986 and the driest and hottest spring and summer since 1996. Everything above the snow level froze and five climbers died. The biggest surprise has been that my few modern roses have done so well, Rose Gaujard, Elina, Sutter's Gold, Princesse, and all floribundas except Iceberg. My round boxedged planting of floribundas in white, lemon, amber and pink in separate segments finally looked like I'd planned and hoped, like a fruit tart. I will buy more smaller moderns in future, in the hope that we'll get as much snow in coming winters.

My biggest surprise was like Elemire's -- how well a rose did in a pot. Cramoisi Superieur in the ground for 3 years has been a mildew disaster. Gave up last winter and installed it in a pot, contemplating its eventual deportation and exile. The result: barely a speck of mildew (in a bad mildew year) and wave after wave of beautiful flowers. Well! I hope the other roses don't get any ideas ;-).

I share Elmire's surprise at how well my Bourbons are doing. For some reason I thought they wouldn't like my hot, dry climate but they seem to be eating it up. I have the small varieties, which all seem to be very good rebloomers.

Mme. Lambard so far has surprised me by refusing to grow without any reason that I can discern. I did replant her when she was still a band but she should have gotten over the sulks by now.

Ingrid

Mrs. Dudley Cross has surprised me this year with the amount of growth she has put on! I also have a Crepuscule and an Abraham Darby, all three the same young age, but MDC is twice as big as those other two.

My (modern) Playboy died. It was a complete surprise. I was out of town, and DH said he had died - I didn't believe it until I came home and sure enough - dead. He looked like he just dried up. What is surprising is he was the only rose in that particular bed (with probably 30 other roses) that died - so he got the same amount of watering. A mystery.

The other surprise has been how drought resistant my roses are. We have had very little rain this year, and I water very sparingly as we get water from a well. But the roses are still blooming and growing, (except Playboy) even more so than my other so-called 'drought resistant' plants. My lavender, lamb's ears, even sedum are all crying out for water, but my roses are still going strong.

Lastly, I am surprised that I can look out my window and still see blooms on my roses. For the last 10 days, we have had 100+ degree days. I would have thought my roses would not be blooming at all. And, they are not blooming as much, but they are still producing blooms, which really surprises me. I love roses!

Alchemist and Maman Cochet cl., Neither have really bloomed yet, but they are throwing up HUGE canes. Craziness! I can't wait to see what they look like next year.

That and La Reine is the most beautiful rose ever. I can't stand how much I love it.

My best surprise was that R. moschata survived being moved. I had it badly placed. After years of hacking it back so it wouldn't grow into the roof, I decided to put it where it had room to grow into its natural shape and size. It's a wonderful rose, very fragrant. Technically it is a once bloomer, but its bloom period lasts about four months here, making it one of my most florifeorus roses.

Moving it meant cutting it back brutally, to about 10% of its original size, top and bottom. I was so worried about it surviving this procedure that I bought a backup band from Vintage in case it died, which I thought very likely. Well, not only did it survive, but it is growing happily in its new location. As soon as it makes it through a whole year successfully, I'll be looking for someone who needs the backup plant, now growing in a gallon pot.

Rosefolly

My biggest surprise is the once bloomers that are blooming right now. That's how cold it's been this summer.

"Dr Peck's ...Avenue Smoothie" is blooming, so is a Damask (not perpetual) and a prospect for Maheca. I just found a climbing seedling blooming under my Koster roses, a dwarfish double white that looks just like a Koster. My VID Dortmund is blooming as if it were spring. Mme Cornelissen is blush pink. It was 63 inside the house this afternoon.

My Gruss an Aachens (Pink and original) have surprised me by getting bigger and bushier this year. I had really given up hope. The one in the ground is probably an honest 2'x2'. Three in pots (prepared to be given away) are doing well, too.

Mary Guthrie, an Alister Clarke rose, doesn't have the BS she had last year. She's reported to be disease resistant, but last year led me to believe not in humid climates. She's doing well this year, and her cheerful bold pink single flowers really surprised me recently.

I, too, am surprised by Souv de la Malmaison. She's a beautiful, healthy bush(es) in my garden, pumping out her large pink flowers like crazy. Fat summer flowers and green unspotted leaves - what a surprise!

Baronne Prevost is surprising me with no flowers since the spring flush. She's not yet one year in the ground so maybe this is par for the course. Maybe she'll bloom in the fall.

Another HP, Mme Scipion Cochet, is surprisingly disease-free and floriferous. I've decided to put her in the ground and not give her away. I hope she doesn't surprise me next year by being huge!

Speaking of which, lots of roses are surprising me with their 3rd year sizes. Some would say I shouldn't be surprised. :((

Sherry

Yes I thought my 8 year old Zephrine Drougnin never made it through -30C winter nights because of an intentional lack of protection as i move to hardy roses (1st winter I did not protect)... cut it down to the ground. and panted a Finnish Rhododendron near it. Never saw a peep all through to July and forgot about it. Today it has 5 canes each 6 inches to about foot high. Amazing ... must make an effort to protect it this winter for sentimental reasons.