Floridarosez, how old is your Maitland White? A lot of my teas/chinas grew out before they grew up for at least the first year (and more) and stayed very low to the ground. For example, Le Vesuve, Enchantress, Souv de Francois Gaulain literally laid on the ground for a year and the year after only reached a foot (or less) in height with older canes still on the ground. Mrs B R Cant was also this way - and Gen Gallieni was really bad about this. I haven't grown MW so I don't know for sure, but I was always propping them up with bamboo stakes or a big piece of bark to get them off the ground. And forget about them being able to support a flower in the air. Bermuda's Anna Olivier is finally 4' tall in her 4th spring but she's been 6' across for 2 years. If yours is older than that, I have no clue. Sherry Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

Donna, as mostly a lurker I can see from your posts that you are a knowledgeable gardener. You know in your heart what you must do to solve the problem. Plants just grow so big in warm climates. Below is a link on the types of climbers by Steve Jones, current president of the American Rose Society. You might wish to pay particular attention to the LCI classification. On my arbor I use Aloha, but I've also grown America and 4th of July. Pick your poison as they say. Here is a link that might be useful: Climbing roses

If you have a bank where errosion could easily happen, then the groundcover roses that root-as-they-go are the only ones that will both hug the ground and prevent errosion. The 'Green Snake' and the 'Fairy' roses are two cultivars that root as they go. The 'Fairy' cultivar is a continuous bloomer that is extreemly hardy for fast draining surfaces like encountered on sharp slopes. If you plant these or other root-as-they-go varieties on your bank, also plant a quick cover low growing groundcover that is not invasive, because the groundcover roses mentioned above can take up to three growing seasons to fill-in thick enough to prevent errosion and shade out weeds. Do not plant groundcover roses on your bank that do not root everywhere their cains touch the ground. Those groundcover roses that do not root-as-they-go should only be used on level grades that are not prone to errosion or saturation slump. Depending on how long your the bank is, decide how many bushes that you ultimatly need. I would then plant just 1/8 or 1/4 that number of the total needed rose shrubs. Then all the runners each plant sends out that touches the ground and roots can be dug up and cut from the parent bush. Then,immediatly plant the dug up sprouting new growth in a location of the bank that is well away from the original. Following the process that I described, in my opinion, is better than purchasing and planting at the very beginnig the total number of rose bushes, which you will ultimately need to cover the entire area. Save money and yourself from more problems by following the above described method suggestion. This method also avoids pushing the spreading process to the point were too many plants are spreading too much and overgrowing the desired area way sooner than desired. Remember, that with any ground cover, once the desired area is covered, the spreaders must then be thereafter always prevented from spreading into undesired areas. The good thing about the 'Green Snake' and the 'Fairy' groundcover type cultivars is that they do not spread under and above ground like bermuda grass grass spreads. This type of groundcover rose,is easier to simply keep pruned back as the surface spreading cains try to grow and root beyond the desired boundries. I have a overflow ditch between the front of half my lot and a city steet. I planted 'Fairy' groundcover roses on both banks, because it will be easy for me to cut away all cains that try to grow onto the street or to grow into my property. As long as I get to the cains before their ends touch the ground long enough to root, that task should not be any more work than it takes to weed away the grass that grows along walls and fences where the mower will not reach. In the winter, the roses will drop their leaves, but the cains should remain to buffer winds from blowing surface top soil away. At every ground contact point the roots still hold the soil and prevent melting snow, which saturates or flows down the slope, from eroding the bank.

Thanks Mary4b, You're right the yellow foliage is a dogwood. Cornus alternifolia 'Bachone' (Trade name "Gold Bullion"). If you like hemlock foliage but don't want the size, there are a ton of dwarf hemlocks out there 'Jeddeloh', 'Cole's Prostrate', 'Betty Rose', 'Jervis' just to name a few. Thanks Hostafamily. The "grassy-looking" plant is Sagina sublata (Irish Moss). I planted in a different spot and it "seeded" itself into this spot. I kind of like it so I'm hoping to encourage it to grow here. Hi Connie, Thanks for the compliments. My latest garden project was moving a little over 2 tons of weathered limestone outcroppings to make a new conifer island bed. I ended up using all different colored Spruces in it. As far as hostas go, my goal for the season is to do some crosses with the streaked hostas that I have so that I have some seeds to grow this winter. I grew a bunch this winter and really enjoyed it. Here are a few of the seedlings I grew this past winter. Thanks, Dan