Hi Caroll, this is from Carol! :) I'm surprised Molineux had come back for you (even protected against the house). Had it lost any vigor? Mine survived in a raised area over one winter, but it was obviously not suited to its environemnt. It only regained two canes and had one flower. On the other hand, these should do very well for you. 1. Brother Cadfael - great if you have dry summers (you probably don't). It got tons of buds which were beautiful and large. The bush got up to 3 1/2 feet for me. It was quite floriferous!!! Only problem was that it balled quite a bit in the 3 summers before I moved. We had 3 years of tons of rain. With protection and in an exposed area it had about 1 1/2 feet of green cane for me. Although, under your eaves, it probably wouldn't get too much rain. In that case this would be a fantastic rose for you to get!! Can't remember if there's fragrance. I think there was. This is a great rose! 2. L.D Braithwaite - wonderful fragrance. Gorgeous flowers. Tons of flowers. Same area as Brother Cadfael. This one doesn't ball. The blooms last FOREVER. Get this rose!! My fav. 3. Eglantyne - very hardy - can't say much about it because I planted it in the fall, then it overwintered (really well) and then we moved. 4. Golden Celebration - my only rose to get a little bit of BS. But I love this rose!!! I bought it again for this house because the shape of the plant is arching - great for pots which I'm now using. Gorgeous flower, scent. Lots of blooms. Wow!! About 1/2 foot of green cane in an exposed area, but winter protected. 5. Mary Rose got about 6" of live cane - but very exposed area - planted in a huge raised bed right against the wall. It didn't get many flowers. I think it needed more time and a better location. 6. A Shropshire Lad. - survived its first winter with about 2 1/2 inches of live cane. Didn't even get to see a flower since we moved. But it did get large. 7. Abraham Darby - progressively got smaller and smaller after every winter until it didn't come back. But heavenly scent and gorgeous roses!!! But IMHO, if Molineux has good vigor for you, year after year - then you could try any Austin. Good luck!! I love pushing the zones too! Carol

karmahappytoes, My plants were all grown from small cuttings from the previous fall. I've stuck the rooted cuttings in the ground in the spring and go from there. They aren't old plants at all, just rooted cuttings. I do take cuttings each fall just in case I have some that don't come back. This will be the fourth winter in the ground for some of them. Tonight will be our first hard freeze and I cut all my brugs down today, and only saved two large plants to overwinter in a bucket of water. My greenhouse is bursting at the seams and I didn't have room to bring them all in, but I do have quite a few brugs in pots. Hopefully the plants in the ground will all come back from the roots. I'm sure if I will take the time to cover the stumps and mulch them well, they will all come back next spring. I might need to add that I have very sandy, well drained soil, so that might be a factor why the majority of mine come back with no added mulch. :-)

A wide range of large flowered type 3 (hard prune) clematis will thrive in zone 3, they will winter very successfully if placed near to the foundation of one's home, but can also be grown in the open garden setting, just be sure to plant the stems down about three inches deep and in a location that receives consistent snow cover. The non climbing integrifolia types on the other hand are extra cold hardy and will laugh at anything a zone 2 or 3 winter can throw at them!

Nice looking plant Konrad. Sorry it died. I have a Prunus armeniaca var. mandshurica seedling from fruit collected at Olds College in Olds Alberta in 1980 or 81. I started out with 5 or 6 plants but ended up with one survivor. That tree is now about 12 ft tall and partially healthy as it is in a very tough growing area. We have had one batch of fruit enough for jam once. The problem is 3 fold. Early bloom is always an issue since the blossoms can get frozen so easily. The second issue for me is no pollinator nearby. I have an acquaintance in Saskatoon who has a relatively young tree which has given fruit but she has the same problem and we intended to trade blooming branches last spring but did not get it done. I would like to graft from her tree onto mine with one branch and see how that might help. The fruit was of good flavour especially for jam. A little tart and quite unlike the commercials. If you can provide somewhat of a micro climate any of the ones out of the more Northern Nurseries should work. They do take time to get to producing age and you should have 2 for best fruit set. I suspect some kind of early insect control would help as they are so early but the bugs are still there!