Thank you all for the info. Kate I have a 10 year old Buff Beauty engulfing my screened in porch on the back of the house. She is pretty thorny but lovely. Chirstopher I will check out the Zephy sports. So far I am thinking Zephy will be the one. I did some heavy pruning this morning. It is too soon to tell but I may have lost 4 roses to the harsh winter. If I wait to see what roses I have to replace to put in the order for the Zephy I fear it may be late to be sure I get one. I usually order from Heirloom roses. This is the first time I have feared the loss of any rose in my garden. I always get own root and don't zone push. It was wicked. We had snow coverage but there were so many days of below 10 degrees with high winds. Will check back for any late answers to the post.

I have a spot against the North side of the house that receives about 3 hours of morning sun. My clematis Hagley Hybrid has done well there. The only thing is it likely took a year or two more to really get thick and fill the trellis (it had the height but not the width for a few years). Now it grows just the right size each season to fill a small (four or five foot) trellis. I also have some type of small blue flowered one that has okay in even more shade (though not as good as the Hagley one). I did an internet search for "clematis shady area" and Nelly Moser clematis was also mentioned. Along the west side of my house, between my house and the neighbors, I have a dropmore scarlet honeysuckle vine that also tolerates a spot with only a few hours of mid day sun. It gets lots of shade from my house, then the neighbors house later in the day. If you like foliage there is also kiwi vine or virginia creeper. I moved an arctic beauty kiwi on the north side of the house last year and so far it seems to appreciate the protected site (last week's frost killed the leaves on the other kiwi in the yard, this one was protected by being against the house.) You sort of just have to experiment and see what does well there. If research says a vine can tolerate part shade, then I'd be inclined to give it a try. If it says full sun only (and you confirm this on a few websites), then maybe that one wouldn't be such a good candidate. Glen

Yes, but it won't in much shade :-) It needs summer heat (which we don't always receive) and is not self-fertile either, so needs a second variety to cross pollinate. While the fruit is a curiosity and certainly interesting, I'd not consider it a stellar menu item - unpleasant, gummy and pulpy texture with a slightly sweet taste. Think a combination of watered down tapioca and sweet, non-fishy caviar :-) Our display plant at the nursery, in a very exposed location, still has most of its foliage, although rather ratty looking at the moment. You didn't get hit with those two strong cold fronts we experienced this winter - one in November, the second just last month? We had temps in the teens (farenheit) in some areas here. I'm surprised you didn't experience something similar up north.

It is hard to tell from your picture how high that cute flower bed is off the ground. Do you want to plant the climbing rose at the bottom of the rock wall? How high is the wall? Does that area get any direct sun at any time of day, or is it dappled shade all the time? Also, where are you geographically ? (what part of what state?). The answers will help us make useful suggestions - different roses are happy in different conditions, and even grow to different sizes in different climates. Jackie