Want to trade houses, Jeanne? Only about 15% of my lot is open and sunny. The rest is covered with structures (garage, house, driveway, patio) or shaded. It's one reason why most of my roses live in pots - they can be on the sunny driveway. Yes, I have thought about tearing up the cement and making it a rose garden, but some day someone (maybe even me) may want to park the car in the garage and that would be hard with a rose garden in the way. Hydangeas, camellias, callas, azaleas, ferns, cyclamen, gardenias (they like part shade here), jasmine, impatiens, ivy. That's my world. I like shade, but a little sun would be nice.

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.

Yeah, I tend to agree. Go for another type of climber that will genuinely enjoy the situation. I reckon you'd get more satisfaction from that than from a rose that wouldn't be quite happy. The contrast could set the roses off too. Star jasmine as suggested by Meryl, would be good.