Non alpines: other types of gardening: growing veg.etc for instance

[Alan_b]

Steve, they are still only small plants.  The most I could have hoped for was a cup-full and I went away on holiday just when I should have been covering them with some netting.  I'm happy to give them a few more years to get going.

[Lori S.]

I've been growing honeyberries for 13 years...Plants are very vigorous here in zone 4, and periodically, I need to severely cut them back to keep the size manageable. 

Yes, they get monstrous here too... when they first became available 10-15 years ago, they were claimed to be 3'x3' - ha!  The one we removed to install the tufa beds was 15' across and 9' high. 
Re. the comment about spring weather, this species is the first woody plant to leaf out in our yard, which gives them some interest here.

[Roma]

This rose has been growing here for nearly 30 years in what was my parents' garden and now my brother's.  It used to be tied to a large Norway spruce tree but my brother had it cut down a few years ago in case it blew down in a gale and hit his workshop (or his neighbour's house).  It is a climber but is growing as a shrub here.  It gets no care whatsoever but flowers beautifully every year.
Rosa 'Maigold'

[John85]

Roma
what about blackspot?

[Roma]

I didn't look closely, John but I do see some spots on the leaves in the closeup.  It can't get badly affected or I would have noticed. 

[arillady]

Roma that is a beautiful rose and allowing it to form a mound is a good idea. A good happy yellow.

[johnralphcarpenter]

It seems from some of the comments that some Forumists don't like roses. Fair enough, I don't like the thorns; but the sight of Rosa 'Paul's Himalayan Musk' romping up an old Damson tree takes some beating!

[Maggi Young]

It seems from some of the comments that some Forumists don't like roses. Fair enough, I don't like the thorns; but the sight of Rosa 'Paul's Himalayan Musk' romping up an old Damson tree takes some beating!

     ....yes, I think the "fashion" for gardens with a square of grass surrounded by an edging of hybrid tea roses or floribundas has  put a lot of us that kind of rose garden and those roses by extension!

Big shrub roses or showy climbers are another thing entirely in my book.
I've grown Maigold here and, until an extension was built next door,  our previous neighbour had a huge old Maigold that was at least forty years old to my knowledge - a magnificent plant, rambling along  boundary  and giving good cut flowers as well as being a picture in the garden.

( I have a fondness for yellow roses- had them in my wedding bouquet!  Which reminds me that I do know of  a very good  type called 'Glenfiddich' - strong growing and healthy).

[johnralphcarpenter]

( I have a fondness for yellow roses- had them in my wedding bouquet!  Which reminds me that I do know of  a very good hybrid tea type called 'Glenfiddich' - strong growing and healthy).

'Arthur Bell' is another good yellow, whilst we are on a whisky theme.

[John85]

Ralph
For a nice rambler without thorns you can try "Lykkefund"

[johnralphcarpenter]

( I have a fondness for yellow roses- had them in my wedding bouquet!  Which reminds me that I do know of  a very good  type called 'Glenfiddich' - strong growing and healthy).

Here are some good yellows (and near-yellows)

[johnralphcarpenter]

DO NOT PLANT THESE ROSES! unless you have masses of room. I seem to spend a disproportionate amount of time pruning these as compared to their all to brief flowering period. Beautiful thugs.

[John85]

I'd like some thugs that can cope with heavy competition and some shade.I intend to grow them in a wild hedge to make it more impenetrable,specially to deer.Some briars are already growing in it and several" American Pillar".I'd like something even more rambling and if possible cvs very easy from cuttings(A.P. is).
Space is not a problem but I don't intend to prune them.

[johnralphcarpenter]

I grew 'Wickwar' from a hardwood cutting. I had to cut it back very hard when it threatened to engulf the house.

[Lesley Cox]

When the rain stops or when the ground has thawed enough in the daytime, I've been out trying to dismantle the rose garden left by the previous owners. The plants have small, thin and spindly growth from enormous thick stumps and even if I wanted them there, they are really rubbish, poorly grown and maintained over many years and in most cases rubbish varieties anyway. So the intention is to remake and shape the large bed into an iris garden, ready for NZIS Convention in and around Dunedin in 2015. Yesterday I was almost torn to pieces as I chopped down plant after plant to try and measure and mark a new design for the area.

I have a lot of tall bearded irises potted and ready to plant out probably just after they flower in Oct-Dec but I have also bought - what's wrong with me? - a dozen new roses!! They should grow well with the irises and their colours will be complimentary. I didn't want a rose garden so why am I making this refurbished garden into a ....... rose garden?