and the cultivar 'Plainsmen' I could get

We live in zone 4 in northern Ontario and we always grew Red Latham. I don't know about next to the house. Once established they send up new canes every year and you have to break off the old canes. Do that just after they leaf out and wear protective clothing so the thorns don't get you. Planted next to the house they will crowd in close to the house and may damage it if you have siding and certainly stain it with their juice. And then there's the root system. Ours were in our vegetable garden and we moved them around the garden a few times. They always did well until we got too old to care for them

I found Latham is very protuctive / small but tasty...Purple Royalty could be nice for you if you don't like much acid...a little bland. Fallgold I got rid of and just keep Honeyqueen. The others I don't have so I can't comment, my best red is Killarney, Chief and Souris.

They don't need good soil...and if you're too old to prune out...no need to do that as long you can walk your lawn mower up and down the row and trim always close to the row..not letting the row go wide, it only needs a foot wide...this still gets air moving and light in... and maybe tie a couple of twines along the side so they don't flip over..eventually old canes will disintegrate on their own.

Thanks for the input! My uncle suggested Joan J. Has anyone grown this cultivar?

I'm not old. Just turned the big 30, in fact (I feel old lol). I've just started getting into landscape/gardening a few years ago. It's been fun and now I want a bigger yard