I planted two of that variety about 18 years ago and both are gone now. The first one went within the first 7 years and the last one declined over a longer period of time finally falling about two years ago. I live within 1/2 mile of the ocean, which I think is probably what did them in. They were easily trained into trees by cutting back the "weeping" foliage, but it was a constant chore to keep them upright. One of the best things about the them was that they afforded me the opportunity to observe a woodpecker up close quite a few times. The pattern of holes they made on the trunk and limbs was one of the most beautiful things I have seen. It really pained me to stuff those into my woodstove.

In my experience, definitely "yes". Have grown over a dozen different Veronica spicata, V. longifolia and hybrid cultivars; most recently Veronica 'Purpleicious' paired with Stachys monieri 'Hummelo. In the latter case, the Veronica's has now petered away (lasted three or four years); the Stachys still looks very healthy The Chicago Botanic Garden study cites "wet soil conditions in winter was a fairly significant problem for the speedwell trials". On the other hand, the study also includes a Veronicastrum (Culver's root) part. Love Culver's root which does very well in our own and other gardens around here and is very long-lived. The study cites well-drained soils for Culver's root not mentioning winter.

I hope you didn't use amendments again this time. It's not recommended anymore, especially with native plants. Better to use it for a mulch after planting. As for how much, it's hard to give advice on exactly how often. Things such as soil and air temperature, humidity and soil drainage all factor in. Best thing to do, imo, is to go out there about twice a week and push a wooden dowel down into the soil at least as far down as the root ball.This would include both the root ball soil and the surrounding soil. The moisture on the dowel should tell you how damp it is below the surface. Then water accordingly. Some weeks it will be 3x or so, some once. Depends. This is assuming you are hand watering. Auto irrigation is something else, and shouldn't be used on natives anyway. Sometimes a root ball will dry out quicker than the surrounding soil, before the plant has a chance to grow roots out further. The soil in the root ball can then shrink away from the surrounding soil and a gap between them will develop. If that happens the irrigation water will just go down and around the root ball and never get it wet. Plus the soil in most root balls is high in peat and/or organic matter which becomes very hard to re-wet again, like a super dry sponge which just pushes water around rather than soaking it up. If that happens, you have to super soak the root ball several times over a couple days to get it wet again. Then back to normal watering (normal for what ever plant it is). Usually you want to give supplemental water for one year for a native plant, tapering off the frequency towards the end of fall of that year, if planted in spring. The best time to plant natives actually is late fall, then one can let the winter rains supplement also. But that's advice for you for next time.

The nitrogen deposit into soil from growing beans is greatly over-rated. It is a limited amount, quickly dissipates, and only leaves any if you leave all the roots in the soil. So if that is your primary reason for doing this there are much easier and more efficient methods available. Plus have you considered that pole beans normally grow much taller than a chain link fence unless yours is 8' tall. :-) You might want to put the raspberries in containers this year with some great potting mix and give them a good head start for transplanting next year when they can have the corner to themselves. Of course that assumes they will over-winter in your climate, Dave