I wonder if it could be "Mozart"? I've been looking around at rose retailer sites, since I don't have a membership at Help Me Find; therefore can only search on one characteristic. Kinda hard poring through 150+ pages of roses, lol.

Like Chris, my impression is that rust is not likely to be a problem for you in your climate. Drier areas, yes. Your climate is probably more like mine, where blackspot is likely, but rust is not. A non-Austin rose that seems to like the hot and humid conditions of the Southeast is 'Colette'. It has an old-fashioned look with fragrant, sumptuous apricot blooms, and can be grown as a large shrub or low climber. It isn't a great rose everywhere, but it might be a good one to try in your neck of the woods. I don't grow it myself, but I do hear that it's a good choice for the southeast, and might give it a try someday. I agree with Ingrid that 'Tamora' has a good reputation. I also agree with her that it's much more sustainable and better for wildlife (and pets) to grow roses that will be disease-resistant in your conditions than to spray chemicals. Easier and cheaper, too. Sometimes roses will be prone to blackspot and or powdery mildew while they are young, but will "grow out of it" as their root systems and immune systems mature, so if you decide to go no-spray, you may need a little patience. Have fun deciding, Virginia

Son has made some decisions. He likes the Midnight Magic Crape Myrtle and is thinking about using them for the left side of the house, in the sunshine. Any thoughts? He also wants to plant some purple asters on the left side of the house, facing the driveway. I think you could classify it as part sun, because even though it gets no direct sunlight, it isn't what I consider in the shade, with shadows from the house. The sun passes over the left end of the house, tracking down the driveway toward the backyard. It's about a 25 foot long bed, only about 2' deep and has three boxwoods set about 8 feet apart (you know, it's kinda like the first homeowner liked boxwoods but could only afford half of what he needed). There are two short, newish azaleas there but they're not growing well in that location and we're going to transplant them to the right side of the house, in the shade. This summer, he planted a wildflower mix in the bed in front of the shrubs. It was not in my plan, but it is an accomplished fact. We are going to dig them up at the end of the season, but I worry that it will be hard to get rid of all of the traces of them. Will they insistently grow back? Your advice has been very valuable, I hope you'll give me some input on this. Thanks.

In a similar situation (with some parts getting a tad more sun than you and some parts a tad less) I have many daylilies, veronica, shasta daisies, asters, phlox, perennial foxgloves, helenium, geraniums, echinacea, penstemon, solidago, hellebores, coreopsis, rudbeckia triloba and (I think) Herbstonne, scabiosa, lupines, bleeding hearts, monkshood, astilbe, lilies, and liatris. I also let columbines, feverfew, campanula, and Queen Anne's Lace reseed (I know some think QAL is a weed but I love it!) All of the above do well although the helenium is new so not sure yet how that will do. I also have reseeding nigella, larkspur, and few other annuals that are left over from my market-selling days. I let these reseed and they seem to do well in the part-sun gardens. For shrubs I have weigela, flowering almond, carolina allspice, hydrangeas, deutzia, boxwood, hollies, spirea, quince, and a couple of roses that are doing okay, not necessarily thriving, but that may be due more to my neglect than their situation. I did plant a Lyda Rose in a friend's garden in similar conditions that is spectacular! And I have a Darlow's Enigma in almost full shade that is doing well. Red or yellow twig dogwoods may work too. One of my gardens used to be a shade garden till we lost a beautiful oak, and there are hostas in it. It still gets some shade, but the first two summers the hostas fried (I didn't move them because we had planned on getting a new tree but life got in the way!) This year I am determined to give them more water to help them along, and so far so good, including this last week of 85 degree weather and no rain for weeks. The hard part for hostas here, like for you, is the direct afternoon sun. If you have sections that get morning or later day sun hostas may work better there. If you go with astilbes they may need supplemental water as well. I also have put in dahlias last year and this year. I did the flowers for my daughter's wedding and planted almost 100 tubers last year, and even with leaving some in the ground to die and losing some over the winter in storage, I still had about 85 tubers this spring. I don't have any "full sun" conditions at all, and in a weary attempt to get all those tubers planted this spring I had to put some in somewhat shady conditions so I'll see how they do. The ones last year in part sun did quite well (I converted my vegetable garden, the sunniest spot, for the dahlias last year. This year it's back to veggies so dahlias are roughing it lol) But many are in the same part-sun conditions as last year and they did quite well. Depending on moisture levels in you garden, itea, clethra, cephalanthus, salix, and viburnum may do well. I take care of a friend's garden with similar sun conditions but it's practically a swamp, and these thrive there but I think they need the high water levels. She also has ligularia in here, another moisture lover. Surprisingly, peonies and hydrangeas do well, and I would think this soil waaayyy too heavy and wet, so maybe the peonies would work for you too. She has another plant here that I can't think of. I want to say sambucus but I'm not quite sure, and so not quite sure if this one needs lots of water as well. I also like to supplement some bare spots with annuals. I never did many annuals till I started selling at market and now I love so many of them. I always have zinnias, and annual rudbeckias, and I also like cosmos and cleome. Sorry, didn't expect this post to be so long but kept thinking of more stuff! Hope this helps! :) Dee