I have an old lilac, three rose-of-sharons, and a weigela which get morning sun only; they are located on the east side of the house, which is two stories. [The lilac is actually planted less than 2' from the northeast corner of the house.] They do fine, flower enthusiastically, and aren't leggy -- though admittedly I've never been responsible for any of those shrubs in other locations. I also have a couple of 4-5' tall camellias which were planted by the previous owner about six years ago. One is a japonica and the other is either a sasanqua or a hybrid of some sort. Until last August, they had only two or three hours of sun in the middle of the day, being shaded in the morning by the single-story part of the house and from early afternoon by two silver maples (the largest of which was cut down then). The camellias were happy with that amount of direct sun; it remains to be seen how they will react to nearly full afternoon sun in the height of summer. [You're only one zone colder than I am, and IIRC some camellias are okay in 6b, though it would probably be better if they had some shelter from winter winds. My japonica is spring-flowering, and a late freeze can damage its new leaves; the sasanqua is fall-flowering and has never had spring leaf damage.]

Actually the willow-leaved sunflower blooms pretty late, if I recall correctly. There is actually a landscape design principle to be mentioned here. It is basically the key difference between landscape design and interior design, which is that in landscape design, the items you work with are not designed products whose attributes can be controlled (fabrics, art, furniture, rugs, paint, accessories, etc) but rather naturally-evolved life forms that are what they are, no more, no less. Kind of like you can't design a zoo saying I'd like some polar bears in small or some skunks in green and yellow. Human intervention can give us odorless skunks, miniature poodles, and various designer plants like purple roses and so on. But with plants, still, you can only do so much, and so when you start with a vision and then fill in the plants, it can happen that the plants you "design" in your mind don't actually exist. Now, because plants come in an already almost infinite variety, it is actually good design technique to design with just size and approximate shape of plant in mind and then fill in the actual plant name later. But you can really only do this when you more or less know what plants really exist and are hardy in your zone, and when you stick to fairly general terms. When it comes to determining more exact attributes, like colour and bloom time, it might create the kind of frustration the OP is currently experiencing to set your heart too much on certain details. KarinL

lycopus, I caught that when I looked them up, I think you're right. #3 being moonseed, I was hoping for a blackberry but couldn't find foliage that matched it lol. And yes, 1 has red tendrils and new leaf stems, I will be saving that! And I found a 3rd grape on the back fence also, it matches the first pic but is growing more vigorously. Too bad it's completely tangled with Japenese honey suckle, wild morning glories, several other nasties. It's gonna be hard to get that cleaned out. Arg. I was looking to id a 5th mystery vine that I didn't post because I thought it would be easy (single lobed ovate glossy dark green foliage) and discovered that #5 is creeping charlie. Though I do have asiatic speedwell in the yard too. Ewww about the honeylocust. I really like mimosa's, I've always wanted one. But I think you're right, the leaf pattern isn't quite the same. Thank you guys so much! I will save the large leaf vines (I like the moonseed one and it's not hurting anything) and I think I'll keep the violets, they're noninvasive and remove everything else. You guys are terrific!

My Lady Banks rose blooms pretty much all season from sometime in June until after first frost. Hydrangea 'Endless Summer' starts blooming early July and blooms through light frosts until I get a hard freeze. Both these plants have very visible flowers. I also have a Daphne x transatlantica 'Summer Ice' that is blooming now (this is an unusually early spring, but it does usually bloom with the daffodils) and will bloom until hard frost. It has small clusters of little white flowers and subtle white edges on the leaves. It's not a 50 MPH plant, but one you want where you will walk by it to see the flowers, the lovely leaves, and enjoy the scent. Another way to extend your season of bloom for a shrub with a short bloom season like a lilac, is to plant a clematis a few feet away and train it into the branches of the shrub so that the clematis blooms appear among the leaves and branches of the shrub. Many of the type 2 and 3 clematis have a relatively long bloom season.