Yes, I'd wait until they have begun to actively grow. If the leaf buds/nodes have not begun to fatten up and grow it's a little early yet. If they are already starting to grow then go ahead and prune them. There is no sure rule for it because it's a very climate specific thing and there are a lot micro climates that can influence things. For me spring comes a little later than elsewhere here even though I'm in zone 6. I'm right on the lake and that big expanse of water was frozen all winter and takes time to warm up. The cold wind coming off the water keeps my yard cooler than places even a few miles inland from me in the spring. However, in the fall it takes a long time for that water to cool down again so I'm warmer than inland and will have roses blooming sometimes into November. You have to learn how your area works and go with the right time for you. I don't just start at 1/3 of the way down. Sometimes they're still healthy much higher than that and I like to leave mine with as much good cane to start out with as possible. In our cold zones we lose a lot as it is. Start at the top of each cane and cut off about 2 inches. Look at the center of the cane. Is it White/green or tan/brown? White/green is live cane. Tan /brown is dead wood. Keep cutting down about 2 inches at a time just above an outward facing leaf bud until you get to cane that has a clear, clean white/green center. From there down you should be good. But also check down the sides of the canes for dark streaks or damage. If the cane has been damaged further down chances are it will die back to below that damage anyway so you might as well take it off.

It sounds like a lot of sun for a true shade plant; frankly I'm surprised the roses aren't doing better than they are, because that's as much sun as any rose ever gets in my yard! However, I have to agree with Ceterum about the hardy geranium. I would go with Jolly Bee instead of 'Rozanne', which has been tougher and a better blue color. It never stops blooming. Heucheras with bright or intense foliage - like Peach Melba or Obsidian - would make great companions. Another option would be to try more shade-tolerant roses before giving up. Polyanthas would be at the top of that list. My family and I love 'Gruss an Aachen' (essentially a floribunda), and although some people have trouble with black spot on it, this may be more related to the clone or rootstock or some other factor. It's never gotten a disease it couldn't quickly recover from in my experience with it in Minnesota, even where it got less than three hours' direct sunlight and had claustrophobic companion plantings of hostas. My original plant was probably grafted on 'Manettii' and I've grown a number from cuttings of this version; a second came from Pickering and has done very well, too.

Hi UncleHippy Welcome to GW and there'll always be plenty of opinions for you to pick from in our responses here. In many cases, you have to decide between easy roses and highly fragrant roses, particularly if you like the "classic" rose shape (those are hybrid tea roses). Since you're asking about Knockout and EE roses, you know that these are more open flower shapes and indeed good for beginners. They should both be fine in the amount of sun you describe and equally easy to grow. In terms of impressiveness, I'd go with Kashmir. It has been thickly covered in blooms in a partly sunny spot in my yard, much better than my Double Knockout. Know that neither of these is consistently a "fire engine" red color - red as a gardening color varies a lot, and both of these tend toward the crimson side of the color scheme, though much redder than roses that are called hot pink. I agree with Rick (predfern) that your best chance for easy roses that have some fragrance are the David Austin roses. There are some drop-dead gorgeous "red" Austins that tend toward the purple side of things - Munstead Wood, Darcey Bussell, and The Prince are all easy and compact good bloomers for me. The Austins that tend more like red (but none are remotely fire engine red) like Tess of the D'Ubervilles or maybe Tradescant are less frequent bloomers for me than the ones I listed in the purple range. The hardiness of Austins is good for most zone 5 regions, but it can vary depending on the part of the country you're in - the east coast gets more trouble with blackspot that can weaken a rose if severe, and that might lead you toward roses like Kashmir more often. If you let us know the general region where you live we can help more with that. One compromise that you could consider about easy vs. fragrant roses is to plant low plants of frequent bloomers (like Kashmir) and then put a few more fragrant but stingier ones behind them (or between) so you get your hit of fragrance that way. It depends on how much room you have. Bottom line though is not to be scared of planting roses and don't let people tell you they need fancy care or expensive food or spraying if you don't want it. The roses you describe should be tough for a zone 5 winter and not need much care, though every rose needs dead wood cut out of it and some trimming at least once a year (nothing including perennials and grass is "no-care" in a garden). Have fun Cynthia

As Laceyvail suggested, look up the size for all of them. Limelight hydrangeas are great plants, but fairly large, much larger than the W & R Weigela I have. It is also probably larger than anything with "pygmy" as part of its name, though I don't know for sure. Also, some varieties of barberry can be invasive - they spread into wild areas and choke out native plants. Here's a fact sheet from WI DNR that should tell you if your type is a problem. Regardless, if you are planning on interplanting them with the Limelight hydrangeas regular pruning of the hydrangeas will involve the prickers. There is a smaller Hydrangea paniculata called Little Lime that might suit the other choices better as to size, though you haven't said how large you want it. Another reddish-leafed shrub that in my garden is more ornamental that either my W & R Weigela or barberry is Ninebark. They range in size from one like 'Tiny Wine' which is around 4' tall to 'Coppertina' which is probably 8'x8'. Choosing plants that fit your size requirements works better to my mind than having to prune 36' of hedging annually at the correct time of year to not remove flower buds. Another consideration is that all 3 plants are deciduous, so you will have just bare twigs from late fall until April or May, so think about if you want that as the view in this area for 6 months of the year. There are plants (both deciduous and evergreen) that will look nicer in winter.