I think you would be fine with hydrangeas there. If salvias are too floppy, try some veronicas or agastaches. You might even be able to grow baptista (false indigo). I have a similar exposure in my zone 5 Iowa yard. Trees along one side, and then it slopes too, so it is a bit of an odd long bed. It used to be grass and mostly invasive Asian honesuckle shrubs. I have only been gardening at this house for 1 1/2 years, so I am still experimenting; plus I am new to this zone and previously lived in zone 9. I first considered this area part shade and planted accordingly. Now I see there are pockets of more and less sun. In this area the plants doing best are: Hostas--This surprised me, but I see them in full sun around town now that I have started looking. Not sure if it is the same for zone 6. Foam flower--this looks GREAT right now with tidy foliage and is still blooming. I had some red tulips behind the foam flower and they looked lovely. Columbines--flowering nicely with airy foliage. Agastache--the one I have has short white flowers, but blues are common I think. Overwintered and re-sowed abundantly. My soil drains well so may be why they like it there. Garden phlox--were small plants last year from Bluestone spring sale. SO far they are growing nicely but will see if they flop. Today the whole area seemed to be in so much sun! Daylillies--will see how they do this year Foxglove--sowed last summer, getting ready to bloom, seems to be good for them in this spot. Monarda, bloomed last summer and no flopping. Soloman's seal--in a shadier pocket, but still gets some afternoon sun. Doing really well right now. helleborus--one little helleborus which has been doing great so far this spring, to my surprise. When I realized how sunny the spot was, I thought I'd move this little plant, but it is doign well. Toad lily--these are growing nicely and had attractive late flowers last year. Lobelia--there are some nice blue lobelias available. low growing veronicas--doing very well and blooming profusely. Happy planting. :)

serenae - I used clear plastic cups, and cut drainage slits in the cups. Then I take a ziplock baggie and cut slits in the bottom and top of that for drainage and ventilation. Some rain water as well as melted snow gets inside, but by this time of year it still needs occasional watering. I wouldn't be able to just, spray at the baggies, to get enough water in lol*, so I open all the baggies and spray a little water in that way, then close back up. It isn't really THAT big of a hassle, to me at least, because they are all on my front stoop and I only water maybe once a week at best. Because of that baggies covering the cups a lot of moisture is retained in those containers and until the weather is really warm it doesn't evaporate that quickly. Once the weather is warm enough that it DOES start to dry out quicker, it's also usually warm enough to just open up the baggies altogether. I have also used the gallon sized baggies with containers that I got from plants bought at the garden center, milk jug bottoms and pop bottle bottoms. Here is a pic of a couple from 2009: Here are a few pictures from this year:

Growing some cacti in FL is different than most other places. The big problems are lack of cold to get some to bloom well, but the other bigger problem is the rain. Winters are fairly rain free, but the morning dews yield about as much water as a shower. A string of wet mornings with temps in the 40sF is enough to melt many plants from the deserts of Peru and Chile. I've seen more things like Epiphyllums and wretched Deamia testudo, sometimes in the Selenicereus genus. Wretched because it does not do well as an indoor plant, is commonly available, and I have let one take over and still got no bloom. There are a lot of Cereus peruvianus grown down there, in all its forms. Spinefull and spineless, 4 ribs or more, tree-like and a nuisance. Common and blah. Something like a big Cleistocactus, that would be stunning. Colored flowers that last 3 days and are open in the day. You don't get that with Cereus. You draw Hummingbirds with a Cliesto, not cockroaches, another plus. They can be watered like a begonia during the summer, can go down to freezing even if wet, and grow reasonable fast. What's not to like? The real water hogs of the cactus world could be the Melocactus. Their reputation as needing warm is overstated. They are not very frost hardy, but in Z-10 that is not often a worry. The water that usually drowns other cacti makes these laugh. They are one of the only cactus genera that has been seen swimming. Them and the Opuntias, but Opuntias have paddles. Opuntias do well there, but that is not a blessing. Everybody who plants one of the sprawling varieties (like Ficus indica) should be arrested, and those who propagate the crawling kinds should be rolled in the pads for 10 minutes each day until they change their ways. They are not sociable plants. Agaves do very well. They are called Spanish Bayonets or Century Plants down there, and a large property can grow monster specimens. Small species do exist, and even a middling nursery will have a dozen species. Other succulents that do well down there (succulents in the broadest terms) are Bromeliads and Tillandsias. A shady spot is all the ask. The climate is well suited to those plants, and it has to be a bad drought that makes them need water. Some good nurseries in the Miami area used to carry many many species. Bottle Palms are often used in small areas that don't get watered. Most solitary Palms are care free. I wouldn't plant the ones that make a lot of fruit, that draws insect life. They call them Palmetto bugs, they're actually cockroaches. Don't plant Palms from Madagascar, they generally collect a lot of water. The boot of the palm (the boot is the wrap-around part of the frond on the stem) holds a quart of water, more places for insects to breed. Back to cactus. The sand down there is poor substrate for succulents. It holds tons of water. Crushed shell also won't grow a cactus. There are some pits in western Dade. (You say you are Z10. Can we assume Dade or Collier County?) They sometimes have what is called Miami Oolite. This is crushed limestone (white stuff). The problem with this is that is the high pH. The best desert cactus I saw down there were grown in a stone gravel and were fed.

Hi Vera, I was born in Puyallup, WA. I'm sure you know where that is, but we moved to WI when I was a year old. I've been back there to visit a few times, but mostly to visit relatives in Tacoma. As I can recall, Eastern WA is much different than Western WA......Eastern WA much flatter? Anyway, about the weather here - you can expect anything and everything. Our summers can be extremely hot, in the 90's,or 100's, dry or humid, droughts and flooding, long cool rainy Springs that never seem to end, or so short we seem to go from Winter to summer. (Same for Fall) No matter what the weather is, the Hostas survive. And as Ken mentioned above, plant whatever you want, and if it doesn't do well, move it. Have fun experimenting. I know I will. Julie