:-) I grew these because I love the flowers, Carol! The leaves can nab you, too, though. However, I kept them in pots due to their habit of coming back from the roots, and I didn't want to introduce that problem into the garden. But in pots they demanded watering daily once they grew; and these fellas grow quickly and demand some space. I decided to let them go last year.

I have a couple azaleas, gardenia, daphne ordorata, astilbe, lots of columbine, ajuga, too many violets, hostas, coral honeysuckle, hollyhocks, confederate jasmine, and carolina jasmine. I think that is all for now - there will be many more things AFTER the screened in porch gets finished (in March I hope) and my WS seeds are ready for transplant.... Lynne

Terry Duchess of Albany is planted directly on the northern side of the house here and it does terrifically well. The north side of my house still gets some direct and quite a lot of bright indirect sun even in the summer. The further north you go however, the lower the sun is in the sky even in the dead of summer so that is something someone in the far north needs to concern themselves with. Now the westerly side of my house is the one area that bakes in the summer sun and that I would avoid planting any clematis directly on. I do have clematis on the west side of the house but they are shaded somewhat by various trees of the neighbors and they are not growing directly on the brick wall itself. If they were growing on the wall, they would fry since the brick absorbs heat and radiates it even after the sun has set, creating a superheated microclimate.

Vaporvac-thanks!!! I do like the purple flowers in the spring, it also flowers later in the season. It has naturalized here and grows in many parks. emmarene-the vinca is the most maintenance, but as its gotten thicker it has prevented more weeds from getting in, although I still pull some out. I maintain the edge occasionally because its a fast grower. I dug a small trench around it that I filled with mulch to create a separation from the grass and the vinca and I maintain that edge. Also I have read that it needs cutting back occasionally to stay healthy, and the best time for that is early spring. I read you can run it over with a mower to trim it but I haven't tried that. The rest is low maintenance, I shape the shrubs and tree-which is actually a shrub, as they grow. Thanks for your comment!