Since I've always planted iris and peonies in sunny places, I would have to say yes--good spot also for roses. They can all take some passing shade as long as they get a good dose of sun at some point--about 6 hours minimum (out of a 12-hour day). My guess is that like roses, iris and peonies in less sun might not bloom as strongly and steadily as those same plants in 6-10 hours of sunlight each day. But maybe some gardeners do plant iris and peonies in the shade and do fine. I never met them myself. Here's the best way to check. Go and look at the selected spot around 8 or 9 in the morning. How much sun does it get? Check again around 12 or 1 o'clock. Note how much sun that spot gets. Check again around 4 o'clock--record how much sun that spot gets. That should give you a rough idea how many hours of sun that spot may get--though to be more exact, you would have to check in the springtime, mid-summer, and late summer or fall (don't worry about winter). If you don't have enough time to try all those, then keep in mind that the sun casts LOOOONG shadows (to the north) in springtime and very little in mid-summer. For example, my neighbor's tall oak tree across the alley on the south side of my yard shades my back garden for several hours mid-day in the spring time, but as summer advances, that shadow almost completely disappears. It returns as autumn returns. Hope that helps. Kate

Venosa Violacea is one of my favorite clems. You'll love it. It grows about 10 ft tall--looks great climbing on my back fence. For a white, consider Arctic Queen--she's a double and gorgeous. Long bloomer also. However, if you are looking for a simpler white, a lot of posters here rave about Huldine. Never heard of Ivan Olsson, so can't help you there. Any number of purples make great clems--the good ol' standard Jackmani or Jackmani Superba or Etoile Violette or Rhapsody. Of the herbaceous clems, I've grown Durandi--love it. I grew it wrapped around a small wire pillar. As long as I keep it well-watered, it will bloom. I've also grown a small purple bell shaped one --can't remember the name, but I let it "scramble" on the ground, as a groundcover. Visitors always comment on it. Lots of good clems to pick from. Hope you can show us some pics when they finally bloom. Kate

daisies and coneflowers would do well in a very sunny border. Coral bells will work better in the shade. I need to know what is the look that your are seeking? In a straight border like that I would lump similar colours together. Get sphire plants like delphiniums and set them to the back. Get the peonies in the middle row of the border. I also like to contrast different shapes such as umbrels(like achilleas) against delphiniums (sphires), coneflowers (daisy shaped), plumes (joe pye weed). Then choose the colours you like, for example if you are into blues, that says you like cool calm colours. Same thing with pinks. if you like yellows and oranges, then you like exciting colours. Reds reflect a more traditional colour. You can group plant colours together in the same way as a rainbow prism. Once you have settled with your plans, time to get the plants

I love a very full, cottage look, so I tend to actively seed poppies in areas I know will be more densely planted come spring. I loved how the poppies emerged from drifts of Jupiter's Beard, Statice, Lomandra in shadier spots, and some other plants in the front yard. It helped limit the sight of the lanky plants certainly. Amidst the roses that are grown in a more traditional way, the poppies stand out like sore thumbs. However, I love the flowers and it's not a public rose garden, ha. I can grow lanky poppies and not feel one bit worse for it. I tried some of the 'Erewhon' and 'Blue Shift' Sweet Peas from Annies in that area this year and they were beautiful! Great cut flowers. It's probably a bit cooler here though. I had them on lattice amidst other climbers. 'Jeri Jennings' is next to some volunteer dark purple sweet peas. The picture above shows some sweet pea foliage, but the flowers mostly finished before 'Jeri' started blooming recently. Right now I've got Nigella springing up in an area that is almost exclusively populated by succulent/drought tolerant plants. It's a strange look, but fun until I consider that I'll need serious gauntlets to rip out the dead Nigella soon. Puya are amazing until you weed around them and I'm mostly growing the smaller types like P. mirabilis and alpestris. A lot like roses actually!