As Linda C asked, what is the source of the shade? If trees, know that they will be competing with whatever you plant not only for sunlight, but for water and nutrients as well. You may need to consider plants that will thrive in poor, dry soil, or adjust your watering and fertilization to compensate. If it's a sandy or gravelly soil, it may not hold water and nutrients well enough for those flowering plants. If heavy with clay, it may drain too poorly. Don't you love it ... you come here with a question and wind up with even more than you started out with. ;-) Diane

To echo Jeri's comments, I don't think Sophie's Perpetual is a good fit for zone 6-ish. I put a free one from the Rogue Valley mystery roses into my virtual zone 6 pocket in my yard, and it sort of limped by after a very mild winter last year and totally disappeared this year. I think it's marginally hardy in zone 6, and better in zone 7.If it's in a container, you lose a virtual zone of winter protection and so you'd be a virtual zone 5 in a pot and not a good fit for Sophie's Perpetual. Pink Pet is the only China-type rose that survives well for me, but it's more of a Polyantha than a China in effect and it doesn't climb or get much beyond 3-4' for me. If you're looking for something from the RU sale that would climb well in zone 5, Awakening is rock solid hardy and has lovely pink flowers. It blooms just fine in part shade, and the only concern might be that it gets too big for even a half whiskey barrel. Mine was pretty thorny too. Among hybrid musks, only Lavender Lassie would be reasonably hardy in zone 5 and it would be a good fit for part shade. the mini climber Jeanne LaJoie survives fine in a typical zone 5 winter and is a much better fit for a pot. I think she'd do OK in part sun, though any rose blooms less in part sun. Antique 89 and Harlekin are both nicely hardy but they do die to the ground in my zone 5 and they only bloom sporadically in the year for me. Mine aren't particularly happy in part sun. Viking Queen survives fine in zone 5 but seems to die to the ground each year so you wouldn't necessarily get a ton of bloom. Veilchenblau would be an absolute trooper and climb or bush out huge in no time, and it's in dry shade under my oak tree. It's a once bloomer but gorgeous lush blooms for several weeks once established - here's mine in more or less full bloom with an admiring bunny that my daughter pointed out: Purple Splash and Stormy Weather both seem to survive OK in zone 5 and regrow from the ground reasonably well, so they'd be worth a try if you want the purple striped climbers. I haven't overwintered Quicksilver yet but the odds are good that it will be a good one for winter survival, being a Kordes. Paulspride is the only other rose listed as a climber on the RU sale that survives the winters well for me. Ghislaine Feligonde comes back reasonably well but it has tiny while flat blooms that aren't the attractive shapes others have, and I'm wondering if mine is the correct ID. Among the Austins, most of them are hardy but the ones that tend to be climbers on the RU sale list are the ones that survive the least for me - I can't keep Golden Celebration overwintered, nor Strawberry Hill or James Galway. Lady of Shalott is rock solid hardy as is Scepter'd Isle, Carding Mill and Heritage, but they get at most 5-6' tall by the end of spring since Austins rarely have surviving cane for me. Crown Princess Margareta is a climber and hardy, but I never get blooms from mine without surviving cane and it never has any. Rebecca in zone 5 has tons though and lovely blooms from hers. For other OGRs, Baronne Prevost and Mme. Isaac Periere are both fully hardy here, though BP would be better for a pot. She does Ok in part sun for me but would bloom more in sun. MIP prefers sun and doesn't bloom on new wood for me, so I don't get much bloom most years. Among shrubs, Alchymist is very hardy but a once bloomer. Autumn Sunset would survive fine in a pot and climbs well, but blooms very little in part shade for me. Belinda's Dream would survive fine and seems OK but not happy in part sun. Dames des Chenonceau is totally hardy and in my top 20-30 of roses I grow, and can be spectacular in part sun. As you move into part shade though, I'm not sure how well she'd do. Morden Sunrise is totally hardy and would be very pretty in this context, and White Meidiland would be a low-growing spreader in white and also very hardy. Among the RU sale roses, those are the ones I'd recommend for what you're asking. I'm all in favor of taking advantage of the RU sale!! Cynthia

Thanks! Is there a tall upright shade-tolerant, slow-growing grass or plant that I can plant at the back of this bed for vertical interest? The Japanese forest grasses I looked at appear to be short. I am a little afraid of the climbing hydrangea, it might be hard to control...? For ferns, I originally had my heart set on Tennessee ostrich fern since it is more upright than the other varieties I looked at, but then I read that it spreads rapidly and so dropped the idea. Dryopteris erythrosora ‘Brilliance’ looks very nice, but not sure if I want an orange shade in there. I will keep looking. I want to have Dicentra 'king of hearts' in that bed. Not really finding a source, but there are seeds available. Can they be grown from seed easily? I planted some astilbe from home depot in a different location, and I think maybe it is too much sun, though only morning sun .. they are dying. I am hesitant to try again here, considering in this location they get 11am-1pm hot sun. So, on the whole, now I am thinking some bright colored hostas, ferns, king of hearts dicentra. I will go to the nursery this weekend, I hope they have some nice varieties that were discussed here. Otherwise I will have to order online. I am wasting way too much time on this.. :) Thanks so much.

Kate- Olivia is on my to buy list for next spring. She will be getting a primo spot in the garden. Austins seem to do pretty good here. My Windermere is almost always in bloom and Queen of Sweden has nice repeat. Munstead was in about 4 1/2 hours of sun and always flowering but got bs and was not winter hardy. I tossed her this year since she only had one scrawny cane left. But her flowers were to die for and the scent was one of the best. Maybe own root would work better. DA Thomas A Becket is listed as shade tolerant and disease resistant but I've read mixed reviews on it. I wish I had more sun but our acre property is literally carved out of the woods with about 1/4 acre cleared for the house and yard and the trees are up on a hill so they shade even worse. Plus there are more across the road. I know I could get more blooms with better growing conditions but it's just not doable money wise so I have to make what I have work the best way I can and settle for the blooms I manage to get. Zack- I would love to be able to remove some trees but they are probably 75 years old or more. The trunks are about a foot across and they're probably 50 feet tall. The white oaks are even taller. It would be very expensive to have them removed. We looked at installing solar since our house faces south perfectly but it would have cost close to $10K to have all the necessary trees removed so barring an inheritance I'm stuck with the limited sun I have ;-). Sharon