Highalttransplant, West facing beds can be a problem, but less so in zone 4 or 5 than down South. Remember that a west facing bed will actually have north and south ends. If it is an island bed (not along the side of your home) it will also have an east side. You will have less sun at the north end than the south end of your garden and only morning sun on the east side. You can also plant part shade plants on the north side of any taller shrub or perennial to give them some shade. As your garden gets full (mine's crammed!) nothing is in full sun anymore - every plant competes with its neighbor for sunlight, just as it does for root space, water and nutrients. As you continue gardening you will find that there are lots of places to tuck in part shade & shade plants, although that may not seem possible when your garden is so new and open. You will also learn to create/find/adapt to little microclimates on your property. Half the fun is experimenting - if you want the heucheras, my advice is try em - you can always move them around until you find the perfect spot, maybe on the north side of a tall grass. Vines can provide a lot of shade too. You'll come up with something that works. My Peach Flambes are in my south facing backyard garden but on the north side edge of a long island bed. There are in a curving line in front of a small Mugo pine, Strawberry Candy daylily, a small Blue Spruce, and then 2 Crimson Pygmy Barberries as you move to the west. You can just barely see some of them getting some early afternoon shade from the little tree and the denser shrubs as the sun moves east to west across the sky. P.S. Marietta Gardens is a reliable daylily source with plenty of inexpensive daylilies and lots of Siloams. Click on General Price List with Pictures. Here is a link that might be useful: Marietta Gardens

Mizzteek Z6 MA, the forsythia has set all its bloom buds for next year already, so the particular buds that are blooming now won't bloom again next spring. However, there are probably branches that aren't blooming now that will have flowers in the spring. Once the hours of chilling needed for a plant have been experienced, some plants will bloom all or partly in a warm fall like this, even those that usually bloom in spring. We (visiting family and I) have been spending a lot of time out-of-doors walking through the woods and fields in the area when it hasn't been actually raining. Previous Christmas visits have involved visiting some of the same places on snowshoes or skis, so this has been unique having temperatures in the 50's for several days. We cut our tree (balsam fir) from the woods across the road early last week, so it's a bit Charlie Brown, but it holds ornaments just fine. We are expecting some form of frozen precipitation on Tuesday, so I have been enjoying this final hurrah of fall warmth! I will want to go out to the garden and stomp down all the vole tunnels prior to the cold temperatures in the hopes that they will settle in for the winter elsewhere!

Like Vaporvac, my head is exploding! Haha I’m looking up so many of these gorgeous roses on HMF. I agree about Polka. I’m in love with it. Super healthy, vigorous grower on own-root, big, beautiful perfect blooms. A real winner. I ordered it last spring from Heirloom Roses. It’s in a pot at the moment and I plan on leaving it in but putting it up against a “climbing wall” for next spring. The blooms are giant! I don’t know how the blooms would do with Western sun exposure. I baby my roses with a shade cover and Polka got late afternoon shade although I see you’re in Zone 6 and probably not as much under a burning high desert sun like I am. Teka, how do you like your Polka? Henrik, your photos are beautiful. Do you have a favorite out of your group? Hans, how do you like Chippendale. I’ve been eyeing this one for a while. Your Augusta Luise is stunning. Gosh, they’re all so beautiful everyone… especially the tree frog. Kate, your Queen of Sweden stopped me in my tracks. Gorgeous. Thanks Sara-Ann, these rose color threads are getting me thru the Winter! And hey, it’s December 21st… don’t the days begin to get longer??

The frosted windshield is lovely, NHBabs, and on the hydrangea heads too! Frosting is always a gift, like Mother Nature is hanging around with a spatula in her hand spreading frosting on the world. I wanted to show a houseplant - pictures from November 4. This is Schlumbergera 'Christmas Fantasy' which is the last of my Christmas cacti. I think I mentioned earlier that the mice were chewing on my Christmas cacti. Plants I'd had for years were dying off. By the time I realized that the mice were probably involved, the others were gone and this one was badly gnawed on. I covered it and it's recovering, but it still needs protection. Schlumbergera 'Christmas Fantasy' 11/4/20 uncovered: And this is what it really looks like in my house: Schlumbergera 'Christmas Fantasy protected: Claire