I'm right between zone 5/6 and hostas do ok in full sun all over town. I am over-run with variegated ones and the green/white contrast isn't as nice in full sun compared to the ones in shade. A quick count tells me I have 42 hostas (probably forgetting a few) and many could be divided further. Half are in really sunny spots. I like to divide in early spring when the shoots are just showing purple tips because then they leaf out really nice for the whole summer. Along side them I have tons of yellow daylillies and tons of Autumn joy sedum and they like full sun. Lets see, I also have some salvia and coreopsis and some bright pink dianthus all near hostas. I also have tons of purple bearded irises, but they are really boring, in my opinion, once the blooms are gone. I actually have a Jacob's ladder in a pretty sunny spot and it does ok. But perennial will all die back and you'll have nothing in winter. But I"m guessing in zone 4, you'll be under a blanket of snow anyway? Also, the burning bush loses it's leaves - not evergreen.

stillwelljill---I buy 2 and a half cu. liter bags of MG potting mix and can do approx. 50-60 2 liter bottles. But I add a small % of perlite to my mix. Keep in mind milk jugs take more soil than 2 liter bottles. I don't do milk jugs usually, so don't know how much on them. Hope this helps. Duane

I keep a list of the seed varieties I'm planning to WS and then estimate the # of containers/jugs of each seed type I think I'll WS. For example, I know after seeing the hummingbird more often this year I want to go heavy on Lobelia cardinalis/cardinal flower. I traded for seed to supplement what I harvested from my WS plants and have enough to WS 6-10 milk jugs. I've still got plenty of room to plant out lots more LC in a few beds so I'll go heavy with those. Last year I WS ten jugs of blackberry lily so I don't need to do those this year. I'll only do 1-2 jugs of Verbascum/mullein because the ones I WS last year will bloom in 2012. I've gotten very low germination from columbine the past two WS seasons and will sow those extra heavy this year. Apple & pear germinated 100% as did dogwood. I have more seeds and will WS them this year since I lost two mature dogwood trees to the October snowstorm. I'll WS as many jugs as I have turtlehead seeds. They were a hit with the bumblebees. I keep WS until I look at my pot ghetto and decide, "That's enough."

My daughter brought the two grandsons down for a 3 day last hurrah visit before school starts. They are 3 1/2 and 6 1/2. The 6 year old starts 1st grade next Tuesday. They were so happy when they arrived to find a tree that was being cut down and turned into firewood in the back yard. The older one just loves playing with sticks. They rolled the large logs around to construct a "truck" and had a delightful time till the workers returned that afternoon. They left today, and it is nice and quiet. My daughter is a cheerful, patient, lovely mother. Her boys are happy and well behaved. The younger one will start preschool in a month. The older one impresses me with the reading skills he developed in kindergarten. More reading in first grade and I am guessing lots of adding and subtracting too.