In a perfect world, your irrigation system would be "hydrozoned". Hydrozoning is the practice of designing and installing the zones of the irrigation system in such a fashion that like areas are watered together based on sun exposure, soil type, slope, plant type ect. It requires more zones, pipe, and increases the contoller size to do so and therefore increases the price of the installation, but it is really worth it in the long run. Ideally, you would have the ability to water the full sun areas for a longer duration and/or more frequently whereas the shady areas run for a shorter duration and/or less frequently. Regardless, try to irrigate less frequently, yet for longer duration, up to the point of runoff. All Wet Texas Licensed Irrigator #1897 since 1984

I think you would be fine with hydrangeas there. If salvias are too floppy, try some veronicas or agastaches. You might even be able to grow baptista (false indigo). I have a similar exposure in my zone 5 Iowa yard. Trees along one side, and then it slopes too, so it is a bit of an odd long bed. It used to be grass and mostly invasive Asian honesuckle shrubs. I have only been gardening at this house for 1 1/2 years, so I am still experimenting; plus I am new to this zone and previously lived in zone 9. I first considered this area part shade and planted accordingly. Now I see there are pockets of more and less sun. In this area the plants doing best are: Hostas--This surprised me, but I see them in full sun around town now that I have started looking. Not sure if it is the same for zone 6. Foam flower--this looks GREAT right now with tidy foliage and is still blooming. I had some red tulips behind the foam flower and they looked lovely. Columbines--flowering nicely with airy foliage. Agastache--the one I have has short white flowers, but blues are common I think. Overwintered and re-sowed abundantly. My soil drains well so may be why they like it there. Garden phlox--were small plants last year from Bluestone spring sale. SO far they are growing nicely but will see if they flop. Today the whole area seemed to be in so much sun! Daylillies--will see how they do this year Foxglove--sowed last summer, getting ready to bloom, seems to be good for them in this spot. Monarda, bloomed last summer and no flopping. Soloman's seal--in a shadier pocket, but still gets some afternoon sun. Doing really well right now. helleborus--one little helleborus which has been doing great so far this spring, to my surprise. When I realized how sunny the spot was, I thought I'd move this little plant, but it is doign well. Toad lily--these are growing nicely and had attractive late flowers last year. Lobelia--there are some nice blue lobelias available. low growing veronicas--doing very well and blooming profusely. Happy planting. :)

GG, is there a good reference book for botanical latin translations? Well, I haven't found one yet :-) I do have a handy pocket guide that explains many species names, as these tend to illustrate particular characteristics of the plant....like its bloom color, origins, similarities to other plants, leaf characteristics, etc. The Schizophragma mentioned above is a good example - the species name hydrangeoides simply means "hydrangea-like". But the guide is by no means complete. When it comes to genus names, all bets are off! Many are not Latin based at all but Greek in origin (like the Schizophragma, ditto Hydrangea, Helleborus and countless others). Many others are latinized versions of the person attributed with 'discovering' or popularizing the plant, like Fuchsia, which is named after the German botanist Leonhart Fuchs. Or Heuchera, named for Johann Heinrich von Heucher (pronounced HOY-ker). Being an overly curious person, if I encounter a plant name that intrigues me a lot or if it is a plant that I am preparing a class or seminar on, I often do research the name and I find the Internet pretty invaluable in this regard. Somebody somewhere has done the research and you can almost always find an explanation of the botanical name if you look hard enough :-)

There are accepted definitions for those terms. 'Full sun' is considered to be 6-8 hours of uninterrupted sunlight; 'partial sun' and 'partial shade' can be used interchangeably and are considered to be less than 6 hours of sun but more than 3 hours. 'Full shade' is less than 3 hours of direct sunlight and 'heavy shade' is no direct sunlight. Plants that are listed for full sun to partial shade (or partial sun) can be planted anywhere where they receive at least 3 hours of direct sunlight. I generally shoot for a median range of 4-5 hours. And I live in an pretty northerly location where sunlight - even in summer - is not very intense. If a plant wants/needs full sun to thrive and flower and fruit, the label will just list 'full sun', period. The issue can be complicated by the timing of the sunlight. There are a number of plants that will list light requirements as 'part shade' but it is critical when that shade occurs during the course of the day, Usually, this will be sun in the morning and then shade during the afternoon or the hottest part of the day.