Colorado is a lot warmer than here. I grow several climbers. They lose their canes down to the ground here because of the dry air, not the temperature. There are people who grow climbers in New England, but they get 30 inches of rain a year. I moved Zephirine Drouhin to the shade after studying Zeffy Rose's pictures of her massive Zephirine Drouhin. She has a lot of shade. Zephirin Drouhin makes some blossoms for me now. Most climbers bloom on old wood, so choosing a repeat climber might be a better idea. They bloom on new wood. ZD blooms for me on the north side, with shade from noon to dark. I also have Dutchman's Pipe there and P. G Hydrangea and Annabelle Hydrangea. P.G. blooms here in August, Annabelle blooms in June, and Zd blooms in July. There's also Ash leaf spirea, which is just about done blooming. Madame Plantier and alba maxima are very tough here. I haven't tried growing them in shade.

I agree that in the far north, it's important to get the garlic in the ground in the fall. In the spring, it's usually too muddy to get into the garden and plant. As early as I ever dare venture into the garden in the spring, my garlic is always well on its way. Ideally, it's best to plant 4 weeks or so before the ground starts to freeze. Obviously, it's difficult to know ahead of time just when that will be. In Vermont, I once planted on Thanksgiving Day -- much later than I had intended to. It snowed the very next day and that was the last I saw of my garden until spring. My garlic came up just fine that season, possibly slightly smaller bulbs than usual, but I got a perfectly acceptable crop.

dean: Looking good here, lost five I set out early to the late freeze. All the rest went in after the weather stabelized. Out of 20 lost all of the fruit to critters when the plants were just picture perfect. Big green toms and the first ripe one was a Prue right before the 4th. Dangit........ After construction of the fortress of welded wire and poultry netting, and a bout of Late Blight, and what I believe is some Fuserium Wilt, the chippies decided to take a whack at it. I found the biggest, well formed Prue I had been watching , on the ground gouged out..........curses. There was a second wave of blossoms and fruit that are ripening behind the fencing and netting. The munks seem to be disappearing......... We have a counterload of small ones for sun drieing and have blt'd, saladed and snacked galore since the ripening started. Summer sweetness:) Life is Good here in the Heartland! Tom

A pH of 6.2 to 6.3 should be fine for the things you're interested in planting. Adjusting pH downward by using sulfur is not necessary and is more difficult to achieve then it seems. As for "sheet mulching" producing a "nice clean area", if you think that spreading mulch will prevent weed germination or the sprouting of root pieces left behind, it really won't do this. A better approach would be to leave the bed alone until germination and sprouting have taken place. Then uproot the weeds. If you have the patience, repeat the process a second time. HollyTone is a good product, but does not provide much of anything in the way of organic matter. No idea where you live, but many suppliers of landscaping materials sell mixtures of compost and partially decomposed bark under such names as NutriMulch and others. This is an excellent product for incorporating into a new bed that increases water holding capacity and aeration. If not available, partially decomposed bark used by itself will provide similar benefits. The plants you mention are not gross feeders, but if any show signs of nutritional lack, then's the time to use small amounts of HollyTone. I'd also be cautious about using large-growing hostas and astilbes. These can be rampant growers that have the potential to crowd out other things.