That's completely up to you, Andrea. If it's too hot for you to comfortably go out to dead head, let them be. They've existed forever before us and will likely outlive us. They may not conform as well to our artificial sense of "beauty" with dead flowers on them, but they will survive. Ideally, it's during the worst of the heat. But, again, it depends upon what you can "give yourself permission" to do. I have a very dear friend who tends to overload herself. She sets (in my opinion) unrealistic goals for each gardening (and other) day. Often, it would take a crew of workers to accomplish what she's set for herself to do. When she "fails", she tends to be pretty hard on herself. I admit, I've done that to myself, also and I find many others who also tend to follow that pattern. Guess what? You don't HAVE to. Set goals, by all means, but make them realistic. If it's too hot to dead head, don't. If you would benefit more from soaking in a cool tub instead of sweating in the garden dead heading, go soak. As long as the garden is going to survive, it doesn't HAVE to look "perfect" all the time. It's only WE who see it as less than perfect. Passers by see the riot of color, the tapestry of textures and most don't even know to look for anything we find "imperfect". If those plants were out "in the wild", no one would be removing the spent flowers. We do to appeal to our artificial sense of beauty and perfection, and to push them to repeat their bloom. The plants don't actually require it. Do what you can permit yourself to do, at least during the worst of the conditions. Kim

Personally, I would opt for the full sun with less wind site. Why.... The newly containerized plant will be growing a root system in both locations, but the drying winds can overstress the still, rudimentary root system, and then you tree will be stressed. So, I would chose the more sheltered of the two locations. Sinking the container into the surrounding soil will help keep the root-zone cooler, especially, if you pile mulch up the sides, which will shade the container. Cool feet...and a hot head. Try to keep the medium damp. In Zone 5b, you will no doubt, lift the container for winter storage. If you must, spade sever the roots that have grown outside the container and into the surrounding soil. The lift out the bucket. As your tree grows larger, you will need to move it into a larger capacity container. My trees are in 18 gallon storage tubs that are sold by Home Depot. I drill holes into the bottom sides, fill them with a quick draining mix, and plug in a tree. Done. Good luck. Frank

do you have the latin name of the tree??? .. its cold tolerance might make a difference ... we usually have to buds from cold damage.. if we want a spring flower show ... sun scald.. on the other hand is a trunk issue ... i have used 4 inch corrugated drain pipe ... to protect from vermin and sun .. but it allowed a lot of empty space for air movement ... but you have a tight nestled trunk ... am i correct in presuming your noodle is tight on the trunk ... i worry about trapped moisture.. and bugs ... im also wondering .. if within that temp range ... whether temps are not really an issue ... WC is bulletproof in my MI ... but flower production can be variable due to spring deep cold affecting the flower buds ... and i am positive it get a lot colder than 26 ... and if i could spell it.. i would tell you i have a kwanzan cultivar ... ken

You can never completely protect a room from sunlight, unless you have blackout shades that are closed all the time. I have window tint in my south/west facing rooms and also have Hunter Douglass duette shades that get closed/opened daily to limit sun exposure. Still have a fair amount of fading on my hardwood floors. I do live in So CA, so the intense and regular sun exposure is more than in other areas of the US. For window tint, look for some of the ceramic products that give protection without a dark looking tint. They are more expensive, but give a clear look out the windows and don't darken the rooms.