Offhand, I can't think of too many spikey ones. I tried seeds of two plants but failed this year. One is at the useful link, Verbena hastata Pink Spires. Also swallowtailgardenseeds.com has a lovely monarda (listed under Bergamo, no common name listed, new for 2009) I just love, failed with that, too. Also swallowtail has a nice Veronica Pink Goblin. There's another nice bright or rosy pink Monarda, Marshall's Delight or something like that. Maybe run thru Bluestone Perennials and see if you can find anything there. Those you wouldn't have to start from seed. I checked Salvia or meadow sage but don't find any intense pink varieties. Here is a link that might be useful: Verbena Pink Spires at T&M

It sounds like a lot of sun for a true shade plant; frankly I'm surprised the roses aren't doing better than they are, because that's as much sun as any rose ever gets in my yard! However, I have to agree with Ceterum about the hardy geranium. I would go with Jolly Bee instead of 'Rozanne', which has been tougher and a better blue color. It never stops blooming. Heucheras with bright or intense foliage - like Peach Melba or Obsidian - would make great companions. Another option would be to try more shade-tolerant roses before giving up. Polyanthas would be at the top of that list. My family and I love 'Gruss an Aachen' (essentially a floribunda), and although some people have trouble with black spot on it, this may be more related to the clone or rootstock or some other factor. It's never gotten a disease it couldn't quickly recover from in my experience with it in Minnesota, even where it got less than three hours' direct sunlight and had claustrophobic companion plantings of hostas. My original plant was probably grafted on 'Manettii' and I've grown a number from cuttings of this version; a second came from Pickering and has done very well, too.

Hi Erasmus: I learn from what you wrote above, thank you. Forget-me-nots like clay soil and cool wet spring. Kim is right that it can be invasive, it spreads to a HUGE patch in my Mom's 5-acres land. She also has a peppermint and spearmint patch the size of a master bedroom. Mint is super-invasive. Below are the invasive plant which I tortured myself with before I discovered fragrant roses: 1) Mint - 5 hours to kill. I gave to my neighbor: they spent the entire Saturday killing those idiots. 2) Zebra Grass, or Ribbon-grass. It took 3 people to dig up the super-deep-root clump, and 1/2 hour per clump. 3) English Ivy ground-cover. This should be banned from the planet earth. They are known to destroy mansions, choke large trees to death.... if you plant too close to the window, they can crawl inside and choke you to death while you are sleeping (just kidding). I spent 40+ hours and 1 year killing them, plus spraying Round-up into my house foundation to get rid of the roots. I was cursed eternally when I bought English Ivy for $10 from HomeDepo. 4) Pink Yarrow - I was shocked when I saw HomeDepo selling this. My Mom gave me 1 branch, it spread even to my lawn. I spent 1 year and 50+ hours killing them. They spread both by roots and by seeds. 5) Gout weed - this makes a stinky ground cover. 10+ hours killing them. Purple and white alyssum are the best ground cover, since they are annuals, and don't spread to one's lawn. 6) Italian Parsley - 1 hour killing them. Now I sink a plastic bucket 6" into the soil, both ends cut off, to keep mint and parsley inside. 7) Dr. Huey's roots - I spent 1/2 hour digging them up when I killed Knock-outs, that's why I like own-root roses. We have cool and rainy weather for the past 2 days, now Lynnie is red like Knock-out, very much like Jeri's picture in HMF. Lynnie is far prettier than Knock-out both bush-shape and flower-appeal. Annie prefers acidic soil and water for best growth. She was stunt from my alkaline soil and water, and NOT from the frost. Ever since I gave her acid-fertilizer high in nitrogen she grows like crazy: She was super-tiny in June, after 1 month with acidifying the water with used lemon rinds, she doubled in size. This pic. is taken this morning:

I have always loved flowers. Even as a little girl I would walk around the playground and pick tiny bouquets of "flowers" that were actually weeds growing amongst the grass and bring them to my mother and teachers. (I had actually forgotten about this until my mother reminded me). When I first got my own place, a college dorm at Florida State University, I bought a potted African Violet that thrived. It just bloomed and bloomed and never was without flower. (I've never had as much luck with them since). Every apartment I had afterwards I always had a potted plant here and there, but never had any luck with any of them. I still cant keep a houseplant alive, funny enough. When I got married and bought my first house, the back yard was a barren mess of dirt and a few shrubs and palm trees. My mother came and helped me plant a little flower bed (impatiens) to spruce things up. Ironically enough that little flower bed never really did all that well and only survived about 6 months. But by then I was hooked. I first stared growing hibiscus. They do well in my area and they come in all sorts of beautiful colors and forms. I still love them. But they don't make good cut flowers. They close at the end of the day no matter what you do. I had all sorts of annuals. Delphiniums, Geraniums, Incas, lobelia, impatiens galore and even a few flowering shrubs like hibiscus and salvia. Anything I could find at my local nursery. I actually didn't like roses because of their leggy thorny growth. One day however I saw some huge potted roses for sale at Home Depot. They were 3.5 feet tall and full of blooms. I brought home a red one (which turned out to be Oklahoma) and it grew well for me despite me knowing absolutely nothing about roses. The smell was intoxicating. And each time a little bud would appear it was like opening a present every morning. I was hooked with cutting them and making bouquets in the house. I then got a hold of a Belinda's Dream (a great beginner rose) which bloomed profusely for me. After such great experiences (and thinking all roses grew this well/easily) I started buying almost every rose I came across at the home depot. If I liked the color, I'd buy it. But the roses soon started to decline. I knew nothing of black spot or thrips or any of the other things that plague roses. My Oklahoma was pretty disease resistant, as of course was Belinda's Dream, but Joseph's coat was a spindly mess and may of the ones I brought home soon turned into pathetic thorny twigs. Soon people started to tell me "you can't grow roses in Florida". Well, my rose garden begs to differ. I was determined to have my roses. I started reading everything I could find on rose culture. But I never really wanted to deal with spraying. After a few failed attempts at growing a spray free garden, I realized I would never have the rose garden I highly coveted. So I started to get serious about rose growing. I now have over 100 varieties. Some do better than others, and I don't drive myself crazy spraying (I only spray when absolutely necessary) and I really enjoy my rose garden. I now have all types, OGR's, Ausitns, HTs, Floribundas, Grandifloras, minis (they never do well for me LOL) and I keep experimenting. My garden continues to improve every year and I hope to one day have a dream garden like those I see in books. But even if mine is always a bit flawed, I'm still grateful that I can even grow roses and I'll never give up on them.