Well, you are keen to have realized the difference that hot afternoon sun makes even in a partial sun situation.

In this situation, you want to err on the side of choosing a full sun plant - something that says "full sun/part" on the tag.

Because you won't get full sun duration hours (which is about 6 hours), what you choose may not flower as well as it would if it got 6 hours of sun, but at least you won't FRY it.

Hope that helps.

If you go with hosta which is considered a shade plant you get them through by giving them extra water. I don't think this will work as well with say astilbe but it would with many Hucera. My sunniest beds barely get 6 hours and I have found many flowering plants that do well. Anything not labeled "full sun" does fine.

If it were my space I would start with bleeding hearts they will bloom early in the spring. Day lilies or hosta would fill in for the rest of the season. Until they fill in you could plant some annuals, impatiens spread nicely. If you want to cover the wall up a bit purple cone flowers will be tall, would bloom for you and fill in too. Your options are many.

I agree with arcy completely, a nice mix of sunny perennials along with the hosta will be your best bet. I have hosta and heuchera planted together in a full sun and part shade rock garden and they do very well with the intense heat as long as they are deeply watered. I have daylilies and iris in my shade garden and they bloom beautifully if not a little later than the ones in the sunny bed. Heat tolerant plants that like part to full sun will be a very good bet.

Thanks for the suggestions....I plan to get started on this area over the weekend. I have some purple coneflowers already (in the front of my house). I didnt realize at the time I planted them that they would get as big or fill in as nicely as they do so I can move those over to this spot.

Im a little apprehensive about starting from seed on my first time out of the gate so I'll peruse my neighborhood garden centers for some "already-bloomed-out" plants. Any chance I can find some bleeding hearts this late in the season? What about daylilies? As for the hostas, Ive seen sooo many varities its hard to know which one to choose. Any suggestions on which ones might stand up to my "problem" area?

Your house pic and problem garden area reminds me of one side of my house. Except my exposure is basically an obstructed eastern exposure (the house overhang was over the garden area!). I posted my problem for help on the shrubs formum ("Groundcovers" forum seems dead). People suggested Ajuga, Dicentra (Bleeding heart) and ferns among some others. Well that's what I planted. I bought a very dwarf Dicentra (very ferny leaves), evergreen Christmas ferns and a variety of variegated Ajuga (also evergreen). You have a hot exposure obviously. I think the Ajuga would do well though. Dicentra would probably be okay (you should be able to still purchase these and a lot of other perennials, especially as we approach fall planting season. It's hard for me to get into Hosta as there are deer here and Hosta is known as "deer lettuce". If you like ferns, I used to have sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis) growing wild on the western side of brick house! Good luck!

I would stick with sunloving plants that can really take the heat. That said, they will need to be babied along for the first year or 2 so they are well established. Blue fescue grass forms tufts of bluegreen grass that stays even in the winter, salvias, ice plant purple coneflowers, brown eyed susans Try some small bulbs like muscari or crocus. Sedums like Autumn Joy or a creeping type would fill in underneath taller plants.

There are so many plants that would do well there for various reasons. Lemon verbena or just about any verbena will do well there. You can also put in English marigolds, Mexican heather, large or small vinca, and dianthus.

Peruvian verbena is fragrant and very hearty. You might get away with planting orange esperanza, but I am not sure how it will do with such little sun. If it does do well, then turk's cap, hibiscus and oleander will, too.

These are all very hearty plants for the heat. The only one that needs more water than the others is the hibiscus.

I'm sorry if it's bad to revive a thread from 2008, but I was looking for a relevant thread instead of starting a new one, so here goes:

I have a flower bed in front of my house (east side). There is a covered area in front of the door that will cast a shadow around noon. The sun rises around 6am, so does that mean the entire flower bed is in "full sun"? I have a part shade hydrangea that seems to do fine there even though that would be 6 hours of sun (which is the only definition I've found for "full sun") Does the timer for "sun exposure" not start at sunrise?

The entire flower bed is in the shade by 2:00 or 2:30pm. I'm trying to figure out what types of plants can go in the different areas of the flower bed.

jeanerz12 I was hoping someone was going to chime in here for you but since they haven't I will give you my take on it.

The timer does and doesn't start at sunrise. The intensity of the sun is strongest between 10am and 4pm (depending on latitude) and decreases quite rapidly both in the early and late hours. So every hour between 10 and 4 would count for 1 hour but the hours before and after (for simplicity) only account for about 1/2hr. Therefore in your case from 6 to 10 you would have 2hrs and 10-12 would be 2 for a total of 4 so you could class yourself part sun. Now the next factor to throw in is where you live. Sun from 10-2 in Southern California is way stronger than up here in Southern Canada. So if I was to put a part sun plant in that location it might, depending on species, not be enough while in Texas be just fine.

So in my case I research each plant and see what light requirements people say they need. An example is zinnia's from what I have read is they do best in at least 7 hours of sunlight. Now this came from a person well south of me so I say they need 8hrs here. I have them planted in a location that gets about 6.5-7 hrs and they are doing 'ok'. Another is some of my hosta's. They say they want part to full shade, basically 3 or less hours. Mine get sun from 7:30am - 2pm and do fine.

Hope this is as clear as mud for you.

SCG