Fuschias, no, unless you can provide lots of extra humidity. Leaving them with a friend is the kind thing to do.

Iris - yes. In fact, they thrive.
Roses, yes. They like afternoon shade in the desert.

Stargazer lilies??? I don't know what they are.

Thanks for the info! I hope someone can tell me about the lillies before Sunday! I will give away the fuschias. :(

I have stargazer lillies in zone 6 Santa Fe, NM. It is high desert, dry and hot in summer, snow in winter. They do very well here. Also, I am rather new into roses, but Peace and American beauty I think are fine down to 15F as are most roses. If it is really cold in winter there, you can just bury the bud union a couple inches below the soil and even if it dies to the soil, it should come back true to variety. Fuschias not sure about but thought they could withstand freeze? Maybe as a houseplant with good light? Dunno. Iris should do wonderfully.

Amy

Welcome to the neighborhood!! Lillies and roses grow well here just not as fast as I'm sure they would in Washington. :0) I have an old established rose bush and I don't even have to water in in the summer. The Iris will take over. And best of all in Reno/Sparks we don't have those BIG slugs!
liz

Welcome to Reno/Sparks. The roses will do splendidly--NO MORE BLACKSPOT!!!! You may get a bit of powdery mildew on susceptible varieties, though. The Stargazer lilies will do fine--I've got oriental lilies popped in all over my shady back garden. As for the Fuchsias, Fuchsia magellanica will survive and overwinter given some protection in spring as it emerges (it dies if it gets nailed by the intermittent freezes, so I keep a plastic pot handy to cover mine when a freeze is imminent). It needs shade and water. The "fancy" ruffly fuchsias don't do so well, but if you give them enough shade and DON'T put them in hanging baskets, they manage. If you have Fuchsia triphylla hybrids, they will do splendidly all summer(e.g. Gartenmeister Bonstedt), but they look HORRIBLE after being overwintered indoors and are best treated as annuals. Iris, especially bearded Iris, grow like weeds here.

A lot of what you can grow well in this area will depend on the microclimate in your garden. Generally speaking, exposed yards on the edges of town are at least one climate zone colder and much drier and harsher than protected older neighborhoods in Reno and Sparks. The higher up you live, the colder it will be, too. (I'm in a very protected, sheltered spot in older Sparks).

Oh. And this weekend, June 4, from 8AM to noon is the Arboretum Plant Sale at Rancho San Rafael.

If you want to email me with more questions about what *can* be grown here, please do! If I'm not growing it, I probably managed to kill it at least once.

I grew roses when I lived in Reno. It was on the outskirts of town too. I bagged them with black plastic garbage bags for the winter though. If you have a swamp cooler (which adds humidity) you can grow fushias indoors in a sunny window, even the hanging basket fancy ones..... at least I "think" you can, I am trying to save one that way now which I brought with me from the coast of california.