I'm in 5b/6a, so a little warmer. All my peppers ripened. What really made the difference was buying a cheap cold frame. It increased temps outside by 20 degrees. So when it was 40 degrees I could put pepper plants out as it was 60 degrees in the cold frame. I brought them in at night. I did this for about 3 weeks, what a pain, but what a harvest!! By the end of three weeks they barely fit, and it was still kinda cool outside. i think they were slightly stunted when taken out, but were pretty much hardened off. I used a fan inside, so they were ready for wind etc. My tomatoes were in there too. My first tomato was around June 28th. Still have some as a matter of fact. When it got to be 60 outside I had to vent the frame as it was 80-90 degrees inside. The peppers grew like mad in it! When planted out they were over 12 inches tall, all had flowers. here's a photo of them in the cold frame

first.... find a local arboretum.. and go visit it.. and see what grows out your way .. did i tell you that before ...??? second... we usually recommend little or no soil amendment to conifers and trees .... i have no clue about your grand plan on soil amendment ... just know that MOST conifers.. do NOT like wet feet ... and clay can stay too wet for many .... third .... i am no clay expert.. but know enough peeps in OH with that famous gray useless clay .. to know they ALL plant their conifers on individual mounds... to insure proper drainage .... i have no clue if your amendments ... will offset the necessity of mounding ... next.. 4th .. skylands has been very problematic for me... i have killed 3 .. and the 4th looks like heck ... and yet 10 miles away ... at the local arb .... they have a 20 footer.. go figure on that .... but you are z6.. i am 5.. so that may make all the difference in the world ... there are many varieties of chamaecyparis obtusa.. with the gold on green foliage that are superb .... borderline in my 5.. should be just fine in your z6 .... there are some winter yellow concolors.. and mugos .... and dont forget about the variegated conifers .... good luck ken

Memphisbelle, quite a few clematis suffer in the heat and humidity of my garden here in NC during the pits of the summer. Integrifolias are typically not ones that seem to be fazed by the heat and humidity however except for the issue of mildew. Roguchi gets mildew horribly in my garden if it is not sprayed with a mildewicide as does Embers. The other integrifolias, except for those mentioned previously, have never had an issue with mildew in my garden and do well in my summer conditions. Not sure why you would have a problem with Andante and not with Rooguchi. Just shows everyone's garden conditions differ greatly and the experiences we have with the same clematis varies as well.

Ok - another tip - clean up the grout lines the next day if you use thinset to set the tiles. It takes several days for the mortor to fully cure, and it will be quite soft and crumbly the day after - makes cleaning any high spots out of the grout lines rather simple. If you wait several days, it will harden (like cement should) and it will be very difficult to remove. I spent about 30 mn this morning carefully going over the grout lines in my one wall (I have learned to be anal about this so I don't have "spots" when I grout) - I normally end up ruining a fingernail or two in the process but that is normal for me. BTW - here is what I got done yesterday. I mixed up too much thinset the first time, I forgot I was dealing with a small wall area and not a big floor! it looks a lot better after I took down the spacers and cleaned it all up. I had one "sliver" I had to cut for up by the range hood, it was 1/4" wide by 2" long, and the tile saw handled it fine. Ceramic is so much easier to deal with than porceline as it's softer and does not crack as easy when cutting. I used the rotozip for any "U" shaped cuts around the outlets and the tile saw for everything else. Here is an "in process" picture I had boards cut for the area needed for the border. By using them I could get my tile edges very straight - just make sure you don't accidentally cement the boards to the wall. This is what I got done the first "batch" and then I fitted and cut the rest of the perimeter tiles (they are laying on the coutner in this picture - ready to install). I put the border in after all the rest of the tiles were set. Here is my mixing setup. I use our smaller hammer drill (but not hammer mode) and a five gallon bucket so things don't splash. I have a scale (it's a fish scale, I'm not using a good kitchen one on this) to measure the powder and measuring cup for the water. Add the water to the bucket and carefull add the powder - if you simply dump it in, you'll get a plume of cement dust! And I have a timer - you mix for five minutes, wait for ten and mix for two and then use. one wall down - one to go! Now, we'll see if the resident experts come on here and rip me a new one for all the things I've done wrong. I think I'm learning why people rarely show "in progress" pictures on this forum. I'm showing the way I did things, I am not saying that I think this way is the only way to do it.