I have a small garden, less than one fourth of an acre and since we have a long frigid winter in upstate New York, I only have a few months of gardening. To make things even more complicated, I have very sandy soil and am surrounded by mature oak trees. Basically, I have a shade garden filled with ferns and whatever else I can coax into flower. I have done volunteer work in our local Highland Park conservatory, (a lovely place to be in winter when it is freezing outside) and a member of a Rochester Day Lily Society. Rochester has one of the best and largest collections of lilac bushes in the world in Highland Park, one of several lovely parks . My favorite lilac is "primrose" a lovely light yellow one.