Maybe Kaye7 will see this and give good advice on roses for your zone. I know she grows lots of the old roses just south of Ft. Smith.

I have seen Japanese Maples in Ft. Smith...some may need light shade from hottest sun...not sure about that.

There will be plants you can grow now that you won't be able to grow, but then there will be new ones that you can grow.

ok, I'm about due west of Russellville and the soil is acid here, not like where we moved from Texas. We are able to add many plants we couldn't grow in the DFW area, like azaleas, camellias, etc. The Japanese maples thrive with a little afternoon shade and the teas as well as chinas and noisettes grow wonderfully well here.

We garden on the side of a ridge and had to terrace to make places to plant. How steep an incline are you dealing with??

Millie, we plan to have a shady side of a hill and a sunny side. Do you think they should go on the shady side?? And how much moisture do you think they'll need???

Kaye, what kind of camellias do you grow??
Our incline is very steep, but has things growing on it now
I think the terraces will be necessary. How did you build yours? I have seen your beds on the a.rose forum -- they are beautiful.

ok, we grow a range of camellias..from Walmart singles to the formal doubles, ordered online. Gardenias, too, but the one that has lasted has been Chuck Hayes. After the Ice Storm of the Century in 2000, we went with him..hardy to Zone 6 and double to boot. Terracing here was done with the native rock, always available with no digging involved. As my husband says, "Rocks are not a problem to find, dirt is". We import soil from the landfill in Ft. Smith and have our own manure factory down in the valley (horses). We've filled in as much as can be scraped from the native soil and built the beds with the rock and compost. It's a long range project..