In your climate south facing for the area where you intend to plant is best, and if it is in your back yard then you also get the protection of your house from cold winter winds, instead of wind blowing across the street.

My patio covers most of the south side of my house so all of my major beds are on the west side of the house. I have half my roses planted on the west side and they do very well. I also have many spring bulbs, perennials and annuals there as well. They are exposed to the prevailing winds quite a bit but they seem to do fine. Usually the north side for us northerners is mostly shade so you don't want that unless your into hostas, lol.

Judith

Here in Ontario where we don't have the intensity of sun and heat like some who have commented here might experience, you really can't go wrong with a south facing home.

Depending on the outlay of the property and shade from trees and other homes, you will basically be able to grow roses and a nice variety of other plants and perennials most everywhere you choose on your property as you will still have east and west facing beds and a shadier northern area.

My own home is south facing and I have rose and garden beds throughout. You just need to understand how much sun hits the various areas of the yard througout the season and plan the plantings appropriately.

I can also totally understand planning on buying a home that at minimum, takes into account a hobby or passion. Life is short, we all should do what makes us most happy.

Another advantage is that every window in my home will get sunshine through it at some point in the day. The light inside is very natural and nice, generally coming in at an angle. I have lived in a home that faced directly West with harsh afternoon sun frying it every day and this is a big improvement!

My house has a ton of windows and is very bright, I could potentially put a lot of houseplants in but houseplants don't like me at all. I kill them, all.the.time.

You might change your mind as you go. It got so we wouldn't even look at anything less than an acre. We went from a mandatory one story to a two story (keep us in shape in retirement). Then we went from flat land to an extreme rocky slope on a hillside with amazing views.

We have many windows, but none facing south. Not much grows on our north side because a two story home casts lots of shade.

There is plenty of room in full sun to plant on this property, and we are tackling a huge job, but it's a lot of fun! We have planted about 7 varieties of roses, and when we pruned, we put cuttings in the ground, and two have peeked up today. Those roses will be planted at the ends of our small vineyard.

Your zone limits what you can plant, but I wish you luck in finding the perfect home with plenty of room to garden.

Suzi