I have zone envy for all the gardeners who get more than 3 months of daylily blooms, but other than that I really don't mind our zone 6b garden.
I hate poison ivy and it seems I fight it every year in various spots in the garden. I know birds can carry and drop the seeds, so that is probably what is happening. I would love to do more shade gardening, but poison ivy seems to thrive more under my oak tree. I've been tempted to just do away with all the plants under the tree.