For the second time today, I've looked out the window you can see behind the delphinium in the picture, and there's a hummingbird on the delphinium. There are other flowers in the yard that should attract hummingbirds, but I only see them in my yard on the delphiniums.

Ho, well, I am replying in a good mood (I have intense mood swings with this project). Couple of weeks ago, during the rat invasion, I was quite a bit less sanguine and to say I am on a steep learning curve is the understatement of the century. But yes, as it happens, all well on the seed front.....although inevitably, I have (again) been forced to admit that all the rest of my family were right and I was wrong. The preppers and clearers (all of them) have been smirking - particularly when a felled tree landed in the centre of a massive newly planted bulb colony........ Nevertheless, there are many foxgloves, hesperis, campanulas, myosotis, welsh poppies.....and other common, but tough and prolific plants, in various parts of the woods....and 25 Crown Imperials. The soil is amazing - it really is. True, it is a bit stony and tree-rooty, but it has also been fallow for over 50 years with a lush cover of weeds and leaves. The narcissi were the stoutest plants I have ever seen.....and the foxgloves are going to be head-high Hugely limited by having crap machinery (used to gardening in tiny spaces, we spent all our money on beautiful German knives, Japanese secateurs, Swedish axes - yah know, gorgeous stuff but hopeless for the task ahead).......but hey, adaptability is surely a gardening byword.....I have spent my entire gardening life in a fever of insane ambition which inevitably means crashing and burning on a regular basis. Yeah, we are enjoying ourselves....and I have tree seed germination too. The teapot is sadly depleted.

We who live in the 8-9 growing zones are pushing reality is it.....but when we do it with containers, we have a chance to hedge our bets. We can push the limit, by moving with the sun. It keeps me busy, of course. And when something looks really bad, I try to give it a more moderate location. But surprisingly enough, the ones I'm having the problems with are the ones with a lot of shade and not much sun. That was the case with the one hosta which succumbed to southern blight, my lovely The Razor's Edge. It grossed me out having to bag it and throw it into the kitchen garbage which is collected tomorrow. I picked it up like you would doggy poop in the city, and never touched the pot at all. And I'll throw in a picture of my area reserved for the plantaginea offspring. The space gets a good bit of morning sun, and then the long rays of the afternoon sun as well. I patrol the area because our lot is not laid out according to the cardinal directions, just a hair off. When the first day of autumn, about Sept 21, arrives, I always mark the shadow pattern, where the sun rises and sets, because that is the true east/west for my location. The hottest spot in my garden is along our northern privacy fence. That is for the summertime. In the wintertime, that area, which is about 22 feet wide, is in total shade. I could (and plan to) place some of my hosta (in containers) along that strip of land but against the foundation which is enclosed crawl space. My original thought of locating the dwarf or minis in a strip I call the "allee" (alley I guess) turns out to be too shady, too dry, and not enough air circulation. Where we need to avoid humidity and heat, we must have air circulation or the southern blight can find its way into my garden. I know that the original hosta that I bought were planted in mostly sun up in Massachusetts, zone 5b or now 6a. I did not see them blooming, but my DH sent pictures of the plantaginea, which started my obsession with fragrant hosta. Ken, you say to throw them on the driveway, and now you copping out as a "crazy man?" No way. I remember Bruce Banyai saying that he tried everything to get his Aphrodites to bloom, including scraping the roots. Which is just about the same as throwing them on the driveway, right? Or dragging them across rough cement? So I realize that I've babied my hosta way too much. And today at the hardware store they wanted to know what I was doing with all the mulch and I said HOSTA....every one of those ladies....there were four of them....were familiar with HOSTA. And I learned that the local big garden that is so popular, Bellingrath Gardens, has its CHRISTMAS open house and tour, and that featured in their GREENHOUSES, are BLOOMING HOSTA. I hope no one takes exception to my shouting, but it is worth getting excited about it. Guess that this Christmas I'll be headed to Bellingrath with my camera to document the event and share it. I'll also have to call the gardener there (the one who does the greenhouses anyway, they have so many)and see if they are the folks who ordered a lot of hosta from Naylor Creek last year. Gary said I was not the only Mobile buyer, which intrigues me. I'd love to find another hosta lover here in town. Wouldn't that be great!!! You might take it for granted that other folks grow hosta and you can chat over the back fence about them, but HA, not around here. I said my goal was not to create a display or tour garden, but for my friends, that may be what I have to do.....as well as giving away some hosta when I run out of room and cannot say no to a pretty plant! Here is some of my fragrant hosta where they get more morning sun. The nearest ones are not the fragrants, they are beyond the sasanqua out there closer to the 7' high chain link fence. Once my star jasmine fills in, no more chainlink showing....

Thanks for thinking of me Carol and Janice. My computer was down and it took the better part of a week to get it back and then I have been getting the garden back in shape. So much to do and so little energy, especially this hot muggy weather. I finally and feeling better these last few weeks. The heart problem is finally behind me, but now am doctoring for COPD, a fancy name for loss of lung function. If you look far enough you will find something wrong and the Dr's did! LOL I had lots of family help getting my many flower and hosta beds cleared of weeds and my Hubby said yesterday that the garden is finally coming around from all the mess of last fall with the new septic system having to be put in. I did everything but the grass myself before but not anymore. I did have to give up sun perennial flower beds but not my many Hosta beds. TYL! Actually I have come to the realization that less is better with those kinds of plants and it keeps my H happy having more grass to mow! I'm only venturing out in the early hours for the next few days as we might get into the high 80's and maybe 90's here. Happy hosta gardening to all of you! Connie