I don't know about the lilies other than orange ditch lilies which you can't kill (not a lily person) or the peonies (I've always gotten mine in earlier), but I've successfully planted lots of allium, along with daffodils, tulips, muscari, in late November. You've got a lot of planting to do! Good luck.

What a great thread! I am really enjoying everyone's responses. None of us are truly solitary gardeners. We all partner with nature, which can be our biggest ally or our greatest enemy, at times. Gardening has taught me both perseverance, and hope, because our gardening partner (Mother Nature) is fickle, at best. As the sun and rain nourish our gardens, we also contend with insect and animal invasions, flooding, drought, extreme heat, extreme cold. I can get so discouraged at times, but we all persevere and keep going. Gardening tests your mettle and your faith. But, when the fragrance of roses and honeysuckle fill the garden with their sweetness, when butterflies flock to my flowers, when a perennial emerges from the ground that I thought had died over the winter, when a pass along plant from a friend thrives, when I see a bird splash in our bird bath on a hot summer day, when I harvest fresh herbs after a rain storm....well, it is nothing short of perfection!! May all your gardens thrive and make you smile! Marilyn

More often then not the small things excite my senses. I have most of my plants in containers because I am a renter, so watering is a daily pleasure June through September. I love to come home from work and tend to the plants relying on my care. When I see a thirsty plant like my smoke bush or corkscrew willow and I give it a drink I love to come back at the end of the evening to see that it has swelled in my absence. Or when the impatiens wilt, are watered, and reward you with blooms for your attention. I love catching a whiff of something sweet on the wind and moving from plant to plant until I find the source so strong I feel like I an drinking it in, (thank you buddleia.) I love the dew reflecting the soft morning light when it seems the cypress are glowing from the inside. Or how about noticing that a potted plant has, at last, become established, (can't you picture it stretching out like a cat after a nap.) I feel so proud after I mow the grass. Not only because I have completed a chore, but because it makes the other plants all seem immediately larger! There are times of the year when the grand scheme falls beautifully into place, however; and to look upon the area where, when you first began there was nothing more than a green canvas, and now it seems Renoir has paid a visit and added his helping hand to the landscape. These are the times when, after toiling all day, you finally look up at sunset and your hard work is set aglow by the setting sun. The colours of the world do not vie for your attention but join hands... and bow for an ovation from the worker of the field. He or she gasps, smiles, and is at peace with the ebb and flow of Earth as she spins to allow life to proceed for our neighbors. These occasions do not happen everyday or because we think we need them to... they must therefore be adored as gifts from God. ---Keith L.

My Grandmother died this past May. She was 92. All 4 of my grandparents were avid gardeners. She was the last one. She was very generous in her will. So I went to the local bulb wholesalers and made an order for 7000 bulbs. I went thru the whole catalogue and ordered everything purple and orange(colour choice mine not my Gran's as she was a ''tasteful pastel lady'') and some other stuff too. Fortunately only about 5000 were available. I've been spending the fall planting... thinking of course there's room for them all... I now have cleared more blackberry underbrush away to make new beds!! Everywhere I want to plant in the established garden already has bulbs when my fork comes back up!! And for sure the bulbs in the spring would look so naked coming up by themselves...so out I went and bought shrubs and small trees. I'm gonna try tulips as spring understory for deciduous trees since they are so numerous. However, we just had a fine sprinkling of 20 inches of snow and sub freezing temps. There's about 2000 left to go in. I might just put the field rototiller on the tractor and make a row somewhere just to get the rest in the ground next week when the warm rain is due back. I've planted bulbs even in January with no ill effect, so I'm not worried about the bulbs... just about my sanity!!! I won't do this again, though the 2000 that weren't available of course are on my buylist next year. ...Don