Hi Gean? sorry for memory lapse if not) Campanulas. Well, I do start a couple from seed, especially the biennials such as the common Canterbury bells (C.Medium)and the very tall chimney breast C (C.pyramidalis) Also, one of my favourites, The peach leaved bellflower (C.persicifolia) is very easy from seed and will seed around without ever becoming a nuisance. If I wanted a specific colour, I probably would be tempted to buy one (there are some lovely doubles which will also come largely true from seed)but in general, once you have one, you will always have more. As for the smaller, ground-covering types, the most popular (but least useful with a short bloom cycle) are the carpaticas, often called blue clips, white clips etc. I do better with the vigorous and unpronounceable C.portenschlagiana (once called C.muralis) - beg a bit of root of someone who has some, it will easily take and spread brilliantly, even in cracks and stair risers. Avoid the Dalmatian campanula, C.pocharskyana as this really is a ground coverer (although it will also grow upwards for a couple of feet and hide leggy rose bases). There are many other ground coverers such as fairy thimbles (C.cochlearifolia) and a really deep purple, C.pulla. All can be sown from seed and should flower the second season as well as rooting from basal cuttings or soft-tip cuttings, even the smalles shred. With all camps, if they start to get out of hand, a sharp tug at a handful will solve that problem as they will easily pull out. Finally, I have not grown the tall C,lactiflora from seed but this really is a lovely plant and, if you buy one, it will grow to 60cm in its first season and the following year, it will double that in height and width. The usual varieties - deep blue Pritchard's variety or the milky blue Loddon Anna. Oh yes, for a wilder garden, C.trachelium (nettle leaved) and C.latiloba will also do well from seed.The seeds are small: sow them on top of a loamy mix and do not cover unless with a thin layer of vermiculite. many of them are evergreen with lovely rosettes of foliage. There are a couple of horribly invasive ones, chiefly C.rapunculoides, a beautiful but rampant weed with huge white roots, and also the asian C.takkesimana - another tap-rooted horror. C.glomerata falls over and is the only one which requires some support - all the others are remarkably stout. If I was only allowed one, it would be the peach leaved bellflower, C.persicifolia - graceful, elegant, long flowering and easy from seed (they all respond to deadheading). Hellebores: orientalis has the most variety (colours available in peach, primrose, slate, crimson, maroon, speckled and so on), the easiest (its main pest is leaf blotch fungus but if you cut the old leaves back, this is kept under control) and the loveliest flowers although some of the species come close. If you like green flowers, hellebores are winners. The corsican hellebore has fabulous filiage too while our native stinking hellebore (H.foetidus) has the most amazing sprays of green cupped flowers (and it only pongs a bit if you bury your nose in it) The only difficult ones for me are the christmas rose, Hellebore niger, which does NOT flower at Christmas and often looks a bit ratty. Like aquilegias, they will cross pollinate and seed around but you will never be sure of what you are getting. However, there are never any duds as the basic form of the plants are so wonderfully architectural ad, at the time of year when they flower, a subtle change from the spring yellows, whites and blues. Just a couple will make a sizeable clump in a year or so....but you won't be content with just 2! They don't make good cut flowers but a common trick is to just float a few flower heads in a bowl of water. You will also find some of the orientalis hybrids have upwards facing flowers (but I love their gentle nodding) If you have cash to spare, there are some exciting crosses - H.Thibetana and H.Ericsmithii to look at and those of you in hot and dry places could consider the lovely H.lividus along with the corsican hellebore. Have fun.Apols for the many typos.

Hmmmm, I'll try again, just typed in some of my favorites, dropped a catalog on the keyboard and erased everything, it doesn't help that my eyes are almost swollen shut due to a mishap yesterday. Here goes for the second time. Three of my favorite Alliums, Karataviense lovely foliage on this guy. Christohii big flowers on a 1 to 2' stems and the third Schubertii these guys remind me of fireworks. I don't grow Daffs any more, lost too many to the Narcissus fly. I use to grow them for exhibition and it just got too darn expensive to keep replacing them. I have a few tulips but with a lot of the varieties if you don't dig them after they have died down and plant them in a new position they seem to get fire blight. It seems I have fallen in love with all the minor bulbs. Crocus, Snowdrops, Muscari, Chioodoxa, Spanish Bluebells, Dwarf Iris and Hyacinths as well. Looks like I'll soon be adding Puschkinia :o). To go out in the garden when winter's on the way out, to see all these bright cheerful little reminders that winter is on her last legs and spring is around the corner, all the mistakes I made in the garden the previous year are behind me and I haven't made the new mistakes YET LOL. I love seeing little drifts of minor bulbs that have naturalized here and there, it really brings a smile to my face. Another thing I like about these guys, it doesn't take forever for the foliage to die back. Annette

Actually, I think nandina meant to try with something like tulips that rodents like to eat, since they don't eat daffodils. Frank - I've found that the rodents don't any kind of allium - you should be safe with them. They will eat muscari in my experience, but they aren't an absolute favorite and the bulbs reproduce quickly, so I've had them survive quite a while in areas that are rodent infested. The critters may eat a bunch, but never seem to get them all, and the muscari replace the ones that have been eaten. If you have a gravelly bed, the rodents don't much like digging in gravel, and I have found this to be a good place to put bulbs. I have planted in wire baskets bulbs that have small folliage, like muscari, though I don't think it would work with tulips since the foliage might not fit through mesh small enough to exclude mice. I have also added chicken grit (sharp) and bone meal to the soil around the bulbs and sprinkled the beds with blood meal in the hope of discouraging mice, but I don't know if it worked really. I do know that bulbs did come up in those beds, however.

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I have to laugh (and cry) reading all of your experiences with these critters. An update: We set out our traps on the entrance holes - several mouse traps in each baited with apple and with birdseed sprinkled about and covered with plastic pots with holes covered. No takers. But also no new holes. I did dig up the area that was decimated (Molinia grass and Baptisia) and raked it so could see if there was any new activity. So far, so good. But after reading all of your comments, I am not totally optimistic. Living rurally does have its benefits and its problems for sure. I think this must be the universe telling me to finally get moving on replacing some of my labor intensive perennial beds with shrubs! (although I could hardly ask for two more accommodating plants than Molinia and Baptisia, if only they had destroyed the thuggish Phlox and Amsonia Blue Ice!!!).