Hi Dee :-) The best ideas come from rambling! In the business world it is called 'brainstorming'. [g] You throw out as many ideas as you can think of, no matter how remote and if you only end up with 3 out of 20 ideas that are workable, then you consider it a success. The only way that works though is if the participants feel free to suggest whatever pops into their head, even if it sounds stupid, without feeling foolish. [g] Sometimes, just a kernel of your remote idea can lead to another really 'on the money' idea. Like your ideas today....I hadn't thought of using pot in pot ideas but, that is a great idea. I normally like to do something once and be done with it, but maybe three changes a growing season would be easy enough. Spring, Summer and Fall. Pansies can go out early but won't keep pushing out blossoms when the heat comes and changing to summer plants might coincide with sales at the nurseries perhaps and Fall....I usually make up a container or two with Fall plants. Lilies and Phlox for fragrance....even if I don't use it in this container, I will think about using them in part shade more. I have 'David' and I'm planning to order more. I am also checking out lily bulbs, have any favorites? I do have Honey Bee Blue Agastache too. Don't you just love collecting seed from these? That rootbeer fragrance! I noticed last year that one had seeded not 2 feet from the trunk of a maple tree in just about complete shade and flowered. Very surprised at that one. It was a little scraggly there, but still. Kevin, I love primrose and I haven't seen any that are fragrant. You lucky duck. [g] I do have primrose and I did buy some hardy polyanthus, and come to think of it, they offer them here when they offer pansies. I might think of adding a couple with the pansies if I were doing a spring to summer change over. Thanks!

Hello snaylor, " The rabbits come up on the railing of my deck to eat from the rail planters and the other plants (on plant stands!) on my deck. Stargazer lilies chewed to the ground before they are an inch high. Nothing "cute" about bunnies, they are destructive, filthy animals. " Since you have a neighbor, I assume you live in town and an air rifle is not a good idea for controlling the rabbits. A slingshot would probably be legal, but would take some practice. Assuming your deck is in your backyard, fencing the rabbits out of your backyard is probably the best idea. A chicken-wire fence about 3 or 4 feet high might work, provided that your codes permit that. If you have an existing fence, the chicken-wire would just serve to make it rabbit proof. Nothing will keep squirrels out, but as you already know, they can be trapped. Fortunately for me, rabbits don't damage my zinnias. We have several native plants in our rural area that they prefer. ZM

I'm only in my second full year of "gardening" at my father's house and it's been a roller coaster ride. With all the development around my father's house over the years the deer have reproduced uncontrolled and now have much smaller grazing area. There's simply too many for the available food. They always ate what people consider "deer candy" but it's gone way beyond that now. I must say, though, that I pass fields and fields of Alfalfa and other forage material grown year round which deer could eat but prefer garden plants. When I spray with Liquid Fence and other repellants they bite off buds and drop them on the ground. A plant without the first flush of buds left as bare stalks isn't much help in the garden for some time even though deer didn't technically "eat" them. Nothing with 4 legs has eaten: Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed) Asclepias tuberosa (Orange native) Asclepias curassavica (Tropical Milkweed) Eupatorium maculatum (large Joe Pye Weed) Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate' Lychnis Coronaria (Rose Campion) Stachys byzantina Nepeta 'Walkers Low' & 'Blue Carpet' Lavender 'Hidcote' & 'Vera' (Lady) Agastache aurantiaca 'Apricot Sprite' Agastache rugosa 'Honey Bee Blue' Agastache rupestris Agastache cana 'Purple Pygmy' Delphinium x elatum 'Magic Fountain' Penstemon digitalis 'Huskers Red' & 'Mystica' Lobelia cardinalis 'Queen Victoria' & 'Ruby Slippers' Lobelia siphilitica (Great Blue) Lobelia speciosa 'Fan Blue' Monarda didyma (species) Monarda didyma 'Petite Delight' Verbena bonariensis Lantana Salvia coccinea 'Lady in Red', 'Coral Nymph'& 'Hummingbird White' Salvia nemerosa 'Caradonna' (ate half of a 'May Night') Bearded Iris (a few blooms nipped off) Nicotiana sanderae (Limelight, Rose & White) They eat our Holly and Boxwood...Holly to the point of large bare spaces but only exterior browsing of Boxwood. Rhododendron get browsed because they're intermingled with Azalea which are defoliated even when sprayed. Resorting to burlap covering this winter since I'm tired of having them decimated each year. I tried to grow a Hydrangea, which I love, for a few years but they ate every leaf repeatedly until it just died. Again, sprayed repeatedly. If it's not deer then it's groundhogs, rabbits and slugs. I don't know which critter eats them but Zinnia & Marigolds have to be fenced or put on the deck to survive anytime from seedling stage until frost kills them off. The plants...not the deer! It's upsetting when you research and give care to planting things that are supposedly "deer resistant" and they get decimated. I consider half the plant being eaten "decimated" but others consider it browsing. If it won't bloom at all or a few measly blooms it's a bust for the year. If it dies from repeated heavy browsing I struggle to find something that's shown to survive. I think if you've got enough sunny areas your options are greater than if you want things that bloom in much more shade. It's trial and error which can vary from year to year. Cameron has a great running account of her experience with her "Deer Resistant Garden" and I find it encouraging to check it regularly. Different geographic locations and years vary but it's nice to look at her gardens to see what's working...and drool more than just a little! I can't remember if you linked your blog, Cameron. If I go back to thread to check I'll have to type this all over again so sorry if my link is redundant. :) When I make my early morning rounds to check for critter damage and plant conditions I can come upon damage that makes me utterly exasperated and crestfallen. I don't have that much space converted to amended beds or places where I've dug out cement clay down 2' and replaced with organic top soil. Lots of container grown plants with green rabbit fencing around "pot ghetto" along south side of house and stakes planted facing outward like sharpened javelins...LOL. Looks like hell with all the layers of protection this year but I refuse to lose more plants than I already have this year. The deer won't jump into this area since it's too close to house for that. Farther out and it's every plant for itself. Good luck with selecting plants and finding a mix that works reasonably well for you in your area. Just remember that the deer are variable in their behavior so you're ready if/when they browse things they haven't before. One can only grow so much Nepeta, Salvia, Agastache and few other things they very rarely even nibble. Here is a link that might be useful: Defining Your Home -Cameron's Blogspot

I grow Siberian iris in part sun/part shade and they bloom and grow without problem. There are Cimicifuga (AKA Actea) such as 'Brunette' with dark purple/maroon leaves that do well in part shade, and have white spires of flowers in late summer. Some folks have found them fussy, but I've not had problems. They are quite deer resistant. There are some varieties of clematis that do well in part sun/shade - I'd google for clematis & shade or go to Clematis on the Web and either search or see if there is a list of shade tolerant clematis there. I have one (I think 'Blue Angel') that grows on the east side of my house, and only gets morning sun, though high, bright shade the rest of the day. It is flourishing. I also had a clematis 'Venosa Violacea' which is purple & white that grew well & bloomed in the same part shade garden as the Actea & Siberian iris until the voles ate the roots last winter. :>( Here is a link that might be useful: Clematis on the Web