The Hydrangeas were store bought 3 years ago. and this is the first year I got it to bloom since I bought them. I did an experiement that the wind helped me with. I have 3 Hydrangeas so I had dh build me a little round cage out of cicken wire and then we placed over the Hydrangeas and then we covered them with the fallen leaves. Well in the middle of winter somehow one of the cages got blown off off one of the plants so I decided to leave it to see if the plant would still flower. Well needless to say it did not but the two that were covered has flower heads on them. So lesson learned. Yes the hibiscus were winter sown but now I am not sure which if any is pereinnal or annual. The salvia were store bought so who knows how they were treated. Thanks ladies. Paula

Ouch Tammy - deer are worse than moles/shrews/and whatever except maybe voles - they're the worst because they kill before you know what happened. At least the hosta will come back next year. Is there anyway to deer fence your area or electric fence it? We had to put up a 7' deer fence for the seedlings in the field. Stupid things were lined up with knives, forks and bibs the first year we grew seedlings there. Here is a pic of a new area we did this year. Last fall I put the whiskey barrels inbetween trees where we could not plant anything because the roots were too close to the surface. This year I added companion plants and hosta to the rest of the area. Here are some more of the containers I use - these are hypertufa my husband made for me. This picture is two years old but I could plant lots of mini hosta into a very small area. It is my way of cramming lots of plants into a tiny space. I will see if I can find some pics of some Lakeside plants. This year I got Fresh Prince, Color Blue, Beach Bum, Love Affaire, Hoola Hoop and Storm Watch from her but don't have pics of them. I seldom photo young plants since it never does them justice. Lakeside Kalaidescope Lakeside Big Scoop This is a breeder plant I bought last year that gave me lots of streaked seedlings this year. I lovingly call her Mortgage Payment. Lakeside Surfrider Lakeside Black Satin, it might be one of my favorite hosta. I planted L. Coal Miner and Rhapsody last year but whatever tunneled under the plants last year set them back and I haven't taken their picture either. If anyone wants some hosta seeds, please say something in the fall to me. I will have a ton of streaked seeds available from my own seedlings and other known parents of streakers and will be happy to share. I cannot plant them all even though I try. I will also have seeds from some solid blues and golds and will share those also. 90% of those will be solid green, but you will get a small percentage of blue or gold from them. Brooke

No, I don't usually fertilize my hostas...none fertilized this year...occassionally a few were given a little Osmocote or 10-10-10 in years past, but mainly just deep, rich topsoil with plenty of compost. Some have had turkey manure worked in. High in phosphrous which promotes root growth. WARNING: Do not use too much of it! The hostas planted in rows are for three reasons: overflow stock which is commonly given to friends, stock which I haven't planted in my flowerbeds yet, and seedlings from my amateur hybridizing efforts. Yeh Ken, the Color Revolt's are en route right now and should be arriving there shortly! Really, just thought I'd try growing hostas in buckets because I never have before. So far, so good. As far as the Venus dogwoods, I've read 4" flowers, 5", 6", 7" etc. I suppose they stretch it a little. I just got mine and this is the first spring, with maybe about 3 1/2" to 4" flowers. Nice color and shape. So I'm satisfied, even if the flowers don't get much bigger. Thanks for all the compliments...No, I don't have it all figured out myself. Like everything else, gardening is a continual learning process. :)

Thanks everyone. I was literally sitting down in my front yard staring at the mowed down perennial garden with paper in hand thinking....what am I going to do with this!?!?!?!?! (i'm sure all the neighbours wondering what I was doing just sitting there staring....roflol) Then it HIT ME...ROCKS. Then I was off and running once I had the vision!! I was looking for a way to create interest in the gardens as I knew that I wanted to go with a simple planting structure. Heck when it sat empty with no plants I loved it. Love when the rocks get wet to show all their pretty colors. Up in Northern Ontario I heard that they can fine you for taking rocks. I'm not from there, but have been up that way before and its absolutely gorgeous, lots and lots of rock. I'm pretty sure most of our rock in garden centres here gets shipped from up north. Lots of quarries up that way. I have two bullmastiffs and the other one that is not in the picture is the devil and she's 5 years old!!!!! Big ole brat she is...don't know how many times I've told her OUTTA MY GARDENS...she is nosey nosey nosey and I've given up hope that she is ever going to calm down you'd sware she was only 4 months old!!!!! She recently chewed into a milion tiny pieces 5 out of my 12 plastic solar lights.