Ken, I like the redbud and tricolor beech. chris-e, how big of a flat-rate box would you need to send the beech to me? :) I would suspect that in our cool climate, it might do very well. It is certainly a beautiful tree, from what I see. manyhosta, I am SO lusting after the Japanese lilac. We've been working on performing Le Nozze di Figaro in the Glensheen mansion at Duluth, MN, and their Japanese Lilac trees just finished this week. The smell was intoxicating. I don't think they are the most gorgeous trees, but the smell is phenomenal! poberbeck, I like the looks of the serviceberry. Looks like most Dogwoods are pushing the zone, and the Rose of Sharon are definitely out of the question (they are zone 5). So, where are the good sources for trees? We have only a few close resources & otherwise I'm limited to driving to Duluth or Minneapolis, or mail-order.

Hi, jtmoney. Welcome to the Hosta Forum. You're dealing with a couple of great, old-fashioned plants. I like them both, and have them both in my garden. Francee is vigorous and will expand to fill your circle within three or four years. If I were you, I would let it do its thing without adding the bleeding heart. As for dividing and moving bleeding heart, I have found it easy to do. Mixed haphazardly among hostas, it makes a nice contrast. Like hostas, it likes shade but also a bit of sun, and moist soil. Since you posted on the Hosta Forum, you may want to read more of the threads here. Lots of people start with Francee, but then catch the fever and want to add many of the newer varieties of hosta. Good luck and come back to see us. There are many, very helpful people here. Steve

aw, Faye, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence! I'm an animal; lover too and find your equine babies adorable. My purchase of some wide blade liriope muscari was from Plant Delights Nursery. It and the other big kind I got there wind up as tall as my knees. It is as tall as the dwarf nandinas planted behind it. Sort of a miscalculation on my part, but the nandinas are rather gold and red leafed, always leafed out, and then there is small boxwood dark green too behind that. My idea of a rather formal bed style in a basically undisciplined garden. This was for my New England husband's benefit. He loves it. ''Let me see if I have that picture of it. The liriope is the clumping kind. In parts of my Back40 space, the orphiopigon/monkey grass is the spreading kind. I don't mind it there. No lawn in that area. Keep the lawn mower out of the way. I can set pots of hosta down in it, not worry about the pots getting hot since they are shaded by it. But, this is almost the tropics here, and I just let it go. Other parts of the garden have the landscape fabric laid beneath the carnival midway shredded cypress mulch, because it is pathways and rows of potted hosta. Occasionally something persists to grow through the mulch, but it is easily eradicated. Here is the latest picture of the rows of really tall and wide bladed liriope. and here is signs of the spreaders, in a small area of the Back40 not covered by mulch oh yeah. On the right of that 2nd pic is some of the really big clumpinl muscari. Quite distinctive. I planted some of it in a pot with some tropicals ...

it'd be odd, I think, for freeze/thaw to affect only one wooden barrel and not others ===>>> not really.. its one of the inherent problems of working in pots ... since you have so few ... i would probably tend toward a duplicate ... symmetry ... or something way out there different .... totally bipolar ... keep in mind.. potting media can wear out ... and that where the trouble starts ... think of media as a water management system ... and when it fails.. you have watering problems .... aka.. drainage issues ... and if that happen in fall ... that is where you can end up with winter death in one pot.. and not the others .. your easiest solution.. would be to dump out your giant ... and use a meat clever to cut it in half.. and then put one half in each pot.. after working on improving your media... if need be ... in other words.. perhaps you dont need to buy a hosta.. you might need to buy media .... just thinking outside your box ... good luck with whatever you decide ... ken