Rich, I take all of my pictures in high resolution then use the free program Irfanview (http://www.irfanview.com/) to resize my pictures and save them as a reduced version (usually 640x480 size which results in files of about 140 KB. This is the perfect computer screen size. Then I upload these to my photobucket account and cut and paste the tags into my email. Hope this helps. Adam: We live in Wilmington NC and I am lucky to have a well so irrigation has not been a problem. The back of the house has a raised, very large patio --was cement aggregate that I have laboriously handpainted to look like brick (see separate album on that adventure!) Finished it finally last week too. It is such a large area, it was just too visible and the painted bricks help it to stay down viaually. We have been here for 8 years and I started the garden from scratch 7 years ago, but since I throw everything I have at each new adventure, I tend to overdo things as you can see. Thank you for all the kind words about my garden, etc. (you can tell I love it can't you?) The vine around the porch (both front and back) is Confederate Jasmine an evergreen for us with the most intoxicating scent when in bloom during May. I do have lab lab on the white garden screen in some of the photos. Love Daffodils, do not enter any just love having them. Thanks for all the comments on my photography too, if you take enough pictures, you are bound to get some good ones and with digital photography I take thousands! Instant gratification and no film to buy/develop. I am on my third camera now. I have so many more great photos, not all of them are on the photo site. I love to make CD slide shows with music and send them to my sister in Massachusetts (New Bedford) since she is not able to visit and can tour the garden too. Glad to share it with you. Pauline

floridarose, I got my seed from a friend, but I always assumed they were something like Summer Carnival, but after being open pollinated for years, things can change. There is some variation in height, but most are a little shorter like SC, and do often bloom the first year. It's hard to tell if they act as short lived periennials or are just reseeding almost on top of the mother plant. I don't stake my hollyhocks, but grow them against fences and the house. I've tried the Madame Butterfly snaps, and didn't like them as well as la Bella. Not only do la Bellas live longer than most other snaps, when they are pinched back they promptly send another single thick shoot up. When I pinch back Rockets, they start branching off with floppy shoots, though they also live through winter here quite well. La Bella doesn't reseed like the other snaps I grow, though (darn). It's probably a hybrid that wouldn't breed true, anyway. Here is a pic of Rocket snaps. Off to the side are some pink la Bellas. Hopefully, my file isn't too large for posting here.

Silverkelt..Somebody gave me two pots of Silene(Pink)and the only name I could find was Silene Armeria. Now yours looks so similar. Do you by any chance have a photo of the plant in full bloom or a close up of foliage and blooms that I can compare with mine. Whatever the name, I want more of it next year. I think Select Seed catalog has some in it. The one plant finished blooming and I deadheaded it and sprinkled the seeds on top of the ground but didn't work them in. Do you think they'll come up? Select seeds shows it as an annual but says it reseeds..Maybe I should take some potting mix and put into nursery pot and sprinkle some dried seeds of it in there and cover lightly and see what happens.

newbie nicole... you will have no problem in moving perennials with a 15 hour drive ahead of you... I moved from a house in town, to our acreage in the spring about 13 years ago. These are some things you could keep in mind... Hopefully you will be able to move after the ground is thawed and as plants start to come up in the spring. This is what happened with me. As the plants started coming up, I divided or removed the whole perennial and placed it into a nursery pot. When I ran out of pots, I used plastic bags in a box, or ice cream pails/margarine containers with holes in them. The people purchasing our place had not seen any pictures of the yard with flowers blooming so, they had no idea what was there before. I took out favorite plants and a rose bush that was given to us as a sympathy gift when my DH's dad passed away. Is your home sold already? Do the people moving in know what your yard looks like with the perennials you do have? Sometimes all you need to take is a corner chunk of the perennial and you will be able to start it again at the new place. If you have access to crates (eg. milk crates) that stack...then you would have an easier time in transporting the perennials. You could also use plastic bags in a milk crate to place a number of perennials in the same crate instead of using nursery pots and lots of soil that would then also take up a lot of room (and weight). If you are moving after the ground would be thawed but before the perennials would be growing, then I would recommend right now for you to start digging and replanting into pots and placing them in a friend's garden for the winter. Because, you don't want anyone who potentially is a purchaser of your yard, to see all these perennials in pots in the garden that you are taking with you. Then in spring, just dig them out of your friend's garden and take them with you. Another thing is that when selling your home, you could place a clause in the agreement, that you will removing favorite perennials (all or some) to take with you. Place the perennials in the shade as soon as you get to your new home and plant them as soon as you can. If you do not know exactly where their permanent home will be then dig the pots into the ground, making a holding garden and then transplant them out of there as the new beds are ready. Have fun moving! It is a lot of work (been there, done that) but it is nice to see the same perennials bloom in their new home. It is like taking some of your old home, your memories, with you. The root system of the plants are usually a lot more mature when you take transplants from your original plants than what you would get by mail order or through a local nursery. You would have mature plants in your new home a lot sooner. Also, you would be saving a pile of money (assuming that you have a lot of perennials) in future landscaping in your new home. I know this is a long reply but...