My Mammoth mums have since gotten quite large. Problem is that they flop like crazy once in bloom when it rains I jumped on the MM bandwagon and had great success with "Dark Pink Daisy". It was so floriferous in its first year last season. But as you have noted, I experienced similarly i.e. a complete flop while in full bloom last Fall. It easily survived this past harsh winter and it has been so vigorous this season. AND I have regularly pruned it all over thereby hoping to lessen the likelihood of another flop. I am actually debating right now whether to trim some more this week....getting a bit long into the summer...dont want to delay too long those amazzing flowers!

I planted several Yoder mums (ordered from one of the online stores) spring 2009, they grew to be 2x3 tall and had beautiful cusion shape and many flowers. They came back this year even bigger and started blooming already. The only thing is that you need to leave plenty of space for them, as they do grow very well. Also, in spring time (Mid May in Chicago), I simply put a sharp garden shovel into the mum, and took out a small piece with a few roots, and give them to my neighbors. These small pieces grew into big plants and blooming nicely. If you like, you can cut them back ~ 3 inches from the top of each branches starting in late May, then mid June, then mid July. This will control the height, delay the blooming until early September, plus you will get much more buds. I purposely left one mum un pinched, it started blooming in Mid July! But it is still going very strong now with new buds forming (with dead heading). So in a way, you may not need to pinch them, unless you do not want them to bloom too early. Good luck, Vivian

Kimny, thanks for some wonderful suggestions. I have never grown Euphorbia, and I thought I read somewhere that they were invasive, but I'm not sure about that. Anyway, that one is gorgeous, and the height would be just right! I would love to have heucheras there, and I have planted several different types this year. Unfortunately, most of them have fried in the intense, dry heat here, with the exception of 'Creme Brule'. It is not really burgandy, more of a mixture of brown, creme, and green, with dark pink undersides to the leaves. It might look okay there though. I'll definately put that one on the list. I'd love to have 'Peach Flambe' there, but the one I purchased did not love the sun as much as the catalogs advertise. Crocosmia is borderline here. I planted 'Lucifer' in another bed a few weeks ago, and will have to see if it comes back in the spring. It may be too tall for this spot, but maybe a shorter type of Crocosmia would work. I just don't want anything that will hide the mums in the fall, so ideally whatever goes there should be 12" - 15" or less. Using annuals there is always an option, since I will be growing plenty of them from seed, but I'd love to have a more permanent solution. Zephirine, the kniphofia colors definately fit well with my color scheme, and I grew some from seed this spring, but the one I have will get too tall for this spot. I know that there are some shorter varieties though, that might be fine there. I will have to do some research on that one. I'm not sure about 'Moonbeam', but the 'Creme Brule' Coreopsis I have, spread out a lot. They are the right height, and a beautiful color, and blooming machines, but they would be too wide I'm afraid. I've gotten so many good ideas from everyone! Now comes the hard part, doing the research and actually making a decision. Oh well, since we are getting below freezing at night now, I guess I have all winter to come up with a plan. Thanks everyone!

evonne put it well - there is winter gardening, but it is not about the blossoms. There are lots of winter interest plants. Personally, I'm still working on this, lol, but I'm trying to make some headway. Grasses are a nice winter interest plant. I'm trying to overcome my prejudice against them (I've always seen them used primarily in office building/corporate entrance-way settings, so I associate them with that kind of professional-but-no-personal-touch type of garden.) However, my neighbor has a big planting, which, as a matter of fact, I can see from my window right now, and I have come to really like it, especially in winter. And donn over on the Winter-Sowing forum is fast making me a convert! I've got some cornus alba, red-twigged dogwoods, that are very nice in winter, especially with snowfall. And obviously there are lots of evergreens that look great during the winter. I bought some spring-planted mums from Bluestone two years ago, and these are consistently gerat performers in late fall. While the store-bought, treat-as-annual mums are long gone, my Bluestone mums are blooming well into late November. Not really winter, I know, but I'll take whatever I can get as late as I can get it, lol. I'm planning on buying some more of these mums next spring. Some good ideas above also. And in regard to pots, I wanted one year to put some color on my very large brick patio, which is surrounded by a huge square of black asphalt (very dreary in winter). I potted up large specimens of juniper, the red-twigged dogwoods, and a yucca Golden Sword, and they looked great all winter. I lost the yucca and juniper in *spring* sadly, after they were great all winter, but it was worth the money to me for all the joy they gave me in those cold months. Here's what I aspire to have my garden look like in winter. I've got a bit of a ways to go, lol, and of course, a good snowfall always helps, but when I saw this issue it took my breath away. Makes me glad I live in the north! :) Dee Here is a link that might be useful: Fine Gardening winter cover