It would be nice if some others would post some pics and updates on their seedling "stuff". I will post some pics of some other seedling trees I have growing here. I have lots of space so there are various seedlings of peach, plum apricot, apple etc. A good number produce fantastic fruit while others not so fantastic, but in any event they have proven to be hardy here so they get to stay:) I encourage anyone with the room and patience to grow some seed out.....you may stumble on a real gem! I posted a link of a thread from a couple of years ago. They produced some fantastic fruit again last year and hoping for some again this year. It was a real test winter this year, really long cold then big warm up then really cold .......still really cold now! http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fruit/msg0820041119336.html

Nope, not in your location (assuming you aren't up in the mountains) you still have time to get seedlings in the ground by first week in Sept. and that gives you 90+ days. Use some short DTM varieties. Alternative - if you have plants now use cuttings from them. All explained over on the Growing Tomatoes forum here. Dave

If you go to the monthly "show us your gardens" thread, you'll find photos of what various folks are growing. I don't generally grow grasses, but I do grow ribbon grass in a container. I started doing this since it spreads badly in a regular bed, but I like the way it looks in a container. I then put containers nearby with other plants for contrasting foliage and flowers. None of the plants in the vignettes from my garden below are particularly uncommon, but the foliage contrasts give them a long season of interest. Though they are growing in the ground, these would work in larger containers. I like the contrast between the deep green of the hosta and the flowing gold of the golden Hakonechloa grass. The dying columbine foliage just adds a bit of color that could as easily come from a Heuchera. From June 2010 The old-fashioned Geranium sanguineum has woven itself around this yellow-flowered daylily which begins blooming around the time the Geranium flowers end. The Geranium's flower color is echoed a darker shade by the Euphorbia, but I mostly love the way the daylily foliage sort of explodes out of the Geranium. From June 2010 This is a terrible photo, but I like this combination of the large blue-green hosta, the delicate-looking cranberry which would trail over the side of a pot, and the white-edged Daphne x transatlantica 'Summer Ice' which blooms for me all season with tiny scented white or pale lavender flowers. From June 2010 If you use the search function near the bottom of the main New England forum page and look for Bill _RI_z6b he has posted some photos of his gardens and you can get an idea of some of his plants. For what you plant in containers, the general rule of thumb for selecting perennials is to chose ones hardy to 2 zones colder than your zone since they will freeze deeply without the ground around them to insulate them. My containers that stay out year round are wooden whiskey half-barrels and clay chimney liners AKA chimney tile. The chimney tile is buried a 6-8 inches deep to keep it upright, and it is bottomless. Craigslist or Freecycle might be a good source of damaged chimney tile. I haven't found that metal or plastic pots stand up well to the weather since they sometimes have split on me, though perhaps heavier metal or plastic would do OK. I have heard that the foam fake terracotta pots do well, but I haven't tried them. Before buying plants mail order, check with the G*arden W*tchdog (replacing the * with a) for honest reviews. You'll find that White Flower Farm varies in quality, and you can often get better quality for less $ elsewhere in my experience. I will second ctreynards's recommendation for Brent and Becky's bulbs, however. I also have done well with mail order from Avant Gardens. http://www.avantgardensne.com/

Well, if they're "doing great", does that mean they are, say, six inches tall? If so, you aren't going to do much better by buying plants. Now, buying plants early is really the best approach, as planting tomato seeds in the ground outside is an iffy proposition. But maybe it worked for you. The goal is to have the plants as large as possible when they're ready to go outside. But if you're just putting seeds in the ground at that time, you've lost a month of your short season.