cactusfreak, that worked great for the Portsmouth area, which is where I used to be from, but when I put in my town and the largest town near me it only gave this week's forecast. Too remote to bother I guess. I am beyond where the eastern state border dips way in then bulges back out. Thanks for trying though. I probably would get a relatively close temp chart if I used the first location across the Canadian border, since it is only about 45 minutes away. Mylu, right on all counts. The "super clear" house is polycarbonate panels; yes, I hope to open a nursery; and cold up here is putting it mildly... -30F to -40F in the winter. Even though it is now June our forecast for this week that I just looked up says we will range from a high of 80 days to a low of 40 at night. So you can see how operating a greenhouse/nursery on a small scale would never work with a heated greenhouse. My house oil bill in the winter is about $400 a month and we keep the thermostat on 63 and supplement with wood heat. :) Such a long way from where I was raised (Oklahoma). BTW... I hate cold weather too. I figured I needed a 4-foot bow spacing too. Even then I could probably add center support posts and/or cross bracing (rafters) too just in case we got another ice storm year like a couple years ago that collapsed a lot of things up here. Better safe than sorry I guess. I liked the Atlas greenhouses. One was mentioned in Taylor's book "Secrets to a Successful Greenhouse and Business". bmoser, I like the drill idea for rolling up the walls. In a newsletter from Griffins Supply I remember reading an article by some guy with a ton of greenhouses and they had been replacing all their automated greenhouses with ones with roll-up sides, etc to cut their expenses. I like the idea of roof vents too cause it only makes sense that if the heat gets trapped up at the roof...then let it out up there. Roof vents and roll-up sidewalls would create a good airflow. I will keep an eye out for used frames. I am in the planning stages now, trying to think it all out in advance, decide exactly what I want to do, gather as much info as possible, etc. I am going to talk to the perennial nursery in the area that just went wholesale only. He is a really nice guy and I will be able to learn a lot from him for this area. Plus I will be able to get larger perennials from him in smaller quantities. May even find that I could supply him with stuff that he needs but didn't grow. Hmmm... now I can't wait to go talk to him. Also my nephew has a maintenace/landscaping company that services one of the largest condo/resort places up here. I am trying to educate him that you don't have to always use the same old bushes that everyone uses... that there are some new shrubs etc with a lot of color and character that work well in this area. I have come to hate arborvitae, forsythias, burning bushes, and the common red barberries and common daylilies! Anything that only gives you interest for one week of the year is a waste of real estate. :) Okay... off my soapbox now. Anyways, I have a lot of planning to do and you guys have been a lot of help. I think I am narrowing in on a niche for me... and I should probably forgo growing the annuals but I love designing mixed planters/baskets so much. May have to change my mind down the road though. I have to go search for the Haygrove greenhouses now. Will be interesting to see.

I too am a fall planter. I'm traveling this weekend, but my husband is throwing in a last flat of perennials that I picked up on sale. I will probably also move a few things still and still need to buy bulbs that will go in over the next couple of weeks. I can understand not wanting to be out in the cold to cut things down, but I tend to like it better when all the bugs and creepy crawlies have been knocked out by a few hard frosts or freezes. Some things desperately need to be trimmed down at this point just to keep things looking tidy (e.g. my previous post, also the lily stalks, etc that are finally turning brown), but once you get those out of there, I'm loath to cut down things that are still green and lush. Plants are still building root mass in the fall, and having the photosynthetic food supply helps. Some of the annuals are starting to look a little ratty though - some of my cosmos are decidedly sad looking if you look at the bases of them, but the tops are still blooming happily. Fall is a beautiful time in my garden, and I've been planting more to improve that show. I cut down only to make sure that all of the stuff that's in its element at this time isn't overshadowed stuff that's past its prime.

My favorite combination was a dark green mid sized agave inside a haze of Foo Foo Muhly with the setting sun behind it. It rocked me in the mall parking lot, if you can imagine that. I rarely EVER step foot in malls and usually I am in a rotten mood when I do. I am not much of a pink person, but I admire things that go for broke in what they do and this one does that. I do like the pink haze , it is like setting sun fog. I never hung out at the county fair. Being the big city intelgensia child that I was, I was denied the kewpie doll/corndog experience and was denied salt taffy and cotton candy . Poor poor me. I know it theoretically and have seen it in movies so there is that. But I do not go there when I see Foo foo muhly do its thing..It is starting to be used a lot in big plantings everywhere in Texas. Which is a good thing that coporate landscapers are going first to our Natives and looking for solutions that take less water and fertilizer.I hope it does not become the ubiquitous muhly in the way that Pampas _ _ass has. You see the Deer muhly and pine muhly. too. I just picked up some wispy plain jane bloomers, Weeping Muhly (M. dubioides) or Muhly dubi-dubi-do(my name). It is definitely more one for texture.It is an Arizona native so I am hoping for success in the xeric and low nutrient factors. The summer reduces colors around here to dull buff tones and greyed out greens. Then when all is just starting to cool down to a livable 70 degrees, the world just gets juicier, the light warmer and gold, young chartreuse, red and purple peek into the palette and the there is a rebirth in color and this pink fog fits right in but near the top of the scale.. I do not see M. capillaris as out of place in the garden experience. It might not be as sparse as the high plains prairies . But it is a native of the coastal prairies of Texas. A slightly different look. I have not been successful with growing it in the severe treatment that I give most of my plants. It might have something to do with the placement in a pocket of dirt in solid white hard caliche. I really should be nicer if I want things to thrive..Maybe I should give it another try. It needs a bit more water than what we have been having lately.

"In a word, yes. A good landscape architect would never recommend this." I have to disagree with this :-) Color - as in flower color - is approached differently in the garden based on client wishes. Landscape design recognizes multiple types of color schemes and all have validity: monochromatic, analogous, complimentary, primary, pastel and riotous. 'Riotous' is closest to the color scheme being considered here and is seen in many designed landscapes, like the mixed perennial borders at Great Dixter. Even Japanese style gardens, highly designed and planned landscapes, will use shrubs and trees with multiple flower colors together (think flowering azaleas), as flowering is not the basis of the design. The form and layout is. As one landscape design text states: "There is no right or wrong when it comes to color in the garden. Color choices are a matter of personal taste." To be honest, designers seldom take flower color into consideration when planning a design - unless they are designing a perennial border. The reason for that is flowers tend to be very transitory and so color derived from flowers tends to be very fleeting. As mentioned above, the primary concern is given to plant shape and form and foliage color and texture. Flowers are considered an added bonus but not the major design issue. Most shrubs have a rather short bloom cycle and it is unusual for all the flowering shrubs in a landscape to be in bloom at the same time....another reason why flower color is very tertiary to the design process. If the client or homeowner does favor a shrub with an extended bloom season - like the Knockout roses - then selecting another flowering shrub that compliments/accents/contrasts with their coloring is always a good idea. But what that color should be is a personal choice, nothing necessarily governed by design rules. There are definitely design considerations to be made when considering a planting area, especially one that is adjacent to an entry. Scale, balance, a more or less uniform year round appearance and the shape, form, texture and foliage color as mentioned above. It is usually considered best to limit the number of plant choices involved and plant at least smaller specimens in multiples. Too many single plant choices (without repeating) just makes the design look busy and lack cohesion. And if you have a limited pallet with suitable repetition, then it is very unlikely that you will have too many potentially distracting flower colors at any given time.