It sounds like you are leaning toward a bare arbor ... and I think that could work well. You have vines growing elsewhere and at least one other arbor (the kiwi vine arbor), as well as the one that didn't happen ... yet. My point is that arbors echo arbors, and if one of them happens to stand alone without something growing on it that can be fantastic, especially if elsewhere in the garden there are arbors that do provide a growing structure for a favorite climber ... So ... try it "plain" for a time and see what you think. Or, maybe this is where you need to do a "test" with an annual vine? Morning glories? If you can get hold of a type that isn't a reseeder ... Good flower power for me (zone 5b - 6a) from late June to frost. But then, I don't use them in a front yard location. But, these are just about as low maintenance as any vine can be. You probably know that already. Another annual possibility is Lablab purpureus or hyacinth bean. Beautiful foliage, pretty, fragrant pea-like blooms (although I don't find them to be as fragrant as I thought they'd be). For an annual vine it is vigorous and needs a sturdy support. Or try Ipomea quamoclit, a morning glory cousin with style. Commonly called syprus vine or cardinal climber. I have not tried this one yet, but it gets mentions by some of the Fine Gardening folk and is noted as a "Plant of Merit" at the Missouri Botanical Garden site. ItÂs particular feature is fern-like foliage together with scarlet-red flowers from "early summer into fall". Either way, to vine or not to vine, you can always change your mind later, right? Wellspring

Keep searching! By the middle to end of summer, lots of bulb companies will have their websites updated with new listings of bulbs... and the Fall 2008 catalogs will be available! If you Google "fall bulbs" or "amaryllis" or "hippeastrum", or any key word combination related to indoor forcing bulbs or bulbs for indoor forcing, you should get lots of results with tons of links to follow! Companies that sell Tulips and Daffodils often sell Hippeastrum bulbs, as well. I searched last fall for online catalogs and retail sellers of hippeastrum, and I found lots of links to stores and places to order from! One of my favorite places is Royal Colors... John Scheeper's is another good bulb company... Brent & Becky's, Blooming Bulb, Dutch Gardens, Nature Hills, Garden Import, and the list goes on... A Google search for amaryllis bulbs should net a good amount of places to begin looking! Here is a link that might be useful: Royal Colors

Great suggestion, Penny, but a lot will have to go right for that to happen. The pot is made, but needs to be bisque-fired, dipped in glaze, and then fired again at a higher temperature. If all goes well, the pot should be ready towards the end of May. Sometimes things get warped in firing, so I'm hoping it will fit into the corner of the house as I designed it to. If the pot survives, then the plants have to do well enough that I won't be ashamed to show them to all of you! Finally, I don't have a digital camera, so will have to take a conventional photo and scan it. I've never posted a picture before, so will have to figure out how to do it. That, of course, should be the least of my problems. There are so many "ifs!" I'm almost afraid to promise that I'll post a photo, because it feels sort of like counting my cardinal climbers before they've climbed! Jenny, you are right about their intolerance to wind and harsh conditions. I actually killed one of the younger ones because it got buffeted around too much sitting out on the porch roof, plus temperatures have been brutally cold for mid May, and I carelessly left it out when I should have brought it in. It was nowhere near freezing, and the plant was used to being outside in the sun, it just didn't like overnight temperatures in the upper 40's. The older plants are doing better, but are also sulking a bit. That's why I planted some backups last week, in case the remaining 3 don't do well.

Ipomoea sloteri is an annual and will usually 'self destruct' after it completes it's life cycle... Sometimes annual MG's can be overwintered and they will continue to live through the next season,but these plants often display reduced vigor... I've kept certain annuals going for slightly over 3 years experimentally but annuals are genetically programmed to live for one season and that's it... The 'self destruct' mechanism has alot to do with feedback from the upper plant to the roots system...if you can successfully root cuttings of your favorite plant you should be able to keep a plant alive indefinitely by this method... Hope that helps... TTY,... Ron