Elegant & civilized is right, La. I think Rev Pemberton had a keen eye for that sort of thing. A brilliant hybridizer. I'm so happy to have this one growing in my garden. jb, to my eyes, it's a very, very pale yellow at times. At other times, it's more of a creamy white. At this moment, my specimen has multi-colored blooms on it. The newly opened ones almost solid creamy white, while the mature blooms are creamy white with beautiful crimson touches on the outer petals. My wife rarely comments about the plants in the garden, but just this morning she was uncharacteristically all over Mrs Dudley Cross. She singled it out over all the others. blackcatgirl, when your Nur Mahal gets a little older, and those baby smooth canes begin to gracefully arch over, with those bold blooms, you are really going to like her. I guarantee it. I am glad to hear you appreciate Gruss like I do. There are so many characteristics I admire about that rose. Only 15" of rain so far this year in Austin? Wow ... I guess I shouldn't complain. There are many sculptural looking native Live Oaks in your area. I hope they are doing okay during such a drought. Hi, Mari. My Reine des Violettes has been napping recently. But she does have one plump bud that is getting close to opening. I'm wondering if that will be the last one from her this year. Randy

Most of the remaining leaves are in the 2.5 to 3.5 cm range. Because the largest leaves in the original photo were devoured, I'm guessing the longest was around 4.0 cm. In Texas parlance, that's "smaller than a live oak's, but bigger than a yaupon's". For reference, the fence boards are about 3 3/8 inches wide. Don't recall seeing lonicera nitida around here, though our hardiness zone is okay. Must be other reasons there's little or no mention on area university or nursery web sites. Appears more common in the US Pacific Northwest. EDIT: Added link to a fact sheet which gives leaf length for Chinese privet in the range of 2 to 5 cm. Here is a link that might be useful: Ligustrum sinense fact sheet This post was edited by bostedo on Wed, Oct 23, 13 at 21:59

Well, I was at the Dallas Arboretum yesterday afternoon looking for an answer to my own question and here is what I found: Tulips green tips starting to poke up through the ground. Flowering Quince just barely starting to flower. Winter Honeysuckle blooming like crazy. Gingko and Cherry Trees with swollen buds. Other than that, nada! And now there is snow in the forecast again for Tuesday...but I see a quick warm up within two days, so this is better that the nasty weather is more short lived by this point of the winter!

Dear Rebecca, Like Bob, I too live in a completely different zone (5). But a great place to start is by reading a book by Sally & Andy Wasowski called 'Native Texas Gardening: Maximum Beauty Minimum Upkeep.' Sally and her husband are native Texans who have travelled throughout the midwest, west and southwest and written books on native plants for each region. I have a copy of her widely popular Gardening with Prairie Plants for folks in the midwest. It was the best. What's really great is that her books give step by step instruction on how to create a garden - includes plant lists, loads of pictures, examples of native gardens and so on. I would really focus on native plants specific to the southwest before installing the usual garden center stuff - there's already too many exotics out there (particularly in the warmer zones) that are supposedly well-behaved and are escaping into what's left of our native habitats. It's a little harder to find some of these plants but I'm sure there are nurseries in your area or through mail order that will be glad to assist. I like your idea of the stone path - that will look very cool. Good Luck with garden and please send pictures after the installation.