Patty, yes, it is a viola. I can't grow pansies- they up and die on me. The little white flower is paludosum daisy, an annual. The pathways were not designed, pippi. I had extra Arizona flagstone from my kitchen floor project, and I had mud around my four raised vegetable beds, so I threw the flagstones down between the beds. Ten years later, the veggies are gone and the flagstones are still tripping me. I'm re-leveling a section this week because it has gotten so deadly. Renee

Thank you everyone. I have really been working on improving my soil the past three years and that has made a big difference, I believe. Good soil - good plants. Good rainfall, this year too. Belinda's Dream looks like a big, fat pink Snowflake. And she smells divine. Has a good strong fragrance. She likes full sun, no ifs, ands or buts about it. That 5-inch bloom is on a plant that is only two feet tall. I rooted it last spring. I just stuck a broken off branch in the ground, and no kidding, she rooted in about three weeks and began blooming within a month. Poor little plant was bent over double with those big blooms. She bloomed all summer last year. This year, her blooms are even bigger. I totally love Belinda's Dream. In front of her is a rose cutting I got from plantmaven. I think it is Rosa, Heritage, although I can't be certain. She is only 18 inches tall and has bloomed twice already this year. She bloomed last year too, but much smaller blooms on an 8 inch plant. She has a strong, lovely old rose fragrance and sweet baby pink color. I just cannot get enough roses! It is my new freak! If I keep on like this, I will have to change my home name from Iowa Hills Herb Farm to Rose Hill Cottage! Thanks again everyone. I'll be sure to tell my rose-girls how much you all love them. ~Annie

Marilyn - I love alyssum and actually I found a packet of seeds from two years ago, but I'm giving it a whirl anyhow. It's an annual here. I even tried saving the seeds from a previous year's plants, although i didn't have much luck with those germinating. Annette - ...I've been drawn to dianthus this year for some reason. They never caught my eye before, but I love the color of the leaves and contrast with the flower color. I even bought one for another bed I'm doing -it's called neon star I think. It's a bright magenta/pink with silvery grey foliage. So pretty. I hadn't thought about using them for a border. I like that idea. Tracy - I love the color of ageratum and have used it at my other house, although here it's an annual. I used it anyhow and it filled in so nicely. I even bought some for my Mom this year. I havent' had much luck finding flats of them yet believe or not. I guess I have to expand my search. If I wanted petunias, marigolds or impatiens I'd be all set! :) Here's a story you'll appreciate. My mom is just getting into gardening (she's 73). She lives in a condo, but has a small patch about 15 feet long and 18 inches wide. Last fall i bought her spring bulbs and she loved them. And all of her neighbors commented on it and now it's catching on. So she wanted something perennial to cover up the dying foliage of the tulips. She decided to go to the store and see what she can find. She called me up and was so proud and said "I bought flowers!" I asked what they were and she said "african violets." I said, Mom, those are indoor plants, but you get an A for effort! hehehe...we both had a good laugh. But I give her credit for taking on something new! :)

So yeah, you can't just broadcast seed for some of the wildflowers and expect them to grow thru the turf. Especially when the clovers and bird's foot trefoil are supplying the lawn with lots of nitrogen, (and shade in the drought times) and keeping the turf lush! So I have transplanted quite a few tumble mustard, high knapweed, chicory, fleabane, smartweed, mouse-ear hawkweed, autumn hawkbit, etc. this fall. I transplanted some during the summer months with varying degrees of success - I hope these fall plantings work better. The problem with transplanting them during the hot sunny months: they don't take as well; I'm putting them in bare spots and disturbing the soil which leads to a lot of unwanted weeds; and of course they need to be watered which leads to a huge number of sprouting unwanted weeds! Next summer, I have a different plan. I will cover any bare spots with corn gluten meal which acts as a pre-emergent herbicide for several weeks and then decomposes to a fertilizer by the time the weather turns cooler and I'm ready to plant stuff without just getting undesirable weeds like plantain, knotweed, and crabgrass. My plan was initially to not have to water this lawn anyway and now I see that watering in times of drought really leads to unwanted weeds. The lawn is thin topsoil on top of pure sand so it has always died every few years when a bad enough drought hit. I have mulched endless leaves into the lawn for 3 years and with the great number of earthworms that brings, my soil is getting better. Also the shade and nitrogen provided by the clovers, vetch, and bird's foot helps the actual grass stay green. Some plants simply do NOT like to be transplanted - bird's foot is one of those. Fortunately, you can collect seed from the pods somewhere where it is growing and broadcast them over the lawn and it will eventually take hold. It is very small the first year (I haven't even been able to determine when it is sprouting), noticeable the second year if you know what to look for, and healthy and flowering by the third year. There is a saying: "the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, and the third year it leaps!" White and red clover and violets and of course dandelions will all grow easily if seed is spread over the turf, especially if it is mown very short first. The next thing I'm working on is which weeds help or kill other grasses and weeds. Obviously wide leaves like dandelion, plantain, and violets deny grass beneath them water and sun and can choke it out. But I'm more interested in chemicals that plants produce to fight or help competition. There is a lot of info available on companion planting for vegetables but for weeds - not much. So I'm just watching and watching. I had one patch of a lush green prostrate knotweed that killed everything beneath it. Another patch of lush pinkish knotweed that did the same. But regular knotweed is not as bad. Autumn hawkbit (like delicate dandelions) inhibits sprouting near it, even of its own seed! But it doesn't bother growing grass. Mouse-ear hawkweed does the same and so sends runners like strawberries to propagate itself into dense mats which will then smother grass. The first line of defense against unwanted weeds is to mow the grass very short, but this tactic is NOT available when the goal is to have lots of wanted weeds. Next summer I plan to try spraying leaves of dandelions, plantain, and violets with vinegar and a tsp. of dish soap on a hot, sunny day. This is said to kill the leaves but not the root. That's O.K. with me if it works. I just want to hold back these aggressive weeds from taking over.