lol - you must not understand the obsession! I have books on roses, beds with only roses, roses in every bed, and pour over new roses to buy. I don't do that with any other flower.

Yes, other flowers are pretty and they can compliment the roses, but the roses are the star.

I have to say that my love for roses began when I realized that they would actually grow for me. I fell head over heels when I realized that my roses bloom from May to October, and no other flower does that for so long and returns each year! In addition, you can get a rose to fit in almost any space - 2' to 20'.

Any other obsessions? Well, I have realized that I do love evergreens. But just because they make my roses look so good. :)

Big blue lacecap and mophead hydrangeas. I'm seaside and they're a tradition there. They practically glow in the salt air. Planted with daylilies in front. But for my town garden, I love red oriental poppies which last only a day in the hot June sun - they burn up like thin silk.

Oh, good questions, campanula! My former plant love objects now reviled: annuals (who wants to plant again every year?). asters (they spread and crowd out everything else near them). Dahlias (I hate having to dig them up every fall and find some place to store them). Poorly designed garden gloves that get holes and get stiff. The scents of summersweet (clethra alnifolia) and of sweet autumn clematis - reminds me of cat urine. What I wish I could grow is Himalayan blue poppies (meconopsis betonicifolia) but alas, it is not to be.

Carol

Daylilies, I enjoy hybridizing my own and seeing what you get, its fairly easy and fun. The hard part is getting one with good plant habits that match the face...

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I like perennials as well, especially for cutting purposes. Regular lillium is very nice and very fragrant, but if I chose one other besides roses its daylillies, I have about 500 seedlings set to flower for the first time this year, it takes 2-3 years in my climate to start them from seed and see resultes.

Silverkelt

Frustrated with ever-encroaching areas of shade (the trees I planted GREW), I began searching for plants that would tolerate those new conditions. Now shade gardening is something of a secondary obsession. Ferns, hellebores, terrestrial orchids, hydrangeas, unusual aspidistras -- those and other shade lovers are some of the things that grab me these days.

A particular fixation are climbing hydrangeas and the sundry other species that erroneously are called climbing hydrangeas (like Decumaria & Schizophragma). All of those I situate so they can climb those *&!%#$+ trees.

Most of my flower obsessions, other than roses, are temporary or sporadic.

My garden started decades ago because I was totally obsessing over a pic I saw of pink oriental poppies. Took a couple years to find the exact right ones and to nurse them along, etc., but then they became self-sufficient and I don't do much of anything to/for them other than enjoy them decades later even though their blooming period is short.

Accompanying the pink poppy obsession was my iris obsession. However, once you made your selection and planted them, iris pretty much take care of themselves. Sure are showy when they bloom!

Next came peony obsession. They are blooming great decades later--don't need much from me to do it either.

Then at some point I started thinking about summer blooms. Tried various and sundry things--none too compelling--until I latched onto roses! Everything else now is evaluated in terms of how compatible it is in relation to my roses. I love my hydrangeas and had a temporary obsession with them, same with clematis and bulb lilies and phlox and salvia, etc.--but none have held my attention like my roses.

Oh yes, I have some very nice daylilies here and there--nice, but I just can't "love" a daylily or a daisy or a geranium or a mum or whatever like I love roses. All those plants are out there, part of the total effect, but woe to any plant that detracts from my roses!

Let's face it--a temporary obsession is not a true obsession. That's reserved for roses!

Kate

carol6ma, please don't anguish about this. Only about six people in the whole world can grow Himalayan blue poppies in their gardens and five of them live in a certain county in England that closely mimics its native habitat. (All right, I mostly made that up.)

Okay, thinking hard about past loves. I was obsessed with bonsais and read every book, but never grew a single one. Grew lots of houseplants, none of them very well. It wasn't until I owned a house, and I was in my thirties by then, that I took an interest in outdoor gardening, and fortuitously not long after that I discovered the world of old roses. Thusly, I don't really have an illicit (gardening) passion to confess to. Interest in other plants came as an adjunct to the roses, and apparently I'm not alone in this.

Ingrid

I love several different hydrangeas. Wish I could find one that had fragrance. I bought an Annabelle hydrangea a few years ago and after I brought it home was convinced that it was fragrant. I later figured out I must have been smelling some other fragrance that was wafting over to where this hydrangea was. Bummer.

I also love gardenias and Osmanthus fragrans (Sweet Olive or Tea Olive). When the Osmanthuses (is that the plural?) bloom, they fill my yard with a such an incredible fragrance that people will often say, "What is that smell?" See a theme with fragrance?

But, to be honest, none of these are "obsessions." Only roses hold that place. The others are "supporting cast" to the stars of my garden--the queen of flowers--roses.

I love Old Roses grown with other heirloom flowers.
Other antique flowers I've grown include Old fashioned pinks, geraniums, violets, and sweetpeas from the 1800's, and the Madonna Lily, which is the white lily that is shown in paintings since the 1400's.
I regret I never thought to ask my mother for divisions from her primrose collection. She grew drumstick primroses, fairy primroses, candleabra primroses, old gold lace varieties, that I've never seen in a nursery, but shared among her freinds who also collected them. These were more beautiful to my eyes, than the common modern primroses sold in big box nurseries, especially that vivid electric blue hued primrose that makes me wish to run away screaming from it. Not really... Perhaps a bit.
Heirloom flowers which have more fragrance, to my nose;
- French and English violets from the 1800's,
-Parma violets
- heirloom Sweetpeas. I love giving bouquets of deeply fragrant Spencer sweetpeas to my neighbors and freinds. A flower shared is twice loved.
-'Little Gem' a fragrant wild carnation grown in European gardens for centuries.
The wild English primrose, is of a more subdued hue of yellow than most modern types I see. It has a wonderfully delicate fragrance. I've only been able to buy it once in the U.S. but the plant was consumed overnight by evil snails. As far as I can tell most American nurseries sell a cultivar under the species name, one that has bigger flowers of a brighter yellow, with thicker flower stems, and of great loss in my opinion, blooms that have only the merest trace of scent.

When I find the room for it, I'd like to try growing a yellow fragrant Petunia vine, beside a climbing white rose. I've read in a magazine article that vine petuanias, which are fragrant, were popular through the 1940's, though difficult to find now, except from an heirloom seed company. I'm also considering which color of heirloom Clematis to grow.

Thank you for your question,
Luxrosa

I have no experience growing most of these yet, because I have a new first garden... but there are particular flowers that I've always adored... roses being one of them.
My others are:
blue hydrangeas
blue morning glories
flowering cherries, apricots and plums
wild violets
camellias
wisteria

:)

Admittedly, a rose obsession doesn't leave much room for others unless you count the obsession to find SOME satisfactory companion plants for these roses. I'm really starting to hate the sight of mulch. Daylilies would definitely be my other obsession since I laid out about $100 for them last fall. At the rate of 'buy one get 2 free' you can figure out how many I got - only after taking a whole day web searching for just the right ones, particularly interested in late blooming varieties that blend with my roses. I do think they're beautiful, but they're also easy - except that I'm noticing aphids on them already!! And I have no clue what to do about them.

I was all set to have a hydrangea compulsion, but I really hate the bare sticks for six months of the year. I'll have to be satisfied with mostly impatiens and 'Mona' lavender in my shade. I bought a ton of gladiolus bulbs recently. They could become an obsession if they do well and come back at a decent rate (doubtful here). I love irises and would love to be successfully obsessed with them, but I can't figure out which ones to get. I kind of have a hosta obsession, but since I can't grow them here (except as annuals) that simplifies things. Asiatic lilies would be nice to obsess over and all those tall blooming plants that don't grow here. I think I have an obsession for Zone 8.

Sherry

For me it's fragrant plants. Things like jasmine, lavender, gardenias, heliotrope, scented clematis, sweet peas... anything scented really. Of course, nothing comes close to roses.

Other than old-world style roses, I love, love, love lavender. I grow several varieties. And I love growing herbs.

Juliet

Roses are just one part of my overall gardening obsession. I am obsessed with finding plants that are either 1. highly fragrant, 2. bloom in winter, or 3. bloom from spring to frost non stop. Not much gets a spot in my garden unless it fits into one of those categories. Mama says I'm a garden snob.
Roses bloom from spring to frost and take up a huge part of my garden! Not many plants will do that. It's the whole reason I got into roses in the first place!
Obsessions I have lost over time include anything that must go in the greenhouse. I built a greenhouse but now only use it for citrus. Anything else isn't worth the effort.

Where there is sun, roses are the queen and the supporting casts of perennials, bulbs and shrubs are just there to help make the garden look fuller and set off the roses or hide their imperfections or give me something to love in between flushes.

But in the shade ... hostas, hydrangeas, rhododendrons, ferns, azaleas. That is a whole 'nother world of plants to love. Where I live now, my yard is divided into sun and shade rooms so I've had the opportunity to grow both. But maybe most telling, I can tell you something about every rose I have, but can't remember the names of the hostas or the hydrangeas!

Primroses are quite easy to grow from seed. And the wild, pale yellow type (vulgaris) is not too hard to find. You need to chill the seed flats in the refrigerator for them to germinate that is all.

I think my other main obsession is reading. But I also like fragrant plants.

Echeverias and Aloes and Agaves and Aeoniums and Koi. I'm all over the place.

I absolutely love clematis with climbing roses. Especially the viticella clematis. They show each other off so prettily.
I also have a love affair with lilies. My favourite is Lilium regale. It suits formal and cottage gardens, and oh! that perfume.
Daisy

There is little room in my garden for other flowers except as companion plants in rose borders and beds. I checked my plant lists and there are very few species with more than 12 varieties. I have 26 clematis, 18 rhododendrons, 12 different delphiniums, 12 hardy geraniums, 12 peonies, 12 hostas, 19 primulas, 12 varieties of houseleek, 18 tulips and 12 thymes. Hardly important collections compared to 180 different roses. If I were forced to move to a smaller garden I think I would grow more auriculas.

Put me in the same category as the duchesse, roses get the sunny spots. Our acreage here is mostly open former-pasture, so there's lots of sun. The only dilemma is how to design new gardens, which roses to put into these gardens, and how to arrange them. I love the challenge of creating mixed rose beds, a lot like I used to create mixed perennial beds with former gardens.

I have two new gardens planned for this spring ... a geometric knot-style garden to house my collection of Ralph Moore miniatures, and a mock cemetery garden for the roses I have collected from cemeteries. I even have an antique cemetery gate to use for the entrance. I just know that visitors are probably going to think that this garden is the original cemetery for this old property ... no sign of where the former inhabitants were buried, unfortunately, or I'd landscape that area with roses, too.

In the shady places, which tend to be on the edges of things, I have borders and beds of mixed shade-loving perennials. The original shade garden is under a line of cedar trees beside a retaining wall, and it contains mostly hostas, with some helebores, arum, ginger, and a primrose or two thrown in for color.

The pavillion under the pecan tree (otherwise known as the Tiki Hut) got the newest shade garden last fall. This area gets almost no direct sun on two sides, and part sun on the other two sides. I have planted more hostas, lots of helebores, may apples, at least four types of hydrangeas (some of these are rescues, too), and CAMELLIAS. Eventually, this area will be completely planted and landscaped, with paths and beds and NO GRASS.

I can see that my recent obsession with camellias is going to compliment my rose addiction quite nicely. Camellias grow best in areas where roses struggle, so I am using them on the fringes of the rose gardens ... where things get a bit shady next to trees and structures, for example.

For my entire gardening life (which has been most of my life) I have wanted to grow roses. There was always a reason why I couldn't ... mostly because I had too much shade wherever we lived at the time. Now that I finally have a property where roses will thrive, I have definitely been making up for lost time.

Connie

posted this before I went to bed and am now reading all your replies with more than a hint of recognition.
Firstly, daylilies: I was aware that these are incredibly popular in the US and I can see why - I love the yellows,(Golden Chimes, Corky, Marian Vaughn and lilioasphodel) especially if they are fragrant. Fabulous, SilverKelt. Dublinbay - how well I remember seeing peachy oriental poppies and wanting them - sadly, a mislabelled buy ended up with horrid scarlet ones which turn black at the egdes - 6 years later, it still appears despite many attempts to get every bit of root out.Irises went for compost too as they were so ephemeral, blink and you miss them and the leaves looked a bit sordid for most of the year.
Carol, Jaxondel and Gardenatlanta - hydrangeas are an unknown for me BUT, I have been looking hrard at paniculatas and I do love the climbers such as schizophragma. I fear getting pulled into another costly obsession though.
Ah, Luxrosa, I believe I can practically smell your garden from here - how very beautiful and charming it must be.
Le jardin - I had an eye-opener this year when our local botanic garden opened a lavender bed with around 50 different lavenders, some more tender than other. Afraid to say my son and I went a bit mad taking little cuttings so in one season, my lavender collection has grown twentyfold - truly gorgeous.
Mariannese - auriculas - aren;t they the business - all winter, I get the odd sporadic bloom in the grenhouse and through the dismal dark days of January, I rush out to the greenhouse several times a day to sniff my auricula (sounds slightly perverse doesn't it?)
Sherry, try the species glads and smaller butterfly and primulinus and nanus types - they are quite breath-taking and lovely companions to roses are the common magenta glads (byzantinus and illyricus or something) and instead of asiatic lilies, the speciosum, regale and orientale lilies are beautiful and fragrant.
Finally, meconopsis - how many hours have I spent salivating over the blue poppies and not just blues but the yellow regia, the red nepalensis and punicea - the flowres, the beautiful rosette leaves. My god, I have an annual pilgrimage to Scotland- where they grow practically like weeds.
Oh yes, good job I do not have acid soil or I fear that rhododendrons would have had me in a feverish grip - they were the flowers of my youthful mucking about in municipal parks in the north of England - I love, love, love the dainty species. And now I am remembering magnolias....ooh, I could go on....and on.
Still, I believe I am quite clear exactly what you all mean by an obsession.
Cheers, Suzy
please forgive dodgy spellings, cannot be bothered to go through and correct.

This current winter that killed SO MUCH has pushed roses from the top of my list to "over the top", meaning they not only lived but prospered, blooming non-stop. But there are a few other beloved plants in my yard that make me happy also.

1.Daylilies. Like the roses they aren't too fussy. And they come in all my favorite rose colors.
2. Bamboo. Went through this phase a couple years ago and have several around the yard. Clumping nonagressive types not the "running" kind. Lots of colors: blue, white, yellows, greens. Makes a nice screen from the neighbors.
3.Fruit trees and tomatoes. I'm a peasant at heart and love getting dinner from the garden: bananas, collards, lettuce, lemons and limes, tomatoes, basil, dill. Some time in the future there will be oranges, sapodilla, figs, blackberries and coconuts.
4.Butterfly plants. I plant native larval plants to attract females to visit and lay their eggs. Orange-barred sulfurs, monarchs gulf fritillaries, peacocks, giant swallowtails, gold-rims, buckeyes and black swallowtails visit.

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Gulf fritillary on passionflower
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March 2009 tomato harvest
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in case you think I've got a big yard :-) it's not (see the rose?)
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tomato plant, banana tree and Carnation rose
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Carnation-one of my few roses large enough to be photographed as more than a blossom.
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Denise

Old roses (and a few of those luscious David Austins) are the stars for me, as far as flowering plants go. None other compare, and are merely used as companions for the roses.
But there are three groups of non-blooming plants that I value almost as highly as the roses:
- Ornamental trees (Japanese Maples, Yaupon Holly, Redbud, Eve's Necklace)
- Ferns (especially autumn ferns, they evoke a sense of tranquility for me)
- Fragrant herbs ('Provence' lavender, basil, lemon thyme, eucalyptus, rosemary)

Randy

My first interest was in native plants, but roses (ogrs) took over when, like hollygarden, I found out they would grow for me. So now the sunny areas are dominated by roses. The shady areas (most of the lot) are tend to have natives. I also like species. I have species roses, camellias, daylilies, tulips and lilies. (With nonnative species you have to be careful not to get invasive pests.) I have lots of daffodils and other bulbs -- mainly daffodils. The other bulbs help me appreciate the daffodils. :) Finally herbs for cooking and a few fragrant one-off shrubs. If someone raves about the fragrance of something, it's sure to go on my list.

Mike

My other garden passions are evergreen Azaleas -- primarily the Indica hybrids; Camellias -- a few japonicas, but mostly sasanquas and inter-specific sasanqua hybrids; and those few 'iron-clad' big-leaf Rhododenrons that can survive the prolonged periods of heat common in my zone. I'm mad about Dogwood, and I've slowly gathered quite a collection of Cercis (Redbud) varieties. Of those, the C. reniformis trees are my favorites because they maintain such healthy, shiny foliage thoughout the season. C. reniformis 'Texas White' is a special favorite.

Campanula: Both you and jaxondel mentioned above that you admire climbers like schizophagma. Another climbing hydrangea 'cousin' that does beautifully for gardeners in Britain is Pileostegia viburnoides. To be able to grow that plant, I think I just might be willing to sacrifice a few roses. Alas, I might as well attempt to grow those Himalayan blue poppies that Carol longs for.

Roses have taken over at my home and in my life. There are a couple of other obsessions, though. In summer, it's all about tomatoes. I love having an herb garden, too. I've got a nice fern collection for the shady spots.

As for blooming plants, I was crazy about salvias at one point, collected about 20 species, and still grow most of them - they are such uncomplaining, long-flowering plants for a Mediterranean garden. Another favorite is species geraniums - again, I've collected them, at least a dozen varieties. I also really love phlox and heuchera (coral bells).

I have a fragrace garden by the entrance to my back yard, filled with fragrant roses, alyssum, heliotrope, Salvia clevelandii, herbs, and lavender. Plants that scent the air or release their scent when you brush them.

I've outgrown my fondness for things that don't thrive in our climate - no zone-pushing for me, I want my plants easy to grow. I also don't care much for primary-colored flowers and the sorts of annuals that you bed out. I'm also not a day lily person, although I admire them in other's gardens. I begrudge giving them sunny space where I could grow a rose, surrounded by geraniums. Or an heirloom tomato.
Anita

Roses are my favorites, but they are certainly not the only plants I love. Other favorites are lilies, lilacs, and peonies. I also like rhododendrons, but they are miserable in my alkaline soil and eventually decline, so I've pretty much given up on them. My garden grows a variety of perennials and bulbs. I enjoy growing herbs. In the past few years I've been planting fruit trees and grapes as well, and in a few more years hope to have a nice little orchard, though I have to battle the squirrels over that. Since I'm already battling gophers underground it doesn't seem quite fair, but at least the fence succeeds in keeping out the deer. Finally, my DH has been building boxes with wire on the bottom. These are raised beds for vegetables. I think we now have all the sunny spots filled. One more small area off the back patio is probably going to be devoted to natives. Right now I have it mulched to keep down weeds, until I am ready to turn my attention there.

Rosefolly

For me old garden roses are my very favorite. Which started when I too realized I could grow them and how stunning they looked and how long they bloomed for. I am obsessed with cottage gardening and love the old fashion favorites that have been around since the 1800's. To me they enhance the roses not detract from them. I have another obsession and that's herbs. I just love them, not sure why. I mean I only cook with a few of them yet I want as many as I can grow. :O) ~Meghan

For me I would add lilies. They actually are my first flower love.

Unfortunately here in New England there is now a European leaf beetle that is not yet well controlled and it's devastating garden lilies. An effort is underway to introduce parasitoidal insects that only feed upon the beetle, but they aren't yet widespread.

:(

(Yep, that's the culprit,,,york rose. Those things are the stuff of my nightmares!) I grow hundreds of lilies and those red lily beetles devour my lilies if I don't keep up with squishing them....yuk. They are a huge problem here in New Hampshire. There really is no way else to get rid of them, (much like the japanese beetles on my roses). It is hell to try to control them but I love lilies so much so I hand-pick & squish them several times each day all summer long. I have to wear gloves because they will stain your fingers red....ughh. I grow hundreds of lilies from every class; asiatics, orientals, OT, OA, trumpets, species, and even daylilies. (I just posted some pictures over on the Rose Gallery that have some of my lilies along with roses.) I started growing lilies long before roses and they were my original obsession but once I started growing the old roses, as much as I love lilies nothing else on this earth compares. Another problem of lily-growing besides the dreaded beetles are the chipmunks and moles which enjoy the tasty bulbs. I have spent hundreds feeding the rodents!
But of course, I have many other plants here that I enjoy but are in no way any close competition for the roses.
I have many cultivars of clematis growing with my climbing
roses, as well as lilacs, peonies, perennials of all kinds, delphiniums, foxgloves, water plants and waterlilies, siberian iris, berry bushes, herbs, summer-flowering bulbs like dahlias, gladiolus, and begonias, etc., many different kinds of hostas, and fruit trees, conifers and japanese maples.

Roses are the only plants that have taken over my yard, my life, and my heart. All the other plants are just here to
keep the roses entertained.

Celeste

campanula, do you say (kam-PAN-you-la or kam-pa-NU-la)? Just curious.

Sherry

Roses are the only plant I am truly obsessed over, but there are others I love to collect and grow. I started out with a semi-shaded backyard and grew an extensive collection of native plants and wildflowers. I ended up having a lot of trees cut down later on in order to grow other things... :)

I have grown very fond of fragrant viburnums because they smell so good and seem to thrive with little care here, and offer brilliant fall foliage too. I grow a large number of clematis with my climbing roses -- a match made in heaven. I love primulas and salvias and campanulas among the perennials. Delphiniums taunt me because I keep planting different kinds and they keep dying on me, even the improved New Zealand hybrids. Because I love fragrance so much, oriental lillies and daphnes are also special to me, but nothing compares to the Rose.

Those awful red lily beetles! I gave up on all lilium and now grow only hemerocallis lilies. I remember when those beetles first showed up in Channel 2's (public TV) Victory Garden only a mile away from my town garden and I thought they were cute: bright red, natty little bugs like VW cars. I learned my lesson (ugh! the horrible stuff covering stems and leaves!) and decided not to fight them, just stop raising anything that would attract them as food.

Carol

So many gardeners in New England have given up on lilies that now the researchers trying to release the beetle's predators are having difficulties time figuring out whether the predators are becoming established or not.

By the way, we in southern New England & the Mid-Atlantic will next have to start paying attention to just exactly which Viburnums we plant in our yard. Forewarned is forearmed.

Good thread.
Roses are the queens of my garden, of course, but queens need courts and the courts ideally are brilliant. I do most sincerely believe that a garden of just roses is sterile and dull, no matter how wonderful the roses may be. I also have fairly frequent infatuations. I can't remember ever having actually fallen out of love with a longed-for plant, but some just don't work out for me, and I either forget them or I set them aside with a sigh and ongoing regret. Acidophile plants don't grow here. I can forego azaleas, though the deciduous fragrant kinds that are close to the species are beautiful. Camellias are harder to let go: I currently have a small one in a pot, and others may join it. I honestly regret blueberries. Rhododendrons are an example of a vast and beautiful class of plants that I can perfectly well live without--though, if I lived in a country where rhododendrons were what prospered, I would grow rhododendrons. I still have a bee in my bonnet about ginger lilies, and if I can get roots (tubers, whatever they're called) without spending a fortune, I'll try them again in pots.
I have unsatisfied longings for varieties of box and of daphne: plants can be had, but they cost too much. I lust for lilacs, and intend to get them one day, but it will take time and the lilacs will be a life project. I love aromatic plants, which are reasonably priced, available, grow well for me, and are easy to propagate. I've loved lavender for years, and fortunately it loves my garden; and I've just discovered sages in all their magnificent variety. Rosemary, phlomis, artemisia, perovskia. Thyme is fussy and dies out, unfortunately because I greatly adore thyme.
Each successive wave of desire settles down, and if the desired plants work for my conditions I add them to my growing harem, knowing them and loving them in all their beauty and variety. Costs are a limiting factor: I can't go into the collection of peonies in a big way, not because they're not wonderful but because they're simply expensive for my pocketbook. The other limit is time: I don't have enough of it to keep track of all my loved plants, recording names and keeping them labeled; hundreds of roses are work enough for my collector's instincts.
Other passions, satisfied and not: clematis, naturally; osmanthus; irises, which are a prime flower here; evergreen shrubs in general; magnolias, which are a killer longing, as they're hard to site here, but not so hard I can renounce them with a light heart, and they're among the most meltingly beautiful of flowers. So far I've been strangely immune to daylily lust. I could very easily fall over the precipice and fall madly in love with tender cyclamen. I appreciate hellebores more every year, but they're hard to site in my garden--I may have more room for them in a few years. Anything that smells wonderful is a candidate. I wish I could find a nursery that offered a decent collection of honeysuckle. Barberries are exciting.
Oh, and I forgot: Sansevierias, of which I have a modest collection: the polar opposite to roses, in terms of what they have to offer in plant beauty. I love them, and I want more, who knows why. Also I'm fond of succulents for their grand sculptural qualities, and I particularly love agaves.
Melissa
P.S. I know those beetles. They love fritillarias too, I'm afraid.

do you say (kam-PAN-you-la or kam-pa-NU-la)? Just curious.

I've encountered both.

I think the preferred pronunciation is kam-PAN-yew-la. I'm linking a nifty pronunciation guide which may be used in one of a couple of ways . . . Scroll down to a box on the left where you can select the plant in question and actually hear the term being pronounced.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pronunciation Guide for Plants

I love and try to collect anything fragrant. I have a lot of nonprime rose space, north exposure, and am looking for winter structure and early blooming things that give a lift in the off times. Gardenatlanta, there actually are a couple hydrangeas with fragrance - an early blooming one that Gregg Lowery carries, Fragrant Splash - a scandens type in his catalog, and several of the quercefolias - I'm trying Alice. I've also found fragrant species rhododendrons and camellias, along with the usual suspects, daphnes and sarcococca, and a wonderful semidecidous honeysuckle that blooms all winter, called Winter Beauty.

hi, i say kamPANula. Sympathies for the lily-lovers. Lily beetle is a blight - not just for the lilies which have weathered them with frequest squashing - but fritillaries (a previous fad) are a thing of the past. They simply do not recover from a lily bettle attack.
reading this thread, time and again, i find myself nodding, thinking oh yes, how I love those. In fact, I am now thinking that I am merely greedy as my lusting-for list is practically endless. This is one of the best things about gardening though - there is always something more to try, to smell, to touch and grow. We are blessed with a life devoid of boredom.

I think I must be greedy as well - I love everything, especially old-fashioned plants. I love flowering shrubs, especially roses, but also mock orange, viburnum, bridal-wreath spirea, flowering quince. Unfortunately they don't seem to be grown much anymore. I also have tons of perennials. I could have more space for roses but I can't bear to rip out other loved plants. I could really get into dahlias but the roses need the prime spots.

I also start many, many annual seedlings inside under lights that I have NO room for. I also hate to toss self-seeded volunteers, so I just move them around. I must have moved 50 foxgloves last year! We also love our vegetables. We make a very big deal about peas every year.

My first obsession was scented geranus (peagoriums), but that came to an end when I left CA for colder winters. Right now roses are the only obsession. Recently, I've been getting into hydrangeas and camelias, but its neither has reached the obsessive stage yet. I love anything from the salix/willow family and anything twisted, curly, hanging or otherwise unusual. I have had an herb garden since I was 10 years old--it is always the first garden I put in. And I couldn't have a garden without johnny-jump-ups or snapdragons.