More great suggestions! I've updated my page to show zone 9b. Side yard is protected and hasn't frozen in the past 8 years. You've all got the vibe I'm after, blue containers, sunny yellow and white flowers through the year with varioius greens including chartreuse. It will come down to what I can find and what lives, then a few years to fine-tune the textures. The first acquisition was a Fireglow JM for the corner which is out - way to dark and somber in the shade. It will go elsewhere. Thanks to all!

I'm drooling over these photos. :O) Lovin' it! Karen, Amazing how we are in similar zones, but I have great difficulty in growing Zinnias and Yvonne's Salvia. It's all in the summer heat which you get but I don't. Still, I persist and this year both will again be winter sown. Shemeows, What a photo! Candy for sure. I'm getting better at containers, but wasn't quite there last year. Beautiful! Fran, That's lovely!! I can see a pumpkin/squash plant vining through between the plants. :O) Cute! Grow some Lavateras for me this year. They do well here but the deers love them too so I don't grow them anymore.

Kirk, Could you please tell me the varieties of chrysanthemums you grow? I have never grown any and could definitely use some extra flowers in the fall. I most always grow amazon for fall and this year my glads took their sweet time blooming but that worked out well because I stretched them to the max. I took a break on asters this year due to the asters yellow they get and also the bugs they draw in. I guess it's a tarnish bug, as they don't look like leaf hoppers. Where do you find seed for your New York asters? The fall aster I use is the violet colored Ruby red, available from Veseys. It's quite tall and very useful. It looks really nnice mixed in with dianthus and dahlias. I do get the odd delph blooming in the fall, not a very long stem though. Are your mums perennial, and do they last several years? Prairie girl, The way I did my subscriptions is by an 8 week period where a person or business pays in advance for the service and then a fresh bouquet of flowers arranged in a vase is delivered weekly. The next week you deliver a new one and pick up your vase from last week. Cost depends on your expense and the flowers used, distance you go, ect..It's a great way to sell your flowers if you have enough interested people, and also people who take care of the flowers. I find if they don't change the water in the vase and keep the water level up it can actually be bad advertising not to mention a waste of their money. I would give out a care sheet at the beiginning of the season and that seemed to help. Cheryl

Here's some farms/garden centers I know of, including links to their websites: Johnson's Roadside Farm in Swansea has a simple farmstand operation that I frequent. The prices here are unbeatable. The vast majority of produce they sell is grown on their farms, however some organic fruits, like California peaches, are imported (I'm guessing because they don't grow well in MA?). I choose not to buy fruits that they don't grow themselves, anyway... you can taste the difference. What else I like about Johnson's is that they sell products from a LARGE number of small, local businesses from the Providence/Fall River metro area (Landry's, Willow Tree and Star just to name a few). There is also a greenhouse that they share property with--I'm not sure if it's owned by the same people, but you can purchase annuals here (buyer beware). A 4-pack of tomatoes I bought from there all succumbed to bacterial spot on exactly the same day. Weird mojo from that greenhouse; I called them to ask if they were having bacterial spot issues with other customers or plants at their greenhouse, and the woman on the phone completely disregarded the issue and told me my plants were probably being under-fertilized. The tomatoes are dead as of tonight when I get home from work to pull them all up to throw them out. To sum up a long story: I'm not sure if the two shops are affiliated, but I'll keep patronizing the Johnson's Farmstand because aside from importing some of their fruits from California, they have some really economically focused business practices that I'd like to support. I will not shop again at the greenhouse next door though, for fear of the bacterial spot! http://www.farmfresh.org/food/farm.php?farm=930 4-Town farm near the Seekonk/Rehoboth/Swansea border has healthy--yet slightly pricey--plants every year (annual and perennial). This year I purchased two blueberry bushes, two hydrangea, and various other herbs and annuals, of which NONE show any sign of disease. Customer service here is great. They also operate a farmstand out of the same building as the flower shop. I consistently visit 4-Town farm because their produce selection is always fresh. You can tell this farm has been in the family for 5 generations... http://4townfarm.com J&L Landscape and Garden on 44 in Seekonk is a great supplier for bulk soil, stones, mulches, etc. They also offer a variety of plants. The staff was friendly and knew a lot about various species. I took issue with their recommendation that I apply insecticide (read: poison) to my cherry trees to kill the bugs one year**. I guess it's just me, but shouldn't farmers be advocating for the END of chemical fertilizers and xxxxx-icides? Seemed odd to me/the organic gardener. After a terrible failure with the product**, I have since stopped using that product and stopped returning to J&L. http://www.jandllandscapingcoinc.com/index.html LittleTree Nursery(ies?) in North Seekonk specializes in an immense selection of young trees, 'bonzai' style garden trees, and loads of those ugly evergreen trees (that are shaved like poodles). They do sell other garden related items and tools, but specialize more in landscape design. http://www.littletreenurserygroup.com/landscaping.html **PS: The chemical J&L recommended was a product from Bayer, I'm not too sure of the exact name, but it is supposed to enter the entire plant from the roots and protect for an entire year after just one application. My trees could have done with a second application this year, but after one I think I've polluted my yard enough. What a terrible, $40 product recommendation. The product works as long as there aren't immense rainfall totals washing it all away to the ocean, and even when the weather was dry, the results were minimal. My cherry trees were able to send out about 6 uneaten leaves per branch before the bugs continued their feast.