Molie, I really like those 'Percy Wiseman'. I like that your pic shows the color evolution of the shrubs as they go from bud to bloom. If I didn't have a constant war with deer and Rhodies, I'd love to plant one. LOL!! I always dream of winning the lottery! Not for plants, but for a deer fence, another well, a long fence along the side..... We didn't do any of the rock work ourselves. We were VERY lucky in that our piece of property had all the rock buried on it from when they blasted through the road. As they dug the foundation, well and gas lines, all the rock was coming up. We saved it in a corner of the yard and a couple years after the house was done we brought someone in to put it all to good use. One of my favorite things he did was make us a stone staircase. Pixielou, I would love to see a broad pic of all those iris in bloom. It looks like you have a beautiful collection. You also just ID'd my clematis. My mom gave it to me and probably told me the name which I promptly forgot. I do have a bad habit of not keeping track of the names of things I have planted. Steve, that Itoh is KILLER!!! I'll definitely have to keep my eyes peeled for that one. I just picked up 'Bartzella' but I think that one is going to be so "common" when it's all said and done. Did you get that one locally, or mail order? Some of them can break the bank! Kpaquette, I love your garden. You have a beautiful house. I agree with Nhbabs about moving the urns just into the garden to widen your entryway. I love those urns by the way. Do you have to repaint them often? Do you keep them out all winter? I really like the way you used foliage in the garden for a lot of interest. Which baptisia is that? It is so healthy and huge. Can you get us a pic of the entire front yard? It looks like you really have some great curb appeal. The slate path is beautiful.

pixie lou, I love the bright white of the shasta daisies. The nasturtium is a nice color. Do you start from seeds each spring? PM2, my patch may not be big enough. I just started last year with 3 plants. As for bees, I don't have many. I don't know why. Could be that the last owner used 'many chemicals' as quoted from the next door neighbors. Could be because there were very few flowers when we first moved in....like 2 butterfly bushes and 4 poppies. BTW, the oakleaf hydrangea is beautiful. Claire, how does that Itea virginica smell? nhbabs, I like that Clematis 'Fascination'. terrene, thanks. My crazy dog has been scaring off all forms of wild life except for the occasional deer and cats. I planted some sunflowers and have been worried that the deer will find them. Putting a fence is not ideal since the sunflowers are in the front yard and they will be at least 5 feet tall. Probably, should of thought of it before planting but I wanted colors in the hot southwest spot in the yard. -Tina This post was edited by Tina_n_Sam on Wed, Jun 26, 13 at 18:59

Pixie Lou, you have a lot of nice lilies. I only have a few because of the RLLB. I just couldnâÂÂt keep them clean if I had too many. As it is, the âÂÂOraniaâ this year looked fine until after it bloomed I noticed the foliage has a fair amount of holes in it. You canâÂÂt cut the stalks back to the ground after blooming, right? I would like to have enough to smell them in the house, but nope. The âÂÂOraniaâ does make the whole front walkway a very pleasant trip when they are blooming. And thanks, glad the comparison of peppers was interesting. I think growing hot peppers does make a difference, they seem to be a more vigorous and shapely shrub that produces more and smaller peppers. The large sweet peppers seem to be more difficult to get more than a few per plant. Thyme2dig, what a pretty daylily border! IâÂÂm not always pulled to purchase a daylily and some of that is the way I see them being used. The way you have planted them all together that way without competition from other plants and with that great shrub border behind it, I really like it a lot. What is that dark shrub in photo #3? And is that Nasturtium at the base of your purple tripod? Jane, I donâÂÂt blame you about the FarmerâÂÂs Market next year. I took a couple of yearâÂÂs off from the vegetable garden and I missed it and here I am still doing it. :-) But is this year an exception? I think some years are not the greatest and this year just wasnâÂÂt. IâÂÂm going to try to salvage some of the season and go for some fall crops of Broccoli and Lettuces and Kale and other greens. This weekend IâÂÂm probably going to start. I have three squash plants without a squash between them. *sigh* Spedigrees, thatâÂÂs a good looking lily and the foliage is a lot cleaner than mine. :-)

Hi Dee. My daughter is part of the Children's Cast with Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre. This is her 4th year. She was a mouse her first 2 years. She is now on her second year as a polichinelle - the little ones who run out from under Mother Gingers skirt. She is especially excited this year since she is the "naughty" Poli - which means she gets to do cartwheels instead of returning to the skirt. This year I was asked to be a Cast Leader - which means I'm 1 of 3 trying to coordinate all the children. With 60 kids per show, 200 kids total, and 25 shows this year, it has been a ton of work. You are right how it overtakes your life. We start listening to the score the first weekend in September - audition weekend. And we watch Battle of the nutcrackers on Ovation every year (they just put the Maryinski 2006 version on demand last night - guess what I watched!). I try to get her to one of the Jose Mateo performances every year. And we usually go watch one other production of nutcracker every year. Though I will admit I'm happy to watch Swan Lake once January hits! My DD is only 9, so I have many more years of this ahead of me!