thanks for the votes, Irawon! I am going to have to move them around a little... Popo will certainly get mention in the final list... hard to put it in a color category... definitely blue green early in the season, so I believe we'll put it in blue... but it does usually green up pretty early. I have the same problem with Cutting Edge... Teaspoon, because it is so cute when its small, has gotten a reputation as a mini - but if you just plant it and grow it for a few years like any other hosta clump, it will actually become a medium sized clump of small leaves... Zilis puts it in small... I put it in medium... we'll have to work that out later, but it clearly is a favorite for lots of folks... Candy Dish will be in the Medium category, Lakeside Looking Glass is too. Lakeside Black Satin - it's right on the margin of being large, but I believe it is typically medium in most garden situations... so we'll keep that one there...

I believe that peonies need their foliage all summer to feed the roots you plan to move. I would leave the foliage on until the frost gets it. Then I go out and cut, haul away all the foliage I trimmed off them to prevent any hidden problems coming back next year. I would plan to move them in late summer, here that would be Sept. Gives them some time to settle in, leaves on still feeding them a bit, before we get fall rains started. I cover them with shredded leaves for protection from the rain washing all the dirt off. Do dig out away from the plants as you start the uprooting. With older plants you find much larger roots than what you see in the stuff at stores. You can get closer with shovel when you see the actual size roots you are dealing with. They can snap easily, so don't pull too hard. But sometimes they just are too unwieldy to manage, so breakage does happen. My mother's peonies have HUGE root balls. She has a real touch with peonies, treats them roughly in separating them because it is so hard to do, and they still come right back, bloom the next year. She is always digging them up to give some away, thinks hers are crowded. I am not that lucky with mine! Mine take longer to recover when moved, especially if I am nice to them!! Good luck with your renovation next fall.

Matt, You question surprised me because I knew that you already knew the standard answer....and you also knew that you have the know-how/experience to succeed with a mid-summer planting. But, if hearing some of us say 'go ahead' makes you feel better, then I'll say it again---go ahead and do it. Joellen, The reason many containerized trees often do not do well and/or have a high failure rate is because they start out with a tiny amount of roots in comparison to topgrowth. I'm a backwards tree and shrub planting person. Most people want to plant the largest tree or shrub they can afford to buy, but I want to plant the absolute smallest ones available. Why? I want root growth that is adequate to support the top growth. When we planted trees around our newly constructed home which was in what was essentially an old cow pasture, we dug up oak seedlings from the woods and transplanted them up around the house. At the time we dug them, most of them had a 12" or bigger root ball and the trees themselves were 4 to 12" tall. In about nine or ten years, most of those trees have grown to be over 15' tall. Some are close to 20'. I'm a big believer that smaller is better when planting trees since it gives you a more evenly balanced tree. Bareroot plants do great if planted in fall or winter so they can establish roots before the summer heat arrives. Dawn

Steve, a couple more things on fertilizer. The NPK numbers are the percentages of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) in the product. Do you need phosphorus and potassium? Maybe, maybe not. A soil test would let you know if your soil has sufficient supply or if you need to look for fertilizers that would supply more. A soil test won't tell you about nitrogen because the level fluctuates and the test result would not be useful. Instead you apply nitrogen periodically, according to what kind of grass you have. Dchall gave you a schedule for cool season grass. A soil test would also let you know if you need lime to raise the pH or if you have other deficiencies and let you know how well your soil holds onto nutrients. Many people grow grass and never get a soil test. I think they're useful. If you get one, use a lab familiar with your area's soils that gives recommendations as part of the test, gives a CEC (cation exchange capacity) number (indicates how well the soil holds onto nutrients) and uses a buffer pH test to make the lime recommendation. Many fertilizers marketed for turfgrass will have nitrogen and some potassium. Some states are limiting phosphorus and many fertilizers don't have any because of that. When you planted seed, you may have used starter fertilizer. Starter fertiizer has almost as much phosphorus as nitrogen. It's good to use at seeding so the new seedlings' roots will have ready access to phosphorus (which is good for roots). Always water in any synthetic fertilizer right after applying it.