You guys are going to hate me for suggesting this, but i would say russian olive. Now, take away the fact that down south it is horribly invasive. You can pollard them and use the branches and laves as mulch, the flowers attract all kinds of pollinators (and smell wicked). They dont get massively tall, yet still can provide some good shade, dappled light, or even trimmed for maximum light on the ground. They add nitrogen to the soil, and can take some crazy abuse, therefore making able to "nurse" less tough trees until they get large enough to be able to handle harsh conditions, The wood is also very dense and is amazing firewood. Personally, as long as the trees are functional in some way (aside from the obvious) I welcome them. The only tree that I have that wouldnt be thought of as "usefull" is a Ginkgo. I love history, and had a facination with dinosaurs as a kid, so this living fossil is perfect for me. The other thing is, you can get a flowering/ornamental pear, ornamental cherries and crab apple trees, and graft edible branches on them, making "useless" trees functional. To be fair, shade trees would be useful in some places, making you able to grow some plants that wouldnt be able to grow in full sun (climates like arizona). I couldnt imagine growing tomatoes in full sun all day in australia for instance, without lots of water. Some other double duty plants I can think of are grapes, nausturium, linden (edible new leaves), ostrich ferns (fiddleheads), mushrooms (break down wood, builds soil, and you can eat them if you cultivate the right ones), roses, alder, locusts, redbuds, acacia, any legume family tree, walnuts (ive seen people use them in spots to discourage almost all plant growth where they didnt want any, almost like using the problem of jugalans to their advantage), maxamillion sunflower, passiflora.....

Oh, cupshaped, you are such a help and encouragement. It sure has been a mixed bag today, got up dead tired, fooled around on the computer a bit and went back to bed for awhile. Then I felt perkier. So, first I put those clematis in the ground toward the fronts of the arbor in front (so it will leave me more room to dig a larger hole for the roses for each side. That went ok, watered and mulched them. Then while I was waiting for my cereal to cool, I went and moved Artemesia, was a snap, think it will be ok, it looks a lot better to me, and I feel better about it. So I CAN try an Arctic Queen! That was what I wanted when I first started looking at clematis and mixing them with roses. Amazing that clematis on your shed! They must be pretty versatile. Only a couple hours of sun! That can wait until next year. I may not have the trellis done and painted until next season either, the temp one may have to do or I can pick up a bigger one if I have to or improvise something if it starts getting too big this year, maybe a chain link fence section or something from Habitat Restore or somebody's trash. Thank you for looking some more up on C. Roo. Doesn't it sound heavenly? I sure hope it grows for me. That place was expensive, but I can't find that exotic stuff in the nurseries around here. If you want something different, you have to pay the price. Second year in a row now, can I find a true blue columbine without running and calling all the different places? Nooooooo. I'm not a PS expert, but I can certainly make your sketch darker, not to worry about that. And thank you again for it. I'm kind of excited about it now that I finally have a good plan. I can grow something else on my Victorian door trellis. It's huge for a screen door. A big downer. I planted the big clay pots, wish they were bigger yet but I can't carry them when full, hardly, as it is. Dusty miller went in ok, too big for the pot, the odd grass stuff went in ok, bigger than I wanted. Then I cram my marigolds and salvia I started in the house. It doesn't look so good, and the salvia is wilting already. The potting soil is good quality but too wet this year, so I tried to pack it in as best I could and threw in some lobelia seeds I'd saved around the edges and just misted. It will take them forever to sprout and catch up. Next year I'll put something simpler in them. It's so darn frustrating. But I feel better about the whole business than I was last night. Six more roses to plant, one I rooted and 5 ordered, and that's it for this year. Then start some cuttings for my pepsi bottle ghetto. My family will help if I beg, my one daughter is especially good. But she has a fussy baby now, and that means I have to babysit while she works which I don't like to do any more, my nerves have been shot for several years and I have no patience with little kids, except the neighbor ones, they go home after they find out what I'm doing, etc. My son just does not like to help, he's got his own place looking like a palace, and between that and his gf and job, he doesn't want to take much time for me. I'll be lucky if I can get him to spray the lawn. Last year I was in tears over their not helping after all I went through for them raising them, so my sister is wealthy and that's where I'm getting some of the extra money to hire people to help me. My other daughter I paid last fall, and she did a good job, but her husband I don't want around, spooks me and let me down bigtime when he quit in the middle of tilling the front. And I paid him for what he did anyway, so it's not that I was expecting it all free. Bless my sister! She understands, says I'm not alone with adult children who don't want to help their parents.

Wow! Okra is related to hibiscus?? I got this from seed at Renee's Gardens. The only seed that "took" and then I got this plant, and then I looked it up, and turns out it's an annual. That was a lot of work for a very few flowers... Yup -- that arbor cost me $10. Plus some sweat equity! @rosecanadian - Carol -- that's not a bench, that's my worm box. But I think I killed all the little wormies... Thanks for your good wishes, all. I am watching my Rouge Royale closeley these days. More buds coming! Such a good bloomer already, and in its first year. Diane -- you crack me up. Always. And make me think. Kristine -- I do love Huntington/Life -- but right after it blooms at least half the leaves turn yellow, so it's a bit higher maintenance than I'd like. But it's still quite young (year 2) so maybe it will have more roots soon and can support its blooms without freakingout afterwards. It is pretty and has a lovely fragrance. Okay geniuses -- totally off topic -- not even about roses! But how do I get old tea stains/deposits out of my go-to tea thermos that I take to work?

That sounds good Libby. I'd like to see your begonias in more detail. I don't know where you posted your Adenium photos. I only visit 3 forums on GW. Please provide links if you want people to see what you posted. Here are a couple of photos of some big Adenium in Thailand - they love them over there. The statues are probably 6 to 7 feet tall to give you some idea of scale. This was the Chinese museum that was a gift from China in Pattaya (July 2006) Our second trip June 2015 we visited Nong Nooch garden for the second time and saw a lot more we missed the first time (or was not installed our first time) The potted plants on the right side of the road are mostly Adenium. My wife in the picture Those are all wired like bonsai.