plse tell us what are those striking looking red headed grasses beyond this bed?are they really red?and where are you?- that's always helpful to have in your i.d. so we can give (and get) the best advice from you! I like the suggestions for foliage color rather than flowers.Grasses and small shrubs would be great for giving you some rounded solid masses and vertical spikes w/height. some ideas: daphne carol mackie barberry- ppl helmond's pillar. ------------- blue lyme grass(plant in pot to keep from roaming) helichtrotrichon oat grass short zebra grass miscanthus variega. annual ppl fountain grass- pennisetum pennisdetum moudry- black fuzzy seed heads ------------------ amsonia hubrechtii- airy/ferny- turns wonderful gold in fall; would be great abutting the asters stachys - the non flowering one- as an edger ppl perilla- large deep ppl leaves variegated iris- good wide bold varieg spikes eupatorium chocolate p.s. how 'bout growing some lovely clematis over that stone wall? and edging the wall w/ lavender which loves hot hot full sun reflected heat? best, mindy www.cottonarboretum.com/

I'll weigh in with my opinion. A hubrichtii deals with drought better, but the flowers are less quality and lesser duration/quantity, but superior foliage (fineness and autumn color...but not every year). Slower growing. A illustris (my favorite) is a much stronger (and taller) grower, doubles easily as an annual shrub reaching 5 1/2 feet when mature. Foliage remains shiny crisp all season, requires more water than hubrichtii, but deals well with drought when established. Autumn color is usually yellow...probably as dependably as hubrichtii. Flowers over a longer period, due to a proclivity to take a second flush of growth about two or three weeks after the last flowers fade...and bloom again on that. I can't say I tried tabernae montana, but a botanical gardens testing (don't recall where/which) backed up my opinions as well on the above too. As to bloom, I usually got a tiny bit of bloom on 2nd year plants, fair bloom on 3rd, etc. They're not 'quick' plants to bulk up...but sure look good when they do...something like baptisia. This post was edited by dbarron on Sat, Oct 4, 14 at 19:28

Mindy - I'm afraid we're not a lot further ahead after visiting my neighbour's tree....! At this point, the color on hers is all from calyxes, although she says the berries, which are now green on hers, will darken in color to an intense purple. The calyxes on hers are smaller, much denser/many more of them than on mine and some of hers have berries under them. But the berries on mine are bigger and more plentiful. Her tree is in part shade and the Arnold Arboretum article did say the foliage color was best in part shade, so that might account for the difference in color of the calyxes between hers and mine. This is what the 'flower' cluster looks like on hers: I didn't take a picture of the overall tree because it is still quite small and she has limbed it up fairly high as a standard with a tall trunk, so there isn't a lot of top growth. Mine is also a standard but I allowed it to branch fairly low down because I wanted it to fill the space closer to the ground. Monique - if you're still reading this thread, can you please tell us whether all the color in the pictures you posted comes from the calyxes or is some of it from ripe fruit? Also, are those trees in full sun or do they get some shade? How sheltered is the location? When do your trees bloom? Mine doesn't start blooming until the last week of September, which doesn't allow a lot of time for fruit development/rippening before hard frosts. Also, have you had and seedlings from the fruit produced? If it produces a lot of ripe fruit, I hope it doesn't become a problem self-seeder. I will be watching my tree pretty closely to see what happens next - and I hope a hard freeze will come late this year! We've had light frost but nothing that has done much damage yet. It seems likely to me that performance varies by zone/length of growing season, sun/shade conditions, and probably by inherent differences in plants. I don't think there are named varieties in the trade yet but it appears that there may be a basis to select varieties based on the fall color of the calyxes and, perhaps, fruit production and speed of rippening.

May we post spring pictures? This is Harison rose with Johnny Jump-Ups: I love Johnnies because they easily self-sow and they look good with about everything I grow. Another one that's a self-sow wonder if chamomile. Being white, it goes with everything: Rose "Crepuscle" and chamomile. Another favorite companion plant are bearded iris. They're our state flower and I think they're just elegant: I have four plants squeezed in here. The red rose at top is Cramoisi Superier, followed by Stanwell Perpetual, iris, and at the bottom is the creeping (invasive even) Jenny Duval. I like purple sage to give some cool color after the iris have faded: I've planted some plumbago but so far it hasn't done much. I don't know whether it will make it through the winter in this zone. One last one: The chamomile lasts until the first daylilies bloom, but by now (July) they're shot, just like the Johnny Jump-ups, until next spring. My shasta daisies are filling in along the front walk, but I don't have anything else taking the little flowers' place in the other beds.