Buford, I dunno about Georgia, but when I lived in California the gardenias and roses didn't do well together. Gardenias actually want a touch of shade in CA, and they want a much more acid soil than is typical there, although that might work out fine for you in Georgia - you don't have adobe clay of pH 8 there. The smaller gardenias really needed watering more often than the roses did too, but then again CA gets no rain at all in the summer, and you probably do. What did work well for me in a mild winter climate for evergreen borders was iberis and the very dwarf forms of Pittosporumm tobira, like Wheeler's Dwarf and Creme de Menthe. There are probably new cultivars out now. Boxleaf hebe works well here in our cooler climate of Washington. Japanese holly is a boxwood lookalike that is extremely hardy and is used here in WA much more often that boxwood. It stays nice and dark green all winter where boxwood goes pale from the cold, but it's not much faster growing. In CA I used African boxwood - don't recall the latin name anymore, Myrsinus? - somewhat tender, but faster than boxwood. And here in WA we use an ericaceous shrub called pernyettia or something like that for an evergreen edging, looks very similar to boxwood but faster growing and it does sucker some from the roots. There's also the evergreen euonymuses - fortunei I think is the common small leaved variegated one that can be either a clinging viney thing or somewhat shrubby depending on how you prune it. There's also something similar to the boxleaf hebe that I think is a boxleaf euonymus, E. microphlylla or something like that. That one makes a very nice dark green evergreen border. And in Georgia you should be able to grow the dwarf forms of true myrtle, Myrtus communis. Gardenerzone4, roses are leggy, no matter what. Just the nature of the beast. That's why we all have suggestions for border and edging plants. I would advise against using any of the nepetas, and most of the hardy geraniums, as they are very aggressive spreaders. Alyssum is great. Marigolds too, and snapdragons, lobelia, ageratum. I have some daylilies as well, and lavender. Mini roses can be used as borders and edging too as they can be kept very low and don't go as bare at the base.

Virtually all organic fertilizers are, Ann. Dogs LOVE the stuff. Many also like Sluggo, the iron phosphate snail bait. One of mine goes nuts when he finds the stuff. He likes it as much as he likes the snails themselves. The other one prefers any poop she finds and all the "worm jerky" out front after the rains. Takes some real effort to police the area before they're allowed out! I can't use organics out back because the animal by products attract the coyotes, bob cats, raccoons while the plant by products attract every rodent, squirrel and rabbit for miles. Those attract SNAKES and all organics encourage earth worm activity and that brings more MOLES. Danged if I do, danged if I don't! Kim

I used to make bouquets for my mother and never remembered to take a picture:-( These are lovely. Several of us may remember Thedarklady (Marina Parr) posted drop dead gorgeous bouquets 5 yrs. ago. She used interesting containers. Lots of Austins and as these bouquets were for church they did not need to last. Often the roses varied in size as well as petal count. I noticed her fillers were mainly lavender, green or white. Ageratum - lavender tall one Campanula Sarastro - deep deep lavender with mauve roses Caryopteris flowers clematis Comtesse de Bouchard (pastel bluey-pink) Echanacea - white or green single Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' Gladiolus 'Green Star' Heliotrope - purple Hydrangea - 'Limelight' and 'Annabelle' Salvia farinacea - purple single Shasta daisies Statice - white Valerian officinalis - white Thedarklady's photobucket has changed. Here's one I saved. Bouquet by Marina Parr

I use 12 inch wood stakes pounded into the ground with just 4 inches sticking up. I prune the cane so the tip is at least as thick as my pinkie finger and point it down toward the stake. Then I zip-tie it firmly to the stake. This is my first year doing this on Paul Neyron, but lots of flowers are just budding on each cane instead of one at the tip. For this method you need one stake per cane and you cannot really see the stakes.