rouge -- glad to know it's not just my "Splendide"! i love it so much that i bought 3 more this year when my local nursery offered it for the first time(woo-hoo!!). all are doing well, tho not as tall yet as the original, but all are doing the yellowing on the lower leaves. guess i should try to figure out why -- nutrient deficiency perhaps?

"I am now a bit embarrassed having posted mine" ... mmmm, planted with that hydrangea and the clematis in the background, looks great to me and I'm gonna steal the combo idea :) Several years ago, I so nearly had tossed Thalictrum 'Splendide' in the compost pile. For two seasons it languished against the east side of my house, I mean it grew no more than 8" high and always covered in mildew. Was gonna throw in the towel, though recalled just how highly touted the plant was, so I plunked it in the main large flowerbed with no thought as to placement or care to tend it. The following summer it made a nice recovery and a friend noticed it and remarked "OMG, Terry, I love, love, love that big purple plant and must have one for myself! The plant is about six years old, the first two seasons don't count, as it was pathetically barely hanging onto life then. It's been in its current location for two years now and in very deeply amended soil with good moisture and full sun. As to the width, I'd say the foliage near the bottom isn't much more than 2' wide, though the flowering top is impressively large. Here's another photo

Assuming you will not get in trouble I would take the tree to the office from september 21 to march 21 and keep the plant at home with a CFL during the spring and summer. In sumer the sun rizes and set north of the east and west and must rize very high towards noon before the sun crosses to the south. Even then the angle is so sharp the sun will not make it through the low-E argon vapor barior glass and your tree will suffer. In the winter months however your tree will get sun the entire day at the office as the sun is low and will make it through the glass. I sprayed my tree 3 to 4 times a day all winter and I felt great so go ahead and spray. While the tree is ver important, you still come first Steve

Actually, IMO, a really tall plant or even a narrow evergreen (e.g. juniper) would look great there - something to frame the entrance area a bit, while tying the elevated step to the ground level plantings below it. There are many other nice tall perennials that would fit the bill too, e.g. delphiniums (assuming the house gives some shelter from the wind), tall grasses, etc.. About moisture requirements - since you are already growing a bleeding heart and a hellebore there, there's clearly enough moisture for thalictrums. I haven't found that any of the species I grow need unusual amounts of moisture or extra watering. They prefer nice humusy soil, as I said....but then most of our garden plants do. (I'd just add some mulch on top of the bare soil though...) The plants you have or had growing in that spot look fine in the pictures, so it's pretty obvious you're not dealing with any sort of a "hell spot" either....so relax! By the way, that is an excellent hellebore - wish mine bloomed so freely! To answer your question, the basal leafy mound part of T. delavayi is about, I don't know, two and a half feet tall? The flower stems start coming up in early July, I'd guess, and they pretty much grow straight up. Given that you are a lot further south and in a warmer area, it may bloom earlier there. There's not much point fretting a lot over plant combinations - there is no single plant that anyone has ordained as the ideal one to go next to any other one. Healthy, well-grown plants look great, and they look great in combination with other healthy well-grown plants! (And no one was ever struck blind even by seeing a pink flower next to an orange one either, LOL!) Just pick a plant for the attributes you decide you want there, and plug it in! Can't say I lie awake at night worrying about root competition either. If the above-ground portions of the plants are so crowded that one does not get the light it needs, or the air circulation it needs (but I think you're also in a dry area, so unlikely a problem) or if it is not shown to its best advantage, then they are too crowded. I think that's pretty simple. The reason the dicentra dies back is because it gets a lot of sun which causes it to go dormant...not because of root competition. Also, it sounds as though you do plan to move the bleeding heart to shade eventually anyway, and the space looks plenty big to me for a good sized plant, so... And, needless to say, whatever you plant, you can always move it if you don't like it there.