Vettin: This is an incredible list. It's way too big for only 10. I'll give you some items that stand out to me as either easy or special favorites of mine. Buddleia--butterfly bush--large fragrant clusters of small blooms. Can get to be large. I love mine. Campanula--if I lived where you do, I would definitly try some of these. The kind of fizzle in the heat here but I think they could work for you. Called "bellflower", they are beautiful plants. Clematis--I have several. look into these and take your garden vertically. They look great with climbing roses or beautiful by themselves. Coreopsis--called "tickseed", they look a lot like daisies. They are easy to grow and bloom very well. A great group of plants. Delphinium--I love these but can't grow them because they don't like my heat. I've heard of others in N. VA who do well with them. GET SOME OF THESE! Dianthus--carnations are in this family. They bloom well and smell great. The ones I grow are rather low growing and great in the garden. Digitalis (foxglove)--Nice tall plant with really pretty bell shaped flowers. They are tall and narrow and add a differnt look and texture to a garden. Edgeworthia--This plant blooms in winter with incredibly fragrant blooms that look a lot like Daphne. The Atlanta Bontanical Gardens have several. They are unique looking and well worth the garden space for the winter blooms. Helleborus--another winter bloomer. EASY plants that take no care and can spread so you can share with your friends. Hosta--a VERY low care EASY plant for a shady area. The clump gets larger and had to be "thinned" every few years but that means you can spread them around. Several of these varieties are nice. Hydrangea--look at the two arborescens. I like these. Beautiful huge clusters of white blooms. Iris--a great EASY plant. Don't plant them deeply at all--almost on the surface or they won't bloom or worse, will rot. I recognize two Iris germanica (bearded irs) as being rebloomers--they bloom in the spring AND fall--Lo How Sliver (white) and Sugar Blues (blue and fragrant). Get at least one of each of these and look up the others to see what they are. Lithodora--a very low growing plant with bright blue star shaped flowers. The foliage is dark green. I really like this plant. Osmanthus fragrans--I did not realize that this plant was hardy in N. VA. If it is, GET AT LEAST ONE! It's evergreen, slow growing, can get 15 feet tall but will tolerate pruning. I keep mine at about 6 feet. Mine bloom in the spring and fall with scattered bloom in the summer. The blooms are tiny and you don't really notice them until you SMELL them. The fragrance carries across the yard and it's incredible. This is one of my favorite plants (and it's not even a rose). Philidelphus--mock orange. Beautiful white blooms in the late spring for me. The frangrance is wonderful. Phlox--there are several different kinds listed. All are great plants in my garden. They give a good selections of colors and they are easy plants. Rudbeckia--black eyed susans--nice sunny cheerful plant easy and blooms for a long time. Salvia--good plants--easy and pretty Scabiosa--pincushion flower--I have butterfly blue and it is one of the best blooming plants I own. The little blue/lavender blooms--about 1 1/2 in. across come from early spring to frost. Easy, easy plant. It's kind of low growing with stems that stick up with the bloom on top. A very nice plant. Hope this helps. Remember, this is just my opinion and I am not in your zone. I also looked at the list quickly and may have missed something wonderful. Enjoy the sale. Take a lot of $ and a truck to carry everything home. Let us know what you end up getting.

It seems to me that now and then I do see very rude posts here, and they don't all come from the same poster. I understand how people sometimes can feel left out and that there are cliques on forums, but often it's a subjective impression; when people post for a long time on forums and know one another by first names and have an idea of everybody else's preferences, it's easy to perceive that as an exclusive group. I don't belong to any group anywhere and don't want to - I enjoy all the posts and appreciate when there is good humour and tolerance of others, coming from a society where that was often quite lacking at times with more serious outcomes than a bit of a huff on a forum. How about we all wipe the slate clean, forget the past and enjoy all our wonderful plants in the present. And I don't apologise if that sounds like a lecture, I love y'all.

I think it is a great idea, Don. You might also observe on your driving around the residential areas some hosta in a few gardens. If so, are you up to stopping and chatting with the owner on a weekend or a time when the gardener might be home? In such a case, I'd have some cards printed up to leave on the door, pointing them to your Flickr or Photobucket site where they may view your garden. Include in your credentials that you are a member of the American Hosta Society too. It might be nice to include a link to the GardenWeb Hosta Forum also. Most folks are Internet savvy unless they are a lot older than MOI! Try for some instant trust and confidence, because a "cold call" is the hardest there is to make. Oops, we are having another downpour, looks like fog it is so heavy. It gave me just enough time to pot up the six new hosta from Van Wade, but not take their pictures. What a great day to read and listen to the thunder. Another day off. :) Hosta going wild I am sure.

The size stated by Chamblee's is very conservative for 'Mrs. Dudley Cross' based upon its growth in my garden. By listing it as 3'-6' x 3'-4', that would lead one to believe that it is possible for their specimen to only grow to 3' tall by 3' wide on the lower end of the range. In my experience, that is ridiculous. You would have to prune the crud out of it constantly to keep it that small and in doing so would ruin its natural beauty. My Mrs Dudley Cross is many years old, but I could probably keep it at 6' x 4' IF I pruned it fairly often. The plant would be happier being allowed to grow a little larger than that (after several years of course). It's a fantastic rose, you will love it I'm sure. Try not to crowd it, if you can. Randy