Ok, didn't realize the beds were raised. As far as being below average....we don't get rain during the summer that amounts to much, in fact between June and mid August we were still at a 4" deficit. Actually that is Spokane's deficit; here we are 30 miles south and they get more than we do during summers; most storms and rain fronts split and go right around us. Our average ANNUAL precip (that's rain and snow) is 17" with the majority coming in April/May and starting again in October. I use grass clippings and straw for mulch in some beds and none in others. The most drought/heat tolerant perennials I have in non-amended gravelly sandy loam soil would be: Lavender Thyme sp. Blue Flax Salvia officinalis Ratibida Coreopsis Gaillardia Saponaria (stays in check too) Knautia Echinacea sp. Dianthus Bergenia Hosta Sedum sp. Sempervirens Helianthus maximiliani Heliopsis helianthodies perennial alyssum Hollyhock Yarrow Daylily Bearded Iris Foxglove (D. ambigua) Lemon Balm (keeps it in check too) Chives Nepeta mussinii Grasses As for annuals I'd say: Sweet Alyssum Linaria Coreopsis tinctoria Zinnia Tithonia Amaranthus Snapdragon Clarkia Moss Rose Mirablis Rudbeckia hirta Larkspur Nigella Scabiosa atropurpurea Sunflower African Daisy (Vinidium) Cosmic Orange Cosmo.

I watched your progress of the building of your greenhouse from the GH forum. I considered a HFGH for a while but in the end I knew it would be difficult to get DH to commit that much time to putting it together. Especially with all the needed additional reiforcement. I ended up deciding on a hoophouse. I ordered a thermal swimming pool cover large enough to cover it twice. Had rebar cut. Have all the brackets etc etc. I had hoped to put it up early spring but chores around here are just too much at that time of year so I ended up making new beds, mulching those I have, planting some things and putting up the much needed fencing. I'll be working on making a patio next and come early fall we'll plant our grass seed (it's gotten too late again this spring for seeding) and hopefully put the hoophouse together. I don't plan on heating mine either, I'd just like to extend the season a bit for cool crop vegies and hopefully for seed starting in the spring. If it goes well for a couple of years then we may consider heating it with propane. I hope it all goes as planned. I have scattered dozens and dozens of seed packets and have only gotten three to take. Zinnas, 4 o'clocks and sweet peas. I keep trying. Winter sowing has never worked here for me. I gave up on it! MeMo

/David Too funny that you don't like the taste of papaya fruit and grew one anyway. I guess that's the mark of a true lover of plants. Try eating papaya with some fresh lime juice squirted on top - it's key! Thanks for sharing your tips for growing papaya and mango from seed. I really like all the brown tones in the surigaoensis, especially when there are still closed buds nearby. What a cluster! I keep chopping my padangensis, so I'm probably never going to see flowers, but this is one of my favorite Hoya blooms - like tiny water lilies. /Mike I like to use the papaya seeds in salad dressings, although I'm not above simply crunching them beneath my teeth either. A bit bitter that way, not exactly what I'd eat a whole bowlful of, but it's hard not to interact with such pretty seeds. I guess I don't have to worry about worms! My birthday was Monday (May 30 - Memorial Day) and today is my sister's birthday, but I just love the birthday wishes. Thanks everyone! I always feel like people should get to celebrate their birthdays all month. Pug, I'm so impressed that you noticed when my birthday was! :O /dance

That is a lovely rose, Jane. I simply drool with envy over that and also Claire's lovely climbing roses, but I fear I am a zone too far north for roses to really do well. My neighbor has a few, but she grows them next to her house foundation (now that is a thought of a way I could grow some!) and she covers them during the winter months. I believe that most winters here (because of our altitude) reach conditions closer to zone 3, although we are supposed to be zone 4. I do have some micro-mini roses, because my Dad sends me one every year on Valentines day, and they typically last outdoors only about 2 years on average. Covering them during winter doesn't seem to increase their cold resistence or longevity. I laugh about my orange garden! All my other flower beds contain multi-colored specimens, and that garden was supposed to as well, but only orange flowers have survived there. Marigolds over-ran and choked out the red geraniums intended to share their pots, and pink and purple flowers met a similar fate. Anything orange thrived, so rather than read my orange flowers the bill of floral civil rights, I just gave up and let my bigoted orange flowers have their little gated community. I give them disapproving looks from time to time, but no longer try to integrate hapless blue, red, or purple blooms. I know what will happen. I really, really want to try growing a tithonia/Mexican sunflower, Pixielou, but I fear I am a zone too cold for them to ever flower. The plants in my orange garden would definitely embrace tithonia, but I don't think it would really fit there. I'd like a row of them along the back foundation of my house, but with sun only half the day, they'd be at an even further climactic disadvantage. Still I keep eye-ing them. Maybe I should start them early in pots. And lo and behold, as soon as I saw the photos of Indian pipe I was struck with nostalgic longing, not having seen those since I was a kid. Then what do I spy on a walk around our wooded path, but two Indian pipe fungi growing under a pine tree! I didn't have time to get the camera, but there they were! I wonder if this is a particularly favorable year for Indian pipe here in New England.