Thanks for your advice SCG and Grandma. I am quite certain that these do not survive our winters without special treatment because when I grew them two years ago, they reached the stage of being filled with buds, just waiting to open. I left them over winter and they did not survive. However this year, seeing them survive several nights below zero, I felt that maybe they will survive but with some help. SCG, I have always felt that pots sunk in the ground offered more protection from the 'freeze/thaw' periods we go through up here. Perhaps it's only necessary for seedlings still in pots. Grandma, these are not the 'regular' hollyhocks, which I grow and which do re-seed. These Spring Celebrities are described as dwarf, and first year flowering annuals. Maybe a new hybrid. Unfortunately I got this information a little too late. SCG, your response was not sent to my e-mail as requested and so without any response, and very cold temperatures, I potted them up, sunk them in the ground, and mulched them with chipped leaves. They are surrounded by a chicken wire "tower", so they are completely covered. I did this just yesterday, but I'll keep you posted on the results.

Well your soil PH is really good for any kind of grass except Centipede, as it loves a very acid soil where nothing else will grow. Centipede also has almost no fertlizer requirements other than drag an empty bag around every spring. Centipede also needs fairly large amounts of water. Centipede is called th eLazy man's grass for those who don't really care. I think you see where this is going, Bermuda would be my choice. Ignore the nitrogen test results, they will always be low. Right now there is nothing to do for now as both Bermuda and Centipede should be dormant. IF you choose Bermuda, then when you see it green up about 50% hit with a quality 3-1-2 ratio fertlizer at a rate to apply 1-pound of nitrogen per 1000/ft2, and every 30 to 45 days apply a 39-0-0 Slow release urea fertilizer up till about a month before you expect your first frost. Water only when the Bermuda grass tells you it needs water, about once a week during the growing season. Mow twice a week at 1-inch. Do that and the Centipede will fade away.

Ada, I either do grow or have grown many of the flowers you listed, so here's a few comments. Amaranthus--I grow many kinds and they all sprout easily and grow well, even in areas where the yucky, heavy, red clay soil has not been improved at all. Most years my various amaranths reseed. Angelonia--performs very well even during the hottest parts of the summer. Black-eyed Susan Vine--grows well, self sows abundantly, and I've had the same results you have with the various colors. Butterfly Weed--grows very well here and truly is a butterfly magnet. We have them growing wild in the fencelines here near us. I have grown them in my cottage border too. Calendula 'Flashback' and the other calendulas I've grown have done very well. They are supposed to be more of a cool-season flower, but some years they have made it through most or all the summer as long as I have been able to keep them well-watered. Cleome 'Violet Qween'--grows fine here although it doesn't seem to reseed as prolifically as Rose Queen. I just grow taller flowers in front of it to hide the naked stalks, esp. as the summer goes on. This year, mine continued blooming in late November or early December because they were in a spot near the house where they got a little water every occasionally and sunlight/heat from a southward-facing wall. Cosmos--I've grown 15 or 20 kinds of cosmos here in southern OK and they've all grown more or less equally well. I haven't had any powdery mildew problems with them here, but then I don't have much rain or high humidity most years. Echinacea--grows well but not necessarily long-lived in my garden. Any individual plant may last 3, 4 or 5 years, but not forever. It tends to be our occasionally very rainy year that gets them, but then they are always planted in fairly unimproved clay soil. (I save the heroic amounts of soil prep for the veggies.) Gaillardia--At our house, it does best if I plant it in well-drained, compost-improved, sandier loam and not in the heavier clay. We have gaillardia here by the acre in our part of Love County, so I don't plant it much. It does, however, come up here and there from wind-scattered seed. Gazanias--Quick and easy from seed and tolerates really hot weather. Geranium--I grew them the first couple of years we lived here, but they really don't like our hot, dry summers so I haven't grown them since about 2001 or 2002. They always look great until late June or early July and then the struggle with the heat begins. Gomphrena--I've grown several kinds here, including Strawberry Fields, Purple Buddy and QIS Mix. My Strawberry Fields self-sows and comes up in the gravel driveway down by the road, about 200' from where I originally planted it. Some of the darker purple ones reseed also, but the paler lavender or lilac-colored ones have not reseeded. I get better germination when I presoak the seed for 24 hours before planting it. Heliotrope--I love the smell, but it does love our dry heat, so I don't grow it here. Hyacinth Bean Vine--I've grown these every year since we moved here, and for quite a few years before that. I love them, and they are edible, although I don't think they are as tasty as many other agricultural beans. Mine have reseeded for the last 4 or 5 years, so I don't bother saving seed to replant any more. I probably get more compliments on these plants than any other single plant I grow. Impatiens--Grew lots of them in Fort Worth, but only grew them the first year here. The wildlife ate them all to the ground, and I haven't grown them since. Larkspur--I've grown Imperial Mix for years and they reseed every year. Haven't tried the one from Park's that you mentioned. I have them in several places around the yard. Millet--I've from the Foxtail, the purple ornamental ones, and the common ones that sprout from henscratch that the hens and wildbirds miss. All grow equally well. If you have a problem with stink bugs in the veggie garden, plant millet close to, but outside the garden, as a trap crop and kill the stinkbugs when they flock to the millet. That way, you won't have to spray your veggie crops with anything. Nemesia--I don't grow it here because it doesn't handle July and August well. Nicotiana--I've grown every one of them that you can find seed for, and they grow great here. Langsdorfii likes a little more moisture and afternoon shade than sylvestris. Some nicotines reseed for me, and some don't. I've had them come up in the middle of pastures from seed blown from the garden, and they were some of the best-looking ones ever, even though they got no supplemental water and no care. Petunia--I'm just about done with all the standard petunias. They just struggle too much in July and August. There's two exceptions: Mexican Petunia and 'Laura Bush Pink' wild petunia and 'Laura Bush Purple' wild petunia. As far as I know, the Laura Bush wild petunias are only available as seed from Wildseed Farms in Texas. I raise mine from seed every year. They grow just fine in the heat, although they do best if you cut them back hard once or twice during the summer and let them regrow and reflower. Mine were in bloom from April through December, and even reseeded, both in containers and in the ground. I grow them in well-amended clay soil in full sub. I've grown plenty of other petunias from seed over the years, and had some of the Wave petunias in handing baskets on my wraparound porch for several years, but they just don't like our July/August heat in Love County. (Most years it is a fairly dry heat.) Rudbeckias grow better for me if I put them in the one bank of sandy soil that runs across our property. They've never done as well in the heavier clay soil I have on most of the place. We have native ones that grow just fine here, but a lot of the cultivated ones don't do quite as well. Salvia 'Victoria' grows very well. I haven't planted any in years, but the ones I planted in about 2001 or 2002 reseed every year and do just fine. Very long-blooming here. Bloomed into late Nov. or early Dec. this year in spite of some pretty cold nights (down in the teens). Sages--Most of the sages don't do well for me unless I put them in raised beds in very well-amended, well-drained soil. The exception is Texas Hummingbird Sage which grows very well despite the heat, gets huge, is a butterfly and bee magent, and reseeds everywhere. Sunflowers--I grow gazillions of them, and like to color-code them to the season--growing the paler yellow, peach and lime ones for late spring blooms, the golden yellows and orange (Soraya) for summer blooms, and the red, gold and orange (and bi-colors) for the fall. If you have a lot of sunflowers, you'll have to watch for the black-and-orange caterpillars that like to devour their foliage. Verbascum 'Southern Charm'--only did so-so here. It may not like my heavy clay or my hot summers, but my grandmother always loved verbascum and grew it in her sandier, more well-drained soil in Texas. Verbena bonariensis--a longtime favorite and it reseeds all over the place here most years. Some years I have to pull up hundreds of them because they come up as thick as grass if I didn't deadhead early enough the previous summer. These even come up in the middle of the pastures. I have the best luck surface sowing it outdoors in a covered container (winter sowing). Since it reseeds so prolifically, I've only grown it from seed twice here, and I wouldn't have planted it at all the second year if I'd realized how much it would reseed from the first year's plants. Vinca--I grow it every now and then, but not most years. It has a lot of disease issues here so I usually only grow it every 2nd or 3rd year. I grew it more when I lived in Texas and had better soil. It is really easy from seed though. Zinnia--I've grown all kinds of zinnias and they are my favorite flower. I like 'em in all sizes, shapes, and colors and they attract billions of butterflies. I've grown the entire 'Profusion' series ever since they first came out, and this year I'm going to add the Knee-High ones and the new double ones. They grow insanely well here and the only trouble they have is the occasional bout of powdery mildew in wetter years. I've never met )or grown) a zinnia I didn't like. I grow a large cottage border around the perimeter of my veggie garden and in various other areas around the yard. Because we have a large property, I only grow plants that are pretty tough and fuss-free. If they need pampering and lots of special care, I don't bother with them. Most of what I grow reseeds, although every few years I bring in new batches of seed (maybe the same flowers I already have, but in different colors, for example) to shake things up a little. It sounds like you have a lot of fun flower-growing planned for this year. Dawn

On fertilizing yes, you are fertilizing on a regular basis, but I would stop once dormant. The pine, well best to use composted pine, that will not draw nitrogen, if fresh, yes some but not like sap wood. So it's not really a problem. I keep two tart cherries from the Romance series, both are Carmine Jewel cultivar. 4 blueberry plants, and a bunch of strawberries in pots, in the garage over winter. The temps are consistent, no wind, no rain, they were put in after going dormant outside. So they do not need light at all or fertilizer. I water about once every 5 weeks, just keeping them moist. They really do not use much water and easily stay moist that long if not longer. Sometimes it's 8 weeks before I water. I don't use leaves because the garage keeps the temperature steady, no sunlight hits them etc. So they really don't need leaves. Outside they would. Oh and PH is important in ground or in pots. With blueberries I need to keep PH around 5.0. So that is a lot harder to do, but when it's right they grow like weeds. Beautiful plants too. I also have honeyberries, but mine are in ground. I grew Aunt Molly's ground cherry last year. I just made a ground cherry-pineapple crisp. I had some tonight with almond ice cream! Fantastic! Next year I'm going to grow a couple different cultivars. Aunt Molly's is excellent, but I want to try some others. I start the seed with my tomato seeds. I had two plants this year, and they produced about 800 fruits, amazing plants! They had a spread of about 6 feet, they grow that much if not in pots, but in the ground. In pots the spread was about 4 feet. About 1.5 feet tall. Do not let them dry out, if they dry just once they tend to shut down and production goes way down. They seem unable to recover. I would make a 3-1-1 mix for them, they need to stay moist! For sure no gritty mix here. Feed them well! I don't have a close up but here is a photo, to the left of the green post on the ground is a ground cherry. To the left is the 2nd one in the raised bed. The beds have tomaotes, peppers, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and beneficial flowers. As you can see the plants are a lot wider than taller. I don't overwinter them, but start new ones from seeds, like tomatoes. They are related to tomatoes, same genus, different species. Hard to move in pots, they are so wide!