I am a newbie and I am just starting to realize the "abundance" and "flexibility" built into this WS thing. To have so many containers FULL of sprouts of expensive perennials (if purchased) is to feel like a millionare! I love not "rationing out the groupings" - when I only could afford 6 nursery pots of something, I'd put 3 here and 3 way over there but not now! I have nice large masses of a dozen HOS for foxglove, larkspur, blanket flower, verbena, salvia, more - it's amazing! And although I'm not up to it yet (still being in year one), I can imagine feeling quite OK just pulling out something that didn't work cause I have so many others. Here's the other thing I am growing to appreciate - - I have so much that I can put in NOW, before the weeds take over! I use to try to leave spaces, figuring I'd buy plants to fill them but then my abiltiy to do that couldn't keep up with the weeds coming in. Even though the HOS are still little, I can see what their "space" will be and hoe out all the weeds/volunteers around them with confidence. I use to be reluctant to hoe out anything green until I was absolutely sure it wasn't a "volunteer" of some kind that I might want. But by that time the weeds (always 10x more weeds than volunteers) were 6 inches high and harder to get out! Nancy

PV--I grew them all from very small plugs. Most of them I got when Santa Rosa gardens when they had their clearance sell. Actually I think it's going on right now. They were like $2 a plug. These have been growing for 3-5 (or more) years now. The plugs are very tiny, but they will grow if you take care of them. I usually leave them pots for a year or so before I plant them out. I have grown the following from seed (they are still in the very small plug stage right now)--- festuca- elijah blue deschampsia- wavy hair elymus magellanicus-blue wheat grass stipa tenuissima- mexican feather grass I've heard the miscanthus varieties probably won't come true to seed. Duane

I have been very surprised at how tough Hakone grass is once established, mine have handled the summer heat wave and drought quite well, even with some direct sun. I rarely watered them. I have Beni Kaze and it gets quite a bit of sun, and it does fine, no browning at all. I have an All Gold which gets a couple of hours of hot afternoon sun, and it handles it well, just sort of bleaches more yellow. The All Gold that I have in shade looks more delicate and turns light green. Hakone does look more artistic and flowing in full shade, but stays good looking with the heat. Hakone is slow to grow at first and I would water on a regular basis the first and second year.

A, I have acreage envy. Your gravel mound is bigger than my whole front corner bed pic above. g_g Hosta are in the plan. I already have 3 'Patriot' plants I bought in the spring from Brent & Becky's half-price sale, and a few dozen seedgrown Hosta, none of which came true to their parents. There are also 3 Rodgersia podophylla from B&B and 6 Astilbe, including 'Serenade' and 'Red Sentinel,' which had to be moved from their old location due to a change in sun exposure (tree removal). Other stuff going in will be seedgrown Heuchera 'Palace Purple,' Primula japonica, Geranium sanguineum 'Vision,' Potentilla atrosanguinea 'Melton's Fire,' Sesleria caerulea, Luzula nivea and sylvatica, species C. muskingumensis and Chasmanthium latifolium. I also have over 2,000 minor bulbs, mostly shade lovers, coming next month, so they'll get some room. The town is due to remove the old Maple in the left rear of the pic, which will give me a good deal more early morning sun, so I will probably throw a couple Japanese Maples in back there. I have 'Bloodgood,' 'Crimson Queen' and 'Orangeola' waiting in 10 gallon pots. There's probably more, but that's all I can remember. I also have a 36' by 8' north side foundation bed about to be cleared out. It's the overgrown wall in the picture, and is under a 70 year old White Pine, so is almost full shade. I'm going to have lots of shady spaces, so I'm open for any other suggestions. Ferns and Lamium will be high on the list next spring. I expect to bring in at least a couple of flats of them.