Thanks guys! Glad I got the name right for the Agastache...didn't look it up....can't wait to see that one next year. Putzer...how long has your Blue Silk been in the ground? Is it in full sun? Are you watering it? JMG's like plenty of water (unlike I. purpurea and others). The blooms are larger, too with plenty to drink (just like Hibiscus). I will post more pics as things bloom....have other pics, but just wanted to post the WS stuff on this forum...

Thanks girls :) Proudgm: The hollyhocks in my picture are second year plants from seeds that dropped late summer late year I believe. It's my understanding most hollyhocks grow more slowly the first year and then bloom the second, so yours are probably growing like they're supposed to. Last year's Hollyhock Majorette bloomed the first year for me, but I think a lot of hollyhocks don't. Vera: Believe it or not, the second picture is supposed to be English daisy rose carpet. It's hard to tell in the pic, but the outer edge of the flower is pink, not white, but still not how it looks on valueseeds. Yep, my lavender has been blooming for a while now. I forgot to take pictures earlier in the season, so I don't remember exactly when ... probably a month ago or so. I found a self sown lavender today, and was pretty excited about it. I transplanted it into a pot so I can take some lavender with me if we end up moving. If not, I'll find a spot for it late in summer if it survives.

Trudi - those were actually with my ancient Nikon Coolpix 5700 - a 5 mp dinosaur, but fun to trot out every once in a while. A few of my favorite photoshop tricks help too, but most of it is just plain old practice with a macro setting - year after year, camera after camera. Another big part is crawling around in the garden to get just the right angles and find the perfect blossoms. Remember those tending paths I laid out in my garden? You can see them very well in this photo of the porch garden (taken last year.) I spend a LOT of time sitting or laying in the tending paths trying to get a nice close look at all of my WS beauties. It's actually pretty good exercise! A lot of the look that I get in my photos is the same sort of thing I used to go for 40 years ago with my first 35 mm camera. I spent a lot of my childhood crawling around the ground stalking bees, blooms, grass blades and the like! Lynda

Don, as far as I can figure out, blackberry lily and candy lily are 2 different plants, but I have never been able to figure out much of the difference. This plant was from a seed trade on the seed exchange and they where labeled candy lily and I've called it that since. Blackberry lily seems to bloom with flowers that look the same to me as the candy lily and the pods with seeds look the same as well. BUT, blackberry lily can come in yellow, pinks, reddish colors and lavender as well. I loved how the flowers stay open for one day, start to close up and the next day are twisted like candy. Was able to get a couple of shots tonight of the closing blooms at various stages. I've been WS for 7 years now and the surprises that come from the dumped "no shows" is enough to boggle the mind. Sometimes they don't come till next year and sometimes they show up this year. Like this one from this year. Supposed to be 5 foot tall sunflower strawberry blonde. Well it was a no show in the container and it was tossed 3 weeks ago. Decided to take an early morning stroll around the yard before the heat and humidity returned and this poor "thing" was growing sideways in my "dumb bed". 2 feet tall, about 3 inch flower that looks just like the strawberry blonde, bound and determined to bloom though. Put it in the ground this morning. And these where tossed last year as no shows as well Datura metal. Low and behold, these got dug up early this morning and put in pots till I get them in the ground. And this cosmos about 10 inches tall was blooming in the middle of the side lawn near my iris. I didn't plant it, I didn't WS any cosmos this color this year, or any other year. I figure it was a gift from the birds, a lovely gift and will move this as well and save seeds from it. They were a pleasant surprise today. Daisydawnny, my malva zebrina have been beautiful this year as well. I tried experimenting with them this year. Some are in pots and some are in the ground. I let some of them get really tall on their own and others I kept cutting back before blooming so that they where really full, branching and short. I like the look of both, short and bushy in the pots and tall in the ground. will have to get some pics this week to post of them in the pots. Bev, between the weather, heat and humidity for so long now and the onslaught attacks of the chipmunks, I'm surprised I have any thing left growing. Actually, some seedlings I did lose to them, and my tomatoes got severe run in with the neighborhood groundhog last week. 3 feet tall are now about 8-10 inches on some of them. Added to that is a mandatory every other day watering ban now, so lots of mulch and deep soaking every other day has helped as well. Here's a few more pics from today dahlia fireworks pink stripe, I love this particular one and have saved the tubers for the past couple of years 4 o'clock yellow/pink flower marigold disco flame Fran