nhbabs - Most of these are spread out throughout my garden, but because the garden is relatively small, all the mums can be seen with a couple of glances. I've thought about trying a mum bed, but have never done it. Spreading them out also makes the entire garden look more colorful than it actually is this time of year. I did try a grouping of 3, but I kind of screwed it up. Evidently I didn't pay close enough attention to heights and the shortest one ended up in the rear and the tallest one in the front. It looks kind of weird. Sandy - I don't do anything special for winter - no protection other than leaves that get caught in the dead foliage. I don't trim them back so that seems to help. I've only lost a couple in the last several years. As far as soil ph, I've never paid any attention to this, but did find the following blurb from the University of MN Extension Service: "Soil, Site, and Fertilizer Garden chrysanthemums grow best in a variety of soils but must have excellent drainage conditions. Growth is poor and winterkill likely in poorly drained wet soils. Sunny locations are good sites. Plants in semishady locations will be taller, have weaker stems, and bloom later in the fall. Incorporate 2 - 4" of peat moss, compost, or well-rotted barnyard manure into the soil. If you use only peat moss or do not add organic matter, apply 3 to 4 pounds per 100 square feet of a complete fertilizer such as 5-10-10 or 5-10-5 in the spring. Sidedressing plants with a complete fertilizer in early August, especially in years of abundant rainfall or irrigation, also is recommended. If the fertilizer applied in the spring is a slowly available type, such as coated or organic fertilizer, the second application may not be necessary. Space plants 18 - 24" apart, depending on the mature size of the cultivar." and from another site: "Soil : The ideal soil for chrysanthemum growing is a well-drained sandy loam of good texture and aeration. The soil should be neutral or slightly acidic with pH 6.5 to 7.0 having high organic content. Very light sandy soils are not recommended owing to their poor moisture holding properties" Kevin

Living in Wisconsin I do adore so many different trees. But my Mom had a gorgeous flowering mini crab apple tree that in spring would smell so wonderful, like almost a musky Hibiscus type scent that would last about 4 weeks. The fruit on this tree was about as small as a pea and was very abundant as the tree itself in bloom would look like one big huge flower on it's own. But most of the pea sized apples that would never have any issues with scabbing or insects would stay on the tree through the winter that would be a #1 staple of the bird life that never flew south for the winter time as my Mom would also have bird houses and Cardinals would stay along with Red Winged Black Birds and others. When the trees were flowering they would attract so many butterflies, humming birds and honey bees, that the next door neighbor would surly get his fill from, and even offer up honey to my Mom, otherwise he wouldn't have had so much honey and bees wax to sell at the farmers market. But unfortunately in 2012, my Mom's condo association voted on removing her wonderful bird and furry ground fellows tree (Yes! Also the squirrels of at least 3 to 5 different kinds would take advantage of all of the tiny apples that had fell to ground, along with chipmunks and some other furry ground animals, so I never did see what the big deal was. They had said that tree had made a mess. Well I beg to differ, and the closing vote was neighbor that actually got kicked out by the banks foreclosure no more than 4 months later. Now my 2nd favorite tree would be the lilac tree, not the bush but the actual tree. I remember when I had one right outside my bedroom window and the scent of lilacs would come in through out the lilac season, and my Dad had planted them to flower 2 weeks apart from each other, so I had that scent in my bedroom going for a good 4-6 weeks long at least! Now Wisconsin has a law in place that no one is allowed and will be fined if they are to plant any sort of troublesome tree. One big one being the darn Cotton Wood Tree. And for those that have them on their land that are in neighborhoods that clog up gutters and fly over to parks in which the fire departments HAVE to do a controlled burn to keep them from growing out of control every single year. This junk get into your air filters and in your cars, garages, homes and all over the place. I really hate these trees, and I just don't understand why people would take advantage of free removal by the city, especially if they have a fire place, free wood to burn for them for the winter time. And now these trees are huge! It's just unreal what you pull out of your gutters every year. Even though we want to enjoy our spring times and not have our usual floods as that is what usually happens here, but when you have Cotton Wood trees, you almost beg for rain every day so these seeds will only drop on the owners home and not yours when floating through the air and causing allergies with watery eyes, sneezing and being all stuffed up from just trying to enjoy the outside, which is impossible when you have a cantankerous neighbor that just won't take down that damn tree, even though it almost looks like it's 1/2 way dead anyway. Maybe some day it will get hit by lightning, and then he will have to use his home owners insurance to fix what ever damage it has caused and Karma will win in end. Just because he didn't do right by others. I know if I bought property, I would surely call the city and have them come and take it down as soon as they were able. And one more tree I don't care for all that much for at all either, is the Maple tree and for some reason, the seeds or what some people call whirly birds or helicopters I think they are a real pain in ars and for some reason the are falling off all year long and are green and slimy. Leaving the steps and landings all stained with this slimy mess so you can't even sit down and dry your hair naturally in the nice weather. And sometimes they even drop in clumps but when they do that they are too heave and drop onto the lawn, or what ever is left of it, when it rains it's a muddy mess on that side. I am doing my best to get the heck out of here, but I have some issues I need take care of right away! Heath issues that are stopping me from doing the simplest tasks. I never thought I'd need to be calling the HDRC for help like this. But I need to get out of here. Plus I just got a letter from my land lord that my rent is going up (only by $5.00) but still, I've been here for 14 years now. And I have been so unhappy and haven't had a single update done since I move in here. Sorry for over sharing, but she knows she has me over a barrel here, I have 3 auto immune disorders and many other medical issues that she used to be very empathetic to and I don't know what's happened to her now. She just no longer cares anymore at all! Now my Thyroid is effecting me. I knew years ago they found a nodule on my thyroid, but I went to a specialist and he said it's very common. My Dr. then always kept up with the testing. He now moved and I'm left with this flippent woman of a GP that is only in it for the money. Need to get rid of her now, and see if I can get a blood test tomorrow while I'm at the hospital anyway with 2 appts. back to back. I did feel so sorry for my Mom, she not only had a shade tree that she loved watching her birds every morning, but it was also a tree that gave her some privacy from her kitchen window and I think that was totally unfair for them to just take that away from her. She loves wildlife and birds, and loved waking up to it, watching and hearing the Cardinals and seeing all of the beautiful butterflies and other germinating creatures. Even the honey bees seemed very docile and as if they were trained to be non violent and just be busy worker bees along with all of the humming birds of every color of the rainbow that would stay still just long enough to make out their colors, I even saw a turquoise one, my favorite color. I went on google maps and they really need to update their pictures. That tree is still there on Google maps. I couldn't believe that when I saw that. Oh well, It's been awhile and they must have taken that picture right before they took that tree down. All I see is people raving about how much the love those trees and how glad they are they chose them. Mom moved in when that tree was a bit young yet. I wish I could turn back time, and announce her neighbors were being kicked out by the bank. That would have changed things a lot back then. They wouldn't have had a voice or a leg to stand on. And I believe the bank would have said "Keep that tree!" It only adds to the curb appeal and beauty for the next buyers. Oh well, to late now, Thanks for taking the time to read this. And God Bless to all those that have or have chosen the Mini Crab Apple Trees, you know what I'm talking about!

Your DLs are great. The last one looks like it could be Peacock Maiden. The color combination of Lipstick Ring is neat. Since you probably would have told us it might be one you do not know, but just in case - what is the name of the DL in the combo photo. I am not the biggest fan of eyes but I really like that ones form, edge, and all around good looks. : ) I am waiting for my Bayport to bloom if it made it through the Winter. It seems touchy here. Thanks. Jane

Lovely photos there, you guys. Glad to see GardenerInWi come play with us in the hosta garden. Mike, love the hint of your water feature, look forward to seeing how you have it set up. We've had lots of water this week, but not manmade features. If there is a spot of blue left anywhere, I'd be surprised. A limb came down last night and struck my Jade Stone, tearing about 4 of its nice leaves off. But the crown is fine. Old tree limbs cannot take all this continuous wet heavy stuff. Later tonight I'll post pics I took today between showers. Found some bamboo poles at the river to hold up the heavy tall flower scapes on some of the hosta. Time for dinner now. Well, just ONE picture for now. The bee in the flower of Old Faithful....he stayed forever.