Ngraham, I did hesitate over the Commander in Chief. Too many lilies in the bag, too. I would rather buy onesies. If they ARE asiatics I will be up to my ears in that variety in no time anyway. I wonder why they always seem to be sold in multiples? Now if they were begonias, why, then Id need a bag full. (I DID need begonias, and those were one per bag!) I can buy them one at a time at my local lily society, but the price will be at a premium too. I have wondered about my Monte Negro. I have seen others post pictures here and mine does look a bit different. On mine the petals are narrow, too. Thats one thing I really dont like in a lily. Thanks for the encouragement about the daylily choice. I have no idea where Ill put this poor plant. I will probably have to pot it up too: I dont think it will hold out until May for me. About Star's Favorite: its a tall rangy one, floppy stemmed too. (I dont really have any all day sun, that may factor in) I needed my tallest stakes for it. But it produced more flowers than any other I had last year. Individual flowers had beautiful form, too. I like to cut individual flowers and put them singly into ikebana holders. When a flower stands alone perfect form is more important. There are several varieties with names beginning with "Stars" : I tried one that is more solid pink but it did not produce nearly as well. rolacoy: in your zone 8 the dahlias might even over winter in the ground. The lilies might need vernalization. Ive never lived anywhere but Zone 5 so take certain things for granted: like which bulbs will work for me. Maybe there is a targeted forum for your part of the country. I have a cousin who moved from Chicago to Texas (I forget where in Texas). I know she cant grow tulips, but iris and daylilies do phenomenally well. She is the only person I know personally with whom Ive compared notes. Roly, I have not tried most of those. Freesia, Ranunculus, Sprekelia, Amarillys belladona, Agapanthus and Tigridias. I know they had some but I tend to skim over the ones I know nothing about. In my zone Im not sure I could get most of those going. I am always tempted by Anemone de Caen but they are not hardy here, and I dont know how they take to digging up and replanting like the dahlias do. I dont have luck keeping dahlias over but re-buy them every year. Begonias I can keep over: trying callas this year too.

You are not alone, sunnibel! I was so excited my husband tilled a large garden for me. I planted a new pack of Country Gentleman corn. 4 rows about 8 feet long. I kept them well watered. Only 12 corn plants came up. I really hurt my back planting the seeds. They still look poopy. My husband moved the chicken tractor a few months ago and lo and behold corn and tomato plants appeared. We had fed them corn and tomatoes. They look better than the ones I planted and babied. It is so much fun to watch a chicken eat corn on the cob! The plants really love the chicken poop. I guess I will have to add that to my compost pile. I planted a hugel for the first time. The plants were growing leaps and bounds and then the bugs found them. My poor Cherokee Purple was the worst hit. It seemed to be the healthiest plant in the garden. I had a cute white butterfly (that I wished I would have killed) flitting around my garden. All of the sudden I had about 100 tiny caterpillars eating my tomatoes, dahlias and whatever else it could get to. So sad. I hand picked and squished them all. Then the inch worms and horn worms found them. Then the squash bugs. I've learned to carry my nippers with me daily. They sure come in handy to cut bugs in half. I haven't been able to eat a single Roma tomato yet. The stink bugs have stung them all. I won't give up tho! Gardening is my passion! I have gotten several nice tomatoes off of my Cherokee Purple and she is coming back nicely from the bug attack. My Wild Fred is puny, but it has produced several nice fruits. Ah! The joy of venting!!

I dug up some carrots yesterday because the greens were turning black and rotting from the rain. They were big under the ground though. Big--like 7 inches. What's going to happen if all the greens rot. Will the carrots still grow underground? I would love it they could continue to grow bigger. My onions are huge and beautiful. Since they grew so big from all the rain, I'll prolly have them last until next summer. Last year they were so small, they hardly lasted through early winter. They were pitiful and small. All the brassica is producing except for one deformed cauliflour head. Not one single cabbage worm this year. I gave up on my tomatoes and low and behold I started getting red ones this week. Since I got blight, I am happy for atleast some. They are super late and its a race now with the rain and time. Will I be able to pick more soon or will the fungus take them over before I could eat them? It's like playing the lottery. Cukes are growing big from all the rain. It's time to do a test dig of the potatoes and see if they're still alright under all that dirt. I am hoping the rain has made them big as whoppers this year. Leeks are reacting to the excess rain like the onions. I was told they would only get pencil size but they are fat like my thumbs. String beans are out of control producing 3 lbs per week. So far the only diseases is the blight tomatoes. Even the Jap beetles went away prolly due to all the rain. Some zuchini is still coming in but production has slowed and the slugs are back so got to keep laying the Sluggo regularly. All in all, the excess rain is actually helping the yield this year, except for the toms. Plus I hardly need to water and that saves the pump from running hours per day. Do I want more rain? NO. Please make it stop. We have no summer and only used the pool once this year so far. How much worse can it get?

A rectangle pond/rill like you often see in The English Garden mz would be wonderful! We have pergola posts up already- waiting to start the top section once the weather is good again. Have a very nice custom built picket fence, I always want more antique and Austin roses!! I want vintage apples trees, and DH wants a seckel pear or maybe two. And I guess my version of a hunky garden slave may be a bit different than some- I'd tend to wish for one like a Ralph or Joseph Fiennes type, or even Ioan Gruffudd (in the film 'Amazing Grace') or howsabout like Julian Sands from 'A Room with a View'?? Sigh... forget having him do the weeding, I need someone to deadhead our 100+ roses! Having him serve me tea would be lovely... And to plant all new cottage garden plants that I bring home, giving DH a break! To see recent (okay, last year) pics of our front and back gardens, and the secret garden for the children, check out my picturetrail albums: careytearose Here is a link that might be useful: look at Landscaping Projects 2007, Favourite ROSES We Grow albums