I have purchased a lot of bulbs from van engelen, scheeper's 'wholesale' division (bulbs are sold in larger quantities and have a minimum order amount but do not require retail license in order to buy). I have been overall pleased but have had a few minor issues. I plant to order from them again this year. I have also purchase lilies from Brent and Becky's spring sale. Wow, those lilies have been fabulous. They bloomed wonderfully the first year and have continued to do very well. I get a catalogue from Zimmermans and will probably place a small order from this fall for anemones. Lovely picture April! What are you using as a trellis against your house? This post was edited by trovesoftrilliums on Tue, Jul 23, 13 at 23:16

Sharon, I am shocked that you said you got good customer service from Veseys. They sent me that big order of mouldy lilies and one empty bag, a couple of years ago......when I called they got really nasty with me. They told me that nothing in their catalogue would grow in zone 2. Then when I had to order blooming bags from them last year because I couldn't find them anywhere else....I added a couple annual seed packs to the order. The person on the phone taking my order told me they had nothing that would grow in zone 2....so the seeds had no guarantee. I would like an explaination, how come they have things that grow in your z2 and on top of that how they come with a guarentee? This just doesn't look like good customer service to me!!! Sierra

Lots of plants will grow under those conditions and many ferns lead the list. Hostas would be a close second. Try some of the larger, better known online sources - Bluestone Perennials, Plant Delights Nursery, Heronswood, White Flower Farms - if local suppliers do not offer. Naylor Creek is my first choice for shade loving plants - great selection, excellent customer service. Here is a link that might be useful: Naylor Creek Nursery

How fun for your son! I studied in Italy when I was in college - we spent every weekend on the train traveling around Western Europe. As soon as class was over on Friday, we'd hop on an overnight train to someplace like Munich, the French Riviera, Paris, etc. We had a three week spring break so one friend and I traveled together for the first half all over Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium then parted ways where I spent a night in Liechtenstein, then traveled a few days alone through France, before I ended up in Spain where I visited several foreign exchange students my family had hosted in the US nearly ten years earlier. I also got to spend five days in Sicily with my father's cousins, who didn't speak any English. At the end of the semester, a group of us spent 10 days in Greece touring the islands. It's funny b/c NONE of my friends took advantage of studying abroad - they were all business majors which made it harder, but not impossible. Just before I left, I was second guessing going, a little bummed I was going to miss out, but boy, it was one of the best experiences of my life! About five years later, just after I got engaged to dh, who was then in the Navy and stationed in Hawaii, he got his next assignment which was on the East Coast. He is originally from the Bay Area, so we flew there, bought a new car in NV (no sales tax), then spent the next three weeks driving across country. We took a zig zag pattern, stopping in places we wanted to see as well as places to visit friends. We camped, stayed in cheap hotels, friends and a few nights in more luxurious lodgings. To show you how non-direct our route was - we started in CA, drove to Reno to pick up the car, spent the night in Tahoe at dh's family condo, then stopped in Davis to visit an old friend of mine, then drove all the way down to L.A. to visit dh's brother, from there to San Diego, then over to Vegas, then from there to AZ where we had the highlight of our trip. We hiked 10 miles down into Havasu Canyon which is part of the Grand Canyon just further west, where we camped on an Indian reservation. From there, we drove through incredibly scenic parts of Utah up to Denver where we stayed at a friend's vacation home, then up through Wyoming to South Dakota where we visited some national parks including Mt. Rushmore (only b/c we were nearby). Then from there to Milwaukee as part of the trip was to see as many major league ballgames as we could. I know we also stopped in Minnesota but think it was just to sleep then eventually ended up in Chicago, then Cleveland (sister and many relatives live there) then finally "home" to where we live now. I am so glad we took this trip as there has never been a time since where dh has been able to take that much time off. Since having kids, I have always wanted to go on a big road trip. We have seen much of the East and West Coast but not much of the interior. Kids have vetoed the road trip b/c they don't want to spend weeks in the car. I told them they have it much easier than I did - we had nothing but AM radio, books and car games to keep us entertained while they have iPads, etc! For some reason dh wasn't too keen on a road trip either so we are flying to Utah this summer to see Bryce and Zion and the northern rim of the Grand Canyon.