Sheesh! Hello friends!!! I have been trying so hard to get over here, but because there is so much to see on this thread, my WORK computer locks up everytime.lol I finally did it. Wow, look at all the happenings around here. Laura, I must say that you have yourself quite a 'Gold Fish' there! I'll bet they will just love looking at the water of your pool this summer.lol I love it. I need to transplant mine again since it is showing signs of decline due to very very tight roots. Laura, by the way, when are we going to hook up again? Next time, it's my treat. Mom sends her love too! Marquest...I can always send you a few cuttings if you would like or start a small plant for you. Let me know. I hope you are doing ok these days. Chris, its so nice to see you here again and in better spirits!:-) By the way, we should get together again, it would do us both good. I'll bet that orchid will make it just fine. If it needs lots of humidty ti survive, talk to me and we can work something out. Your plants are so beautiful. By the way, the cuttings you gave me are rooting! Tommy! SPETACULAR!!!!!WOW. THE COLORS and that Am. Papillio doesn't look real! Oh, I have to send one over here who would love to see that! It looks like it was photo cropped onto your kitchen. Amazing:-) As for that orchid. What do you do to keep it alive on that bark? Are you growing it in your house or a greenhouse? How do you keep enough water at the roots? Good job. I would love to try that if it isn't a lot of work. Toni! Thank you so much. I would love to see more of your plants in flower. Stop holding back...:-))) Have a great day all and pay NO mind to the price of GAS these days. Mike

My phrags/paphs aren't started yet, they usually spike in October. Carol, if you divide that Silver Eagle, perhaps You'd be interested in a trade. I have a couple that will need to be divided. Steve, littlem mentioned a phrag and I saw mention of a paph too. One of my favs, B. Little Stars is finally opening some of it's spikes. I wish I could get this plant to bloom out its spikes all at one time, it would be fabulous. It's a small plant and started last month opening the first of five spikes. It does make it's bloom season long, so that's pleasing. Apart from that one, I only have a few dends just starting, a couple phals still in bloom and a new one starting to bloom. Several more setting spikes. A fav catt Siam Jade is budding, numerous others in sheath but not showing buds yet....things are slooooow!

Second group of photos. Still on the front yard, this bed is between our garage driveway and the fence that borders our property. I have been redoing this bed over the last year. It is centered around a wonderful variegated sweetgum, but the plants I was using were too similar a shade of green. It should look better next year! The front end of this bed. A tall vigorous variegated pelargonium against the fence, followed by a second "Electric Blanket" shrub rose. An aeonium is putting forth strange curving pink flower spikes behind a silver lavender. Another pelargonium is in flower on the far left side: At the back of this bed, a new "Thompsonii" abutilon: Next to it is a "Gingersnap" tree rose. The color fades as the blooms age, but when backlit, they are showstoppers: Continuing past the garage, this is the sunny south-facing side of the house. Those beds are narrow, and it's a constant fight to keep the path clear! Those plants are staked, pruned, and propped up with plant ladders, LOL. This is where I grow most of my roses and all the sunlovers, like cannas, passifloras, sedums, oleander, and ceratostigma: Two stems of "Delany Sisters" roses from this bed, with limonium and senecio, in the vase: "Double Delight" rose: Aeonium and ceratostigma: Another J&P standout, "Ladies in Waiting" shrub rose. Lovely scent, but wilts when cut. The trellises hold a purple passiflora vine along with a nasturtium: Closeup of the passiflora: Continuing down the side path, one of my favorites, the citrus-scented "Intrigue" tree rose: Opposite the "Intrigue" rose, against the fence, a "Sister Mary Agnes" white oleander trained as a small tree hangs over the path and provides welcome shade: I thought this "Nabob" abutilon, next to the oleander, had died of scale and aphids, so I cut most of it down over a year ago. To my surprise, a shoot sprang up and put out a bloom this week: Now we move into the backyard, which is divided into two halves and makes up over half the property. Almost always in flower are the Meyer lemons - we have three mature ones, and are always giving lemons away. The flowers have a deep, strong, heavy sweet scent, and look like miniature orchids. Meyers are self-pruning; most of these flowers will fall off, with only 1-4 lemons actually forming: The Bearss Lime tree is also flowering. It's finally doing well in this bed and I actually got some limes this year. It's much less vigorous than the Meyers: A red oleander: A white pelargonium. The leaves are an ordinary green and the flowers plain white...but it blooms virtually all year long and lives on runoff during our bone-dry summers. An amazing plant: Lastly, a hellebore. This one stays in bloom 7-9 months out of the year:

I second Martie's welcome. There are lots of things to plant in fall, it's an excellent time to pick up perennials that you want, they'll be on sale at the local garden centers. If you can wait until spring to really start planting, however, that'd give you the whole winter to map out the property, read up on design and on plants that do well in your corner of New England. Plus, it will give you time to find good sources of compost, mulch, manure, and whatever else you'll need to get your soil ready for a garden. You could always do a half-and-half approach: thoroughly prep the soil in a small area and use that as a nursery bed for anything you find now that you know you want, and use the winter months to finish your plans. Then again, if you know what you want to do and if you can get your soil rototilled and ammended with compost or manure and/or peat, no reason not to go for it. Just about any perennial that you want can be planted in fall - just be sure to give them enough time before the ground freezes solid, so they're well anchored in the soil by new roots and won't be heaved by the freeze-thaw cycle. Also keep things well-watered after planting, as fall winds can dry plants out very quickly. Mulching between plants (but not right up to the crowns) helps too. The window of opportunity for planting depends on your location; if you are close to the shore, the end of the planting season comes much later than it does inland, because the warm ocean temperatures help the coastal areas stay warmer in fall and early winter. Here on cape cod, for example, we can plant at least until the end of October. One other suggestion; get a soil test to check for PH; this is pretty important for any kind of garden. This is the absolute best time to plant peonies (herbaceous and tree peonies) as well as oaks; I'd hold off until spring on anything that is marginally hardy in your area, though. Keep in touch, and enjoy your new home.