here is my list i added a few new things. Canna Lily Catalpa speciosa Cucumis melo var. dudaim foxtail grass Maximillian Sunflower Hibiscus moscheutos ipomoea nil mix Ipomoea muricata ipomoea nil, 'Hatsu Arashi' Picotee'mix Ipomoea purpurea 'Split Personality' Ipomoea quamoclit Tiger Lily bulbils MERREMIA TUBEROSA Grape Hyacinth Oleander red Purplehull'pea Gourd 'Apple' Gourd 'Bushel Basket' Gourd 'Corsican' Gourd Speckled Swan 4 seeds Crepe Myrtle Lagerstroemia 'Basham's Party Pink' Tomato'Golden Jubilee' Pachypodium Pachypodium baronii Empress Tree Paulownia tomentosa Yellow Elder Tecoma stans Rain Lily

Ah yes, Buff Orpingtons, Kitty. Well.........maybe, in the (distant) future. We had them at the allotment and they were fun to have around.....as long as they didn't escape.....and therein lies the dilemma - Mr Fox is perpetually lurking and chickens, unlike a lot of birds, were not terribly smart. Cath, I love the thoughtful info you impart - it is worth reading twice, especially since you are mentioning plants which I am utterly unfamilar with. Even now, shrubs have not popped up in my brain - still playing with perennials. Way back in the day, when I first started gardening, it all began with a particularly colourful flowering shrub (lavatera) and, thrilled with the success and ease of having colour and structure, I followed the well-known novice route of rapidly buying several more (philadelphus, weigela, the usual stuff)....and, of course, roses. I ran out of room in the first year! Anyway, apart from a few deutzias and philadelphus, those shrubs are long gone from my garden and also from my brain - so thank you for reminding me about a huge class of stalwart plants. I do recall checking out lindera and fothergilla and concluding they wanted a more acididc soil than I could provide (I had a brief flirtation with autumn colour) but I have always been crazy about heps and berries (I might have to risk a few of the better behaved cotoneasters) and I love the sound of your holly(although I have been looking at non-prickly types such as J.C.Van Tol). Also, I now have room to indulge in some of the less familiar fruits such as aronias, japanese wineberries (and indeed, rubus of various winter colours and good white spring flowers). I feel a bit faint when I consider the massive shuffling around this autumn, moving roses and perennials, so I may have to reach into my purse (deep pockets and short arms syndrome) and spend a bit of cash on a few statement bushes, for the sheer ease of straightforward planting (as opposed to cutting back, digging up and moving ).

yes they are beautiful =) also edible flowers, entire plant edible, all members of the hibiscus family and of the extended family of mallows are entirely edible. easy care- they grow abundantly once established. you dont have to fuss over them much, just give them water every so often and they grow very big =) rose of sharon, Hibiscus syriacus, is one kind of hardy hibiscus, the other main one being hibiscus moscheutos. to sow your seeds, plant them in winter outside, either directly in the ground or in pots. let the winter cold stratify them for you, or alternatively you can look into the cold stratification methods using the fridge.

Hi All! I have several raised beds and one has Canna and Four O'clocks. When the Jap' beetles arrived just over a week ago I began picking them off. At first first there were only 5 or 10. Then last weekend the amounts began to grow slightly. It was the first real beetle infestation I've had since we moved here 4 years ago. I had a metal Jap' beetle catcher from way back, along with a can of scent. I hung it in the middle of the bed on Monday eve. On Tuesday morning before leaving for out of town, I went to check to see if it was catching. I couldn't believe it. Without to much exaggeration there must have been 500 in the small 4 X 8 area. The pungent scent on Tuesdas hot humid morning must have drawn them to the catcher, with a quick stopover to the plants, from all of my neighborhood, and there was only 1 or 2 inside the catcher. Boy what a screw up that was. Well it's taken me almost a week of picking and drowning to get it under control. I began culling off all the hundreds of leaves they destroyed over the weekend. I had 1 beautiful Hollyhock in the bed that I left that came up from seed. All that's left are the Maroon blooms. I'm going to leave it to see how resilient a plant can be. Last year we had a Maple tree that was infested with the small inch caterpillar and I swear I was going to cut the tree down as we couldn't even use the hot-tub because of the droppings. I'm not that heartless so I'm leaving the Hollyhock as is because I swear the tree has come back stronger than ever. Of course the Holly won't have that chance for next year. But isn't Nature amazing? Jim