c. macropetala Blue Bird would do very well I think. I have tried to get it to climb the old willow by the ditch but it prefers to scramle along the bank and hang over the edge of the ditch. But I don't get to admire it much because it is on the wrong side of the ditch!!!

Roper, you're right. The shipping is very expensive. Probably doubles the price of a plant. But the plants are wonderful, many of them unavailable anywhere else, and a little underpriced. Most importantly, if you love to garden, they have things you absolutely can't find anywhere any more. This is just one example: Years ago, I grew a tall blue ageratum (annual). Have not seen the seed anywhere for years. I love ageratum, but the tiny puny ags you get from nurseries in the spring don't even grow, much less grow big. Annie's has the old-fashioned tall ag, just a beautiful thing, non-stop bloomer. Mine spread to app 3' wide and 20" or so high, bloomed all summer thru heat and didn't stop tip hard frost.. Cutting some for flowers for the house didn't even make a dent. All that for the price of two measly six-packs of a puny 2" ag. So this is one that is definitely worth a premium to me, just to have it. There are lots of others, too, and even more if you live in a warmer zone than mine.

Nothing special here. I only have 6 King Sagos. 2 of them are quite large. Not sure how old they are, but they have about a foot or so of trunk. I got them over a year ago now I think at a home depot for 30 bucks each. I was kind of floored by how inexpensive they were for the size. I have two others that are about 8" of trunk each, and two smaller ones. I leave them out until about Dec 1, then bring them in. The do see several freezes each winter before I bring them in, and frost as well. I like doing this because it hardens them off and keeps the hardiness up. So far they have been just fine. The two big ones I put in the basement (thank god I have one now) near window that gets some sun, but not much, and pretty much do not water them most of the winter. Maybe just a little bit of water once or twice in 3 months. They go back out in mid march and might take another freeze or frost or two. I dont really start watering them heavily/ normally until the frost / freezes have stopped completely. Last year this worked brilliantly and they they put out a big flush in June which is now fully grown and hardened off. The smaller ones have yet to flush for me. The big ones appear to have already set a flush for next spring so I'm expecting that once they get back out and warm up theyll do it all over again. Hopefully the smaller ones will flush this year too.

I have one Oakleaf Hydrangea that I planted two summers ago. It bloomed great this year and has tripled in size since planted. I was not sure whether to cut the stalks back in the winter but didn't and most of them came back out in the spring. There were a few that didn't and after a while of waiting to see if anything sprouted, I cut them back. I have two blue hydrangeas and one pink. I' don't know the names of any of them. The two blues are on the east side of the house and are planted in a bed close to the house. They get morning sun. The pink one is on the north side of the house and gets morning and early afternoon sun. The two blues look very bushey and green but no blooms. The pink is also very healthy looking but with only a couple of really small blooms. I want the big blooms that I see on everyone elses bushes. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I've had one of the blue hydranges in several different places in my yard for over 10 years and it still has yet to bloom for me. Maybe one or two tiny blooms but nothing like it should be. As a matter of fact, I dug it up from my neighbor's mother's yard. When she had it, it was full of blooms and mostly in the shade, only getting dappled afternoon sun. What am I doing wrong? I'd plant lots more because I love the blooms so much but if I can't get them to bloom, I don't need anymore green bushes. Ann