Perennial geranium (not the bright red annual polygonatums that you see everywhere) makes a nice, zero-maintenance filler/edger as does Nepeta (aka, catmint). Caryopteris/blue mist shrub is low-growing & low-maintenance where I am plus it has a mild fragrance and attracts pollinators. Chelone (turtlehead) makes an appearance in late season with pink or white blooms (shaped like--you guessed it, a turtle's head) when not much else is blooming + it attracts bees. Dicentra/bleeding heart is a springtime bloomer that I've always found was high-impact but zero maintenance, either the species (red) or hybrid 'Alba' (white). If you have a bit of shade, snakeroot (Cimicifuga racemosa) is zero maintenance. Its fluffy plumes of white flowers attract pollinators and is another late-season bloomer. Another interesting perennial is Trycirtis hirta/toad lily--unique flower shape and one that blooms very late in the season. The bees love it. It prefers shade but I have it growing in part sun. You might be interested in a book entitled 'Perennials for Every Purpose' by Larry Hodgson since it allows you to narrow in on what you're attempting to accomplish in your garden beds.

You certainly do have a nicely weeded planted area there, Renee. And your yard looks nice as it is. It's too bad about the pepper tree, though. At first glance the tentative plan would be fine. I have a tendency to keep looking and wondering whether it might be a bit better, though, the same as I do here... and then I just kind of keep going with ideas. I doubt that any of these ideas are essential--but just the direction I'd probably head if it were my own yard. I tend to prefer a more woodsy or natural feel to lots of grass. Consider having less grass, mainly relegated to paths, with a wider grass "path" around your large tree focal point. You might have a need for a place for a badmittan court or the like, so perhaps you actually need a lot of grass. Or just prefer its looks to a more densely planted-up look. If so, ignore this advice! If you figure on having a wide amount of grass (wider "grass path") at your back door that fairly quickly diminishes in width, you could measure the grass path at the point it gets 7-8 feet across until it gets about to the spot where the hose starts on your second picture. Just beyond that, figure on introducing a middle planting area that's irregular in shape instead of the circle, and dependent on its borders for the paths on each side. That middle planting area would have to have a bit of a narrow end where the two paths diverge, but you could still round it off some. Its overall feel would be somewhat triangular, but indented/outdented at various spots. The paths bounding that middle planting area will be each maybe 40-48 inches wide, or whatever is enough for you to get your garden cart through fairly easily, allowing for a small pot or two to sometimes be in the way at the edges of the path. The outer edges of those paths will be determined by the edges of the planting areas you are going to do or already have. You don't want either path to be straight, but too sharp an angle anywhere feels a bit unnaturally contrived on a path. You'll have to keep adjusting to get the right feel, and the middle planting area will keep changing in size and shape, but you can determine it according to the paths on each side. Remember you can always make the new side planting area larger or smaller in any dimension to benefit the middle planter, and if something about the older planting area seems undeal with the new arrangement, you could add to it some too. You probably ought to figure on subtracting from it at least enough for one or two little grassy path exits leading into it off the left-side main path, and the end of those short little entrances might feature some sitting, as well as some arches or pergolas for 3-dimensional interest. So how far out to take the new middle planting area? It depends on how much grass you want to see, but I'd suggest that you take up most of the grass and plant the middle area much farther out than where your circle exists now. And especially on the far left corner of that middle planting area (as you look from the house), extend it some extra to try to make the further continuation to your far back side a natural walk. The walks ought to feel a little bit like an exploration for fun, and you have enough overall width to make some side exits from the grassy paths into some short blind alleys (that presumably could also have grass underfoot) to cozy sitdown areas from which you can survey parts of your beautiful backyard. Ideally, some of those side walks could also curve some, and some could have an arch of climbing roses to add some vertical interest. At the early point of path divergence, shortly after leaving your back door and determining which path to take, a rosy arch over each of the two grassy paths would make nice welcomes to the two walks and make you feel as if you were about to enter a magic land of rosy beauty, and even in winter might contain a few evergreen things that can make the walk interesting. If any of the planting areas have as much as half a days' dappled shade in summer, you might try planting some camellia japonicas there for some wonderful winter blooming. It's a little bit difficult to figure out the handling of the tree area without knowing about the sun's directions at different times of the day, but clearly that area gets enough sun for grass all the way up to the tree trunk on the camera's side. If the area near the tree (where there's dappled shade in the second picture) gets as much as half a days's shade, you might figure on doing something with some more shade-tolerant plants there, making that section of the yard a little different, but creating another little side walk off the path that goes forward to the back of your yard. The little exit into the dappled area could end with your seating. That area could contain some shade tolerant roses--maybe a shade-tolerant climber like Renae going up an arch over the seating?--as well as some other kinds of beautiful plants that like some shade, like hellebores, camellias, and maybe some encore azaleas that would be blooming some of the same time with the roses. Your blue cape plumbago combined with climbing roses on the now-ivied fence sounds wonderful, wonderful. If you might be interested in some punctuation marks with contrasting foliage there too, you could plant a sasanqua/hiemalis camellia every 15-20 feet or so just in front of the climbing plants. The sasanquas/hiemalis are blooming right now, with the last fall rose flushes, and most of them can take a lot of sun. We have one here that looks like a vigorous grower shooting straight upward, and its blooms are gorgeous. That's camellia Stephanie Golden, and this picture of its (prolific!) blooms are accurate: http://www.mrjacksfarm.com/dnn/Shrubbery/Camellias/StephanieGolden/tabid/582/Default.aspx. (Open a new browser window and copy the address, minus the period, into your browser's address field after deleting the current address if you have a homepage with new browser windows.) The thick dark evergreen foliage would be especially welcome in contast to the planter areas moving farther outward with many roses and other plants with lighter-weight leaves. If you should go with the vertical camellia punctuations and also with that particular variety, then most any climbing/rambling rose would go well with it, but specifically if you planted some yellow or slightly yellow ones, they might pick up the yellow from the center of those camellias to a spectacular degree. Some of the varieties headed toward yellowish that might look good: Duchesse d'Auerstädt, Golden Gate, Leverkusen, Ghislaine De Feligonde, Malvern Hills, Roberta Bondar, Lamarque, City of York (yellow centers), Golden Celebration, and Teasing Georgia. The once-blooming Yellow Lady Banks is evergreen, thornless, and terribly easy to grow but only blooms in the spring, and that period wouldn't coincide with a fall-blooming camellia. Still, it might be nice and easy. Some people have good luck with Golden Showers, and that might be more likely on the West Coast than the East. If you do pick up on the yellow idea, some Julia Childs in some spots within the planting areas in front might also be nice. Julia Child kept blooming into November here last year, and is a good rose in every respect that I know of. For the center planting area (a large modification of your circular idea), it will be overall much larger than your circle and roughly elongated. At the house end it might be nice to have a small tree, perhaps a medium to low Japanese maple tree. Fairly near the other end, a birdbath or fountain might be nice. One of the side exits to one path or the other might be placed around the area near the bird bath, so you can take the exit and sit where you can easily see the birds in the birdbath. In all the planting areas, it would be nice to feature some bulbs that will do well in a good bit of sun. Crocus, hyacinths, daffodils/jonquils, tulips, gladiolas, peonies, alliums... *It's not essential at all*, but it might be extra nice to put that central planting area onto a raised planter. Get a truckload of good dirt, dump it into a wooden frame that's maybe elevated by 20-30 inches, and it's kind of a big deal with eye appeal before you even get to looking at the plants themselves. The wooden frame, made of heavy landscaping wood, isn't simple or cheap, but if your husband likes projects like that, it might be doable. I am suggesting a lot of work, I know. It takes a certain kind of personality to be comfortable with that, and that might not suit you, but I mentioned again to my husband the other day that I was still glad that we always had stuff that needed landscaping, buying for, and planting in the yard. You just try to make it so you have little pieces of it sort of looking pretty good at any one time. Just remember that your yard is already very pleasant as is! But you can always do more and have a good time doing it. :) Philip Oliver in Alabama is someone who obviously hasn't minded continuing to work on his yard year after year. At this point, it's fantastic and is just the sort of crowd of plants that I love to look at and dream of. I'll put a link here to his yard's evolution. His website is huge, and hugely interesting as you keep looking at the various links. Best wishes, Mary Here is a link that might be useful: Philip Oliver's evolving landscaping

I have about a dozen Phlox's but have never been able to keep Starfire alive - you might have better luck with David (pure white) or Bright Eyes (pink with a darker pink eye) instead. Also the lobelias need shade and moist conditions (the cardinal more than the blue). Becky has been the best shasta for me. Coreopsis is bullet proof and will bloom for a long time but the new red one, Mahogany something, is not hardy here. I personally don't like gaudy bright gold-yellow but wouldn't be without Coreopsis Moonbeam, a softer sulfur yellow. Be sure to add in some early and late bloomers too. Good luck. Louise

I look at my pitiful plants which are dwarfed in pots, and think Pfffffhhhh, no problem ..... ....and then Don posts that ginormous Key West, which is fantastic and it dwarfs Miz Olga! I cannot WAIT for something in my garden to look like that. Hosta are just about too exciting for me ole heart. I've taken steps to give Empress Wu room, and S&S as well. I had no idea about Key West though. It looks innocent enough in its normal nursery pot. Olga sure can breed giant hosta!