Ditto what Jeri Jennings said - with the loss of so many respected and dependable sources in the last few years the ones who are left need to be rewarded. I have never had a bad experience with ARE and I have gotten all my roses from them through mail order. In fact with the exception of one lovely, healthy Sally Holmes that I bought locally all my roses have come in the mail and the only one that I have lost was turned a-- over teacup by a squirrel while I was out of town and my assistant gardener was not able to resuscitate her. I had a similar experience early on with my baby band of Mrs. Keay's The Bishop and he is six feet tall today because I got him back in the dirt quickly enough. It is amazing what a determined squirrel can do although the roses that ARE ships are pretty much past a squirrel's weight class thank goodness. Another good reason to order from them.

Nancy, It took me till the 2nd time ordering from a different LA seller to get swirling waters. I have only had bad luck with one seller on LA and it was she sent me something else besides swirling water and I emailed her and she was supposed to send a replacement but never did. But I guess I am 1 of those customers you will only hear from twice then I just dont order from them anymore. It did not bloom till the following year so I could not email her about it till a year later. It took forever to get my order from her, had to have Mike handle the seller and she sent my order then one was wrong and there was no way for me to know till it bloomed. Jill

ali, what about putting an arbor in and growing a honeysuckle up it? From the edge and in from the driveway to the tree, I'd edge out the grass from that area and curve slightly to the end of the concrete pad in front of your home, the patio area. All the way to the end. Let's give you some curb appeal ;) Put the middle of the arbor in front of the edge of the concrete pad where the car is sitting, about 3 feet in. From the middle of the arbor to the drive and then going up your house, you could create a path that would curve over to the sidewalk and to the front door. For right now, using newspapers and a 5 gallon bucket filled with water, cover up all grass with layers of newspapers you've plunged into the water. Lay them down, overlapping as you go. I typically use about 10 layers of paper. The more, the better. If you can create your path first, either using stepping stones or gravel, lay down something like visqueen and lay the stepping stones or the gravel over to create the path. Remove the grass where the path will be so that nobody trips over stepping stones or gravel. Take out a V shape where you're going into the lawn from driveway to tree and up and over to the end of your home. Remove the dirt and the grass from the V, so that you've got a drop off of sorts and lay your wet newspaper to curve down into the area where the dirt is. Cover the area up with mulch or mushroom compost if you can get your hands on some, except for the path area. By next year, the newspaper will start to decompose and the grass will be dead, but it adds to the organic matter of newspaper and the dead grass. Worm heaven. From now and thru winter, study up on various perennials and possibly a few shrubs that produce berries for our other feathered friends. Next year, push back the mulch or mushroom compost and dig holes to plant. There should be enough room to the right of the path up to your front door, to add in a shrub. Then the other shrubs could go in front of the poles, under planted and going out to the edge with perennials. I prefer natives. They're adapted to our weather, our soil, they make up our ecosystem. Find a list of native plants for your area, and research those plants as to what hummingbirds like and also which ones make seed that other birds will like to eat on. The native plants won't require dead heading, don't need pruned or cut back so they look better....I just prefer them over all. Now an iris in there isn't going to hurt anything ;)...or a peony....both left by the previous owner that I decided to leave and a friend of mine from TN also gave me a beautiful iris that is sentimental to me. But again, those 2 are easy plants. Hummingbirds will love to sit and rest a spell on shrubs you provide and give you a closer look at their beauty. Too much?? Where do you live? Zone 5, but where? lovefornature, you're doing a wonderful job! It's people like you who join GW that make it an enjoyable site to visit. If you like butterflies and are interested in attracting some of them to come to your yard, you could plant a Aristolochia tomentosa or Aristolochia durior. Another plant I love that I don't know draws anything in, but blooms in late summer, is Clematis virginiana. Another neat native clematis is Clematis glaucophylla. I also answered the e-mail you sent, I hope you got it.

I just looked at your lovely Garden Web home page. My house is about the same size as yours! And I too have been filling it with more and more flowers. My lawn in front is disappearing as I continue to expand the garden. Have you been out to the Peconic Herb Farm yet? Don't let the name throw you...this is truly one of THE gems on Long Island and is by no means limited to herbs. A fellow gardener has been telling me about this place for years and I kept putting off a visit. I finally got out there this September and it was one of those defining gardening moments where you think you've died and gone to gardening heaven. I caught the end of season sale and purchased a HUGE New Dawn climbing rose and two GIGANTIC rudbekias. My name is on their mailing list and I cannot wait for them to open again in the Spring. Visiting is a lovely experience...they're right on the river and have wonderful display gardens. And as if the terrific stock and display gardens aren't enough...the staff is wonderful! One more thing about buying from VE or John Scheepers; while I think they have the best prices, they only sell in the Fall. If you get a hankering for some more Lilies come Spring, you'll have to go to one of the other superb vendors. You'll get a ton of references here from the other posters. My recommendations would include Brent and Becky's and The Lily Garden. Happy gardening! Ciao, OITGAD Here is a link that might be useful: Peconic Herb Farm