I live in Melbourne. If you're ever down this way, let me know. I'm always eager to meet another collector. Please check out some of the other ponds, waterfalls and streams I've helped with. My good friend Mike has his own biz installing them. I wish I could take full credit for design and whatnot, I merely schlep rock and dig, but I love taking a boring backyard and turning it into something beautiful. Matthew Here is a link that might be useful: Island Pond Creations

Szolt my friend, you live in a fantastic eviroment and your garden looks very beautiful! The weeping Juniperus in your 4th and 5th pic is the Juniperus virginiana 'Pendula'. Juniperus arizonica does have a differend foliage and also differend berries. I realy like your Larix sibirica 'Tharandt', I hope we can swap some scions of it this comming Winter. Can you give us some more info about the weeping Abies nordmanniana broom which is grafted on a standard and why doesn't it have a proper name yet? I hope you'll collect the cones of Picea abies 'Gold Drift', maybe you'll find a new beauty among the seedlings... Pleaae change Abies koreana 'Silberlock' into 'Horstmann's Silberlocke'. Thanks for this tour!

They look nice, Robert! I think your small peppers will catch up just fine. It isn't like you could be putting them out in the ground this week....or next week, and who can even guess about the week after? My peppers always grow a bit slower than the tomatoes and this year that's a good thing. My tomato plants are getting too big,but we'll tough it out and they'll be fine once I get them into the ground. I did everything I could to keep them growing slow and small, but once we had some days with highs in the 80s and full sun, they started growing like crazy. I would have loved that if it wasn't for the pattern we're in of one cold spell per week. The hummingbirds are back here. I'm more worried about them surviving than I am worried about the cool-season plants in the ground. Our forecast for today has deteriorated drastically. They changed our forecast high from 52 to 46 and then, on the last update, they had dropped it even further....to 39. The whole time our forecast low has been 34 but it wouldn't surprise me if we go into the upper 20s. It is raining though, and we need the rain....every last drop of it that we can get. I'm about to start some seeds of warm-season veggies in flats. I've been saving that task for a rainy day, and here it is. Dawn

You lucky ducks!! OMG! What fantastic finds! Yes, K2, that was worth the 90 minute drive--good-looking plants and great cultivar choices. Mike, from what I hear the Divine is a must-have. Don't know much about the others but I doubt you can go wrong with JJ's. Now why can't we get those at nurseries in Texas? I think there must be a mafia of Texas NOID plumeria growers keeping JJ's out because NOIDs are everywhere in the summertime. Probably a good thing for me JJ's isn't sold close by, actually, LOL!