Thanks for your participation NYwoodsman. It is always great to read differing opinions and viewpoints. However, you are mistaken if you believe many of us are going to disagree with your statement: "What you wind up with is a mindless collection of incongruent plants that makes no aesthetic sense." That is exactly what, we too, wish to avoid. Being an indigenous plant enthusiast myself, I have learned to rely upon these plants. However, I have also come to learn that many people inadvertently do a disservice to the native plants they promote. The question for me is not whether to use them but rather, How can I best use them? Where most enthusiasts fail from a design perspective (which effectively and ardently promotes the plant group you love) is recognizing the power of "capturing the essence". Think about some of those little moments in nature that stopped you in your tracks. Are not these the things that captured your heart and steal your emotions? Something like stumbling upon an unexpectedly large patch of bluebells during a hike in a remote area creates joy for even those who have never planted a native. There is absolutely nothing wrong with "capturing this highlight" and introducing its essence into your native back yard. I have expounded on this concept at great length in the past and need not repeat myself ad nauseum. Just consider that native plantings can be so much more with inclusion of a little thoughtful design. IronBelly

Ashley, The photos you like are from a yard in Long Island, New York, so the plants, while very lovely, don't have to deal with the same harsh summer conditions we have here. (Their "hot" is not even the same as our "hot" even though we all are in zone 7.) Just thought I'd throw that in because often we admire yards from other parts of the country, but sometimes we can't use some of those plants here in our climate or they bloom earlier in our climate and all are not in bloom together. Also, the landscapes in the photos you like were done by a person who is a garden designer and, yes, the design is amazing, as you'd expect from someone who designs gardens. : ) First of all, you need to figure out what kind of soil you have---clay, sand, sandy loam, silt, etc. because the kind of soil you have will help determine what you can grow. I would guess you have sandy loam or clayey loam but I'm just guessing. Secondly, even more importantly, you need to know if your soil is alkaline or acidic. Some parts of Oklahoma have extremely alkaline soil, some have acidic soil, and some have soil that is close to neutral. Different plants grow well in soils with different pH factors, so figure out your soil pH before you start to plant. From looking at the photo of your home, which I've linked below for other folks so it is easier to view, it looks like your beds are not very deep. How deep are they? Three feet? Four feet? More? As small as the beds are, you will have to select smaller plants or the beds will get too crowded very quickly and will look too "busy". Or, if you want to have a lot of plants, you could enlarge the beds before you try to plant too much. You also have to be careful and select smaller plants until your shrubs get some height to them or the taller flowers will shade out parts of the shrubs which can lead to uneven growth and a mis-shapen form. Take Malva "Zebrina", for example. Just a couple of months after planting, one plant can be 3 feet wide or wider and 3 to 4 feet tall and it would overwhelm the small shrubs. I use a lot of Malva "Zebrina" and hollyhocks, for example, but I have a two story house so I have deeper beds--some of mine are 12'-15' deep (deep meaning horizontally wide, not soil that deep), so I have the space in front of taller shrubs to plant taller flowers. You don't have that sort of space in your current beds, though, so you have to be careful in selecting taller flowers. Unless the beds are deeper than they appear to be in the photo, the following plants on your list would tend to get too large for the space you have: four o'clocks, tall phlox, tall cannas (you might be able to grow the dwarf cannas but you'll probably have to dig and divide them every year to get them from taking over the shrubs' space), hibiscus, Russian Sage (there is at least one named dwarf Russian sage that doesn't get as large as the others and it might be a possibility) and maybe Autumn Sage. You can't have hostas on the south side of your house because they need shade and would struggle in the hot July and August sun without a lot of shade. You don't want chameleon plant because it is very invasive. I don't know about silver lace vine on the south side of a house. It is not crazy about our summers and normally does best on the east or north side of a house where it has some protection from the summer sun and the southerly winds that are so dominant during the hot months. These plants are good candidates for your beds, but not too many of them unless you enlarge the beds: Globe Amaranth Gazania Daisies Cosmos (the dwarf ones only, like Cosmic Orange or Cosmic Red or Cosmic Yellow or the dwarf Lady Bug line because some of the taller ones would get 4' to 5' or taller and overwhelm the shrubs) Stonecrop Hardy Ice Plant (only if you have well-drained soil) Yarrow Lantana (not generally reliably hardy in zone 7, but sometimes comes back for 2, 3 or 4 years if the soil drains well and the winters are kind) Verbena (the perennial ones can spread out 4' wide but the annuals stay manageable) Daylily (if carefully selected and placed--some of them get huge too, so you'd want smaller ones) Zinnias (choose the smaller ones (height-wise) like the Dreamland or Magellan or Zahara series that get maybe 12" to 16" high. Some zinnias get 4' tall or taller and about as wide and they'd be too large for your current beds) If you are doing to put a bed on the west side of the house that would be 4' to 5' wide, you could fill it with flowers and many of the ones you listed--both tall and short ones--would be great for a location like that where you don't have to worry about the flowers burying the slower growing shrubs. So, if you are going to keep the beds their current size, I'd go with smaller, shorter plants like gazanias or blanket flowers for the first couple of years in order to give the shrubs time to gain a little height after width. After that, you can carefully add some of the taller plants you like, but slowly and in moderation so the bed won't be overfilled. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful:

Ladies we have a celebrity in our midst!!! This picture and article appeared in the Monday April 21st edition of the Quincy Herald-Whig. Way to go Michelle!!!! lOLLY WAGNER Herald-Wnig Staff Writer The gardener's house on South 19th Street is easy to spot from the street. Michelle Reynolds' minuscule front yard is more straw than grass, but the tulips poking up in bunches around a tree stump, and the yard ornaments and bird feeders distract the eye. But the real work is going on inside, where the cold, dark days have been banished by grow lights and win­dow gardens. "The plants keep me busy," Reynolds said. "It gets me through winter to have stuff blooming here all the time." Reynolds will be putting most of her vegetable seedlings into the com- munity plots on North Eighth Street. She also has the beginnings of several butterfly and kitchen gardens for her­self, friends and relatives. While she regrets that the garden is too far to walk to, she's glad that it's away from the curious fingers of her sons, 5-year-old Timmy and 2-year-old Jeremy. This is her second year, and she has plants to share with the other gar­deners and flowers to contribute. The perennials have already sprouted in two portable greenhouses on the front porch. Reynolds put the shelves of flats, encased in plastic, on the porch last January and the seeds started to sprout last month. "I just water them," Reynolds said. A lot of seeds need the freeze-thaw cycle to germinate. "I just let nature do it." Reynolds' kitchen is a laboratory with plants in pots, plants wintering-over, a shelf-top greenhouse, house plants, Timmy's seedlings and plants hanging and sitting everywhere they'll find natural light. Outside the kitchen door, protected from freezing temperatures in the "mud room" on the back porch, are two more portable greenhouses sheltering seedlings. They hold snapdragon, roses, and cardinal climbers that will bloom with red trumpets that appeal to hum­mingbirds. The tiny backyard is completely mulched. "I want to water plants, not grass," she explains. The wood chips also provide a relatively clean play area for the boys, "not that they wouldn't love to play in the mud," Reynolds said. Birdhouses hang from the garage wall, and in the corner are several raised gardens for flowers. The hard-working plants are in the base­ment. More than 100 tomato plants, along with eggplants, pepper plants, and more flowers sprout from flats on the shelves that line three walls, leaving just enough room for the washer and dryer. Each shelf has a fluorescent bulb hanging from chains so it can be raised as the plants grow. "It's taken me a couple of years to get it where I want it," Reynolds said. Here are the beginnings of several kitchen gardens and a winter's worth of canned toma­toes and salsa. While Reynolds has not gotten involved with groups promoting locally grown foods, she's discovered the pleasure of being surrounded by nature and helping things to grow. "I talk about them to anybody who will lis­ten," she said. hwagner@whig.com/221-3374 GARDENWEB.COM Michelle Reynolds plants more seeds than she can use. She plans to give away her extras, including trading plants online at GardenWeb.com. She also has several kitchen gar­dens planned for friends and relatives. At only a few feet square, "a kitchen garden is something anybody can put in their yards," Reynolds said. Her kitchen gardens hold a few tomato plants, eggplants, onions, radishes, carrots and lettuce, "just any­thing you can toss in dinner," she said. There are also herbs such as basil and fennel for cooking, for the butterflies and just for the delicious aroma when they are crushed between the fingers.

Lauriescreams - Thank you! I felt like I was just getting into my groove with my last garden when the decision was made to move. We did not take anything with us, our house closed a month before our new house was done being built and we stayed in a hotel for half of that with everything in storage. I am slowly getting a feel for what the plan will be with this one, my first inclination was to remove the sod on the back slope and plant on it but now I am leaning more towards trying to convince the husband that we need to terrace it with a retaining wall. I have had a few different companies out here to measure and give me quotes but so far none of the quotes have come in yet. So far the plan for the roses is to plant them in sort of an ombre' effect pattern, with the deepest colors(Young Lycidas, Darcy Brussel) in the middle going out to the lavenders(Plum Perfect, Angel Face, Heirloom, Love Song) and whites(Earth Angel, PJPII, Winchester Cathedral).