How about the evolution of one area 2010-2013? It's taken time to try to get the effect I wanted, especially because I didn't know what effect I wanted in the first place. 2010: Got rid of that lawn and the Cercis trees in 2012. 'Laguna' climber has grown to obscure a good bit of the neighbor's roof. Yay! Added a tutuer as a focal point for the axial view, but the dull green color doesn't attract the eye. Moved all the 'Jubilee Celebration's there to form a hedge. Temporary row of bell peppers in front of the roses proved quite ornamental. Dahlias and shasta daisies and 'Rozanne' this June almost stole the show from the roses... November 2013...the dahlias and daisies are done for the year, but 'Rozanne' and the roses go on and on. The eye is supposed to be drawn from the 'Rozanne's back and forth along the path up to the 'Perle d'Azur' clematis on the right side fence and then to the tuteur, which doesn't look like it in the photo but painted now the same color (in person) as the 'Rozanne' flowers. That's the theory, anyway. Now if the exact right shrubs can be found to render the rest of the neighbor's roof invisible, I will finally be satisfied. (Temporarily.) As a garden evolves, so does the gardener--or is it the other way around? And to recall 1999 again, the same area but looking in the other direction.

Lots of great new updates and pics, everyone, keep them coming. Love all of your tropicals, cast, plus the adeniums, plumerias, and blood orange pics too. Keep them coming. I love Epiphyllums too, although the only one I've had long term success with (ten years now) is Epiphyllum 'Curly', a contorted form of E. guatemalense. I bought it as a small cutting and it's become a very large plant the flowers regularly all spring and summer. Unfortunately the flowers are small, sort of a dingy off white, and disorganized, LOL, and they only open for a very few short hours well after midnight. Neat, curly leaves though, and pretty pink fruit. Here's a pic of mine from a week or so ago. Definitely grow it for the foliage, hah! I posted this on a separate thread too, but here's a quick pic of my Bauhinia galpinii blooming away. Finally, seedling #9 from my hand-pollination of stapelias (an annoyingly complex hidden lock-and-key mechanism, no dust-some-yellow-pollen-onto-a-stigma kind of thing) opened its first bloom this weekend. You can see traits of each parent: the size and stripes of Stapelia gigantea and the brick red color and some extra fur from S. hirsuta. Nothing fancy, but fun and easy, so why not share it, right? Happy gardening all! Grant

I don't know what Euphorbia this is, but it occasionally seeds, though not to any great degree. It is unfussy and tidy, and provides a nice foliage contrast to the other plants in this bed. From Late May 2014 False Solomon's seal, Smilacina racemosa, volunteered here, probably from seeds in the soil we moved in to level off the bed. I like it at this time of year, but later in the summer it gets a bit ratty in the sun. I need to move it to a shadier spot where it will remain ornamental when the weather heats up. From Late May 2014 My Halesia is fading now, but it while it is blooming the bees love it. This one is more of a shrub than a tree because it froze back to the snow line several times when it was young, so it has many low branches. From Late May 2014 The bed along what was an old barn foundation. From Late May 2014 After a rough first year between my neglecting it in a too-small pot and the voles noshing on it over the winter, this Leucosceptrum japonicum Gold Angel is glowing this season. It reminds me of a golden coleus, but is perennial. From Late May 2014 At DH's shop, the redbud and a Viburnum burkwoodii bloom at the same time. The underplanting of woodland phlox hasn't gotten large enough to show yet, but I am hoping for a haze of lavender under the redbud in future years. From Late May 2014 All the rain has given us scenic effects, like mist rising off the fields as the sun sets From Late May 2014 From Late May 2014 and a rainbow. From Late May 2014

dtd, Do you have any idea how strenuous a weekend Katy and I had? Driving to WWF, talking so long we didn't get to the Conservancy open gardens, a long lunch at a micro winery, driving alllllll the way to another part of connecticut over hills, mountains, and by lakes, then going to 5 gardens (it may have been six). And then coming home to my weed infested lot threw me into such a funk, so I had to go back to bed. And you think you had a hard weekend?! Seriously, I need a little while to digest it all, and will post on the thread Deb started this morning. Idabean/Marie