I'm much happier with the purple alternanthera than with the Persian Shield. I know, they do different things in different spaces, but I really like the size of this Alt. I'll be taking cuttings for the winter.

What I really want more of next year are blooms in the backyard. I've come to realize that my perennial bed is really just a holding area. I'm going to use it as a place to test plants and see how they grow before finding them a permanent home. It wasn't supposed to be this way.

I also want more stargazers, peonies, and mid-spring blooms like irises and weigela.

Hi Nell!
I like those yellow roses! I asked my wife, she said "I love yellow roses".
So that goes on the list
Thanks! :0)

Duane

Your julia child roses are so pretty! I am sorry i didnt pick it up when i saw them cheap at home depot. I have sunny knockout, and just love them! They create a lovely backdrop for my other plants. I plan on adding a hedge of sorts of them, mixed with rainbow knockouts.

That yellow rose is a beauty. Just a perfect yellow. Everything is looking very green and healthy.

We are beginning to get that brownish look to the grass. We need rain. I am just in a holding pattern now letting Mother Nature do her thing until frost.

More herbs, I was out at our local herb farm last week (good fall sale :o). I didn't know there were so many different kinds of chives, bought several new cultivars. When looking for info on a particular chive I saw they were good to plant around a lot of things to deter aphids, Japanese beetles, fungal infections etc. I knew about aphids but not heard about the others.

Annette

Tom - I've overwintered Purple Alternanthera in pots - did that three years ago - gotta watch for cold snaps - but my garage never gets below 32...

It IS amazing how Purple Alternanthera spreads.. it's slow at first and then just takes off.

Carrie

So what is the dark arrowhead leaves next to the striped leaved canna in your first picture??? A type of elephant ear?? I have seen those in some amazing pictures...one where they were planted every foot and came up in a large rectangular pool...oh the reflection was gorgeous. I want some!!! LOL Tell me quick, I'm heading to the garden store!!! J/K And how easy/picky are they? I hope they aren't waterhogs, cuz I'm not good at babying...

"Black Magic" colocasia. Elephant ears, yes. Water hogs, yes. If a leaf wilts, it dies. Unless you have a greenhouse, no need to hurry to the store, they're tropical and cold tender. But aren't they stunning?
They don't send out runners like regular ee's. Make a note to buy some late next spring.

I've experimented with alternanthera over the winter for about four years now. Teeny cuttings in a big pot or basket survived in a sunny utility room where the temp never got colder than about 42F. They survived in a windowless unheated tool shed where I trundled them in and out on sunny days. The way I now prefer is to take cuttings in the longest lengths possible and put them in a vase or other container of water. They rooted and lasted for months. Some that I never planted lasted all summer until I let them go dry.

Persian Shield is best for shade, alternanthera for sun, in my experience. Persian Shield is harder to grow, more rewarding where it does thrive. Don't leave out Purple Heart either, and loropetalum if you need a shrub with dark leaves.

Sigh. So many plants, so little time. All these purples will need more yellow roses, you think? Some yellow marigolds -- butterflies are enjoying them right now.

Nell

I've got the purple heart and the loropetalum. My largest shrub is turning green. It gets about 6 hours of sun. It was more purple in shade. I thought they liked sun?

More yellow. Nell, you need some Coreopsis Full Moon. It's got larger flowers, more leaves, and is bigger overall than Moonbeam. The color is very similar. It gets huge here.

I anchored one end of the yellow rose bed with a variegated euonymous, a rooted piece I had in a pot forever. It's one of those things nobody plants any more.

Maybe we should start a new thread about how many different plants (not total number of plants; different cultivars) comprise a well-rounded cottage-type flower bed or border, taking into account the various seasons and bloom times as well as where we garden.

It would be another take on sequence of bloom, perhaps, and the importance of records of what's blooming and when. There are daffodils in the yellow rose bed. Hundreds of bulbs are too many when you're planting; there are never enough daffodils when they bloom.

Sweet Alyssum! It has been beautiful blooming at the foot of the roses all summer.
kay