Oy vey my seasons are terribly off this year! After having a baby I didn't do too much gardening, aside from a ladder I covered with morning glories. I planted some bulbs that didn't do a whole lot but hopefully will next year. Kathi - Thank you so much! The foxgloves seem to do really well here. The original plants are about bloomed out and I don't expect them to return next year. They have reseeded all over though and this spring I think had about 11 babies that bloomed from that original three foxgloves I planted. They are all white though, but I adore foxgloves and welcome any color baby that decides to grow in my garden. :) pippi - So sorry for taking literally MONTHS to respond! I have a now six month old that I pretty much devoted the summer to. Now it's fall and my mind is turning to winter sowing and I'm hoping to find the time to garden more next year. I have a 9 year old who will have to babysit so Mom can get some gardening done. Here it gets a bit too cold to plant seeds in the fall for next spring, but I do summer sow and plant small plants that go dormant and return larger the following year. All of the foxgloves except for one that I have now were sale plants I purchased from Walmart for a couple bucks after they were done. They returned beautifully, though I doubt those original plants will come back next year. They did leave lots of babies and I'm thrilled with that! I agree the yellow yarrow is pretty aggressive, actually ALL of the yarrow I have is pretty hardy and aggressive but managable. I love it and have divided it and put it all around my house and barns. Memo - Thank you so much! I am working on it. The Dames Rocket grows as a weed out here and my Mom sort of laughed at me when I actually PAID for it and put it in my garden!!! LOL* It is gorgeous though and one of my favorite things. I did not return this spring, I'm sad to say! It was outdone by some overzealous daisies and rudbeckia that I will be thinning out next spring. The goosneck while pretty is a real nightmare and I'm planning on pulling out all of that next year too.

There are a LOT of great shade plants. I believe you are referring to either the Perennial Geraniums or the little annuals I get and toss in around the edging. The blue annuals are called Lobelia. I get them at Home Depot or Lowe's. I also have a bunch of Brunnera, which flower blue in the Spring and have turned out to be a fantastic investment. They are a flash of light color in the middle of the shade and the delicate flowers add a lot in the Spring too. Love them! I also like to mix up the Hosta's - mix chartreuse with blue's, etc. Gives a great punch! Shawna

This path leads to the northeast side of the house. Chairs and spool table located on the north side of the house under my biggest weeping willow. I planted it 6 years ago. The tree cutters butchered it when they were trimming back limbs from the power lines. I was not happy, but it will grow back. To the left is where the fishpond is situated - on the other side of the white flowering Spirea. The rose & iris garden (formerly my Potager) and one peach tree are above the willow tree. There is another peach tree on the left just beyond the white-flowering spirea. You can just make out the gray metal of the greenhouse-tool shed in the background. At the top, left, you can see one of the large plum tree which obscures the henhouse and shades it in the hot summer, and one of the cherry trees now in bloom. Pale lilac/white Violets and native blue violets bloom under the willow tree - you can see them behind one of the chairs. I have four varieties of violets. Sweet! I love sitting out here under my willow. My Mum in her favorite garden pose. She looks a lot like actress, Elizabeth Smith, if you know who she is. Mother has a great sense of humour. I will have to upload more images. The ones I took two weeks ago from the orchard (northwest of house) and in back yard are nice views of my cottage gardens. There are some good shots from the driveway too. I will look for some good ones to share. ~Annie

T. urvilleana seems quite a bit tougher than the T. heteromalla (I have both). It definitely likes sun better; the T. heteromalla gets sun-burned with only 2 hrs of sun. I think T. heteromalla is a typical tropical understory plant - it needs bright indirect light and warmth to bloom. Unfortunately it is in one of the coldest spots in the garden, and the chill factor seems to prevent blooming. Citrus and roses have certain similarities - the most obvious is that they are "born hungry". Meyers are the hungriest citrus of all because they bear not only heavily, but when young, whereas most citrus don't bear much until 7 yrs of age. I use any old citrus fertilizer alternated with a custom mix of humic acid/greensand/alfalfa meal, at least 7-12x per year. Twice a year I give a direct shot of liquid iron - just open the bottle and pour, then water it in (or let the rains do it).