I hope this link works. Here is a link that might be useful: tour

Thanks for the nice comments. I'm quite pleased with how the garden is looking (aside from too many weeds sprouting after the rains and heat we've had - cursed garlic mustard weed in particular!) I'm almost positive that is not a Nelly Moser. It is a bit pinker than it looks in the picture and it does have a stripe down the center of the tepals. The stripe is a darker pink. Kathy - I have a Ramona on the south fence in the back yard and it doesn't look anything like the one with the lilac. It's also not blooming yet. But then I wouldn't swear to the one in the backyard actually being Ramona - it seems that almost every clematis I buy turns out to be something other than what the label says it is! I've concluded it doesn't matter what their names are as long as I like their blooms and they grow well for me... PM2 - the biggest hosta in the patio hosta bed is plain old Hosta sieboldiani 'Elegans' - an oldie but a goodie :-) On the right side of the patio is a 'Bressingham Blue' that is finally hitting its stride after 3 or 4 years - it's the big round leaves you can see on the right in the second to last photo. I've also been adding several Blue Angel and Blue Mammoth in a few places to see how they do. I'm a sucker for big, preferably blue, leaves! Yes, the Beautybush is a Kolkwitzia. Marian, the drawback with planting one is that it took about 5 years for that one to get big enough to flower - I gather that it's common for them to take a few years to flower but they are very pretty when they do! And, yes, the veggies are in pots because there is too much shade in the back for a vegetable garden there. The blueberries used to be in the back but got shaded out. I moved them to pots last spring. They didn't produce any flowers or fruit last year - I thik they were too shocked by the move. They spent the winter in the garage. They produced lots of flowers and there are a lot of green berries forming now so I'm hopeful for a good crop this year - if I can keep the birds off them when they start to ripen...

Laurie, We had our perennial sale...yesterday and today. Sold all your plants for you. It was steady with people, not swamped. People came with their list. Some waited until I was free and then asked for plants for specific areas of their yard. Advice is free, plants they paid for. The first person yesterday was 1 1/2 hours early but she and her friend bought $140 worth of perennials. So, that was fine. This morning I went outside and dug 5 crates of assorted irises and they all sold today. I had needed more irises for the sale today 'cause I sold most of yesterday's stock. The irises that are not the normal purple color or the yellow sell like hotcakes. Brenda

Thank you Kathy! That spirea is planted so close to the house it really has to arch out, I'm sure it would easily be 5' across if it really had the room to grow. but it seems happy there and I love the back drop it provides in that corners so I don't think I'll move it. and with the 5 maple trees on the property I definitely don't ahve a shortage of leaves! :) Thank you Kathi! Unfortunately I don't know the hardiness of the spirea, all I know is just about eveyone in my area has it. Good luck finding out! Thank you Prairie Girl! Yup that's blue ice amsonia - I love it!! I got that from a co-worker. I'm glad your iris finally bloomed!! I don't know if I could've waited for 10 years, lol! Hi Rick, thanks for the suggestion! I have some plumbago out front that I have to move because for so reason I thought it was good for dense shade but it's not doing anything for me at all. I think moving it under that tree is a great idea, thanks! Thank you Judy! I agree, it helps me so much to see the "big picture" and how the plants co-habitate more then a close up of 2 or 3 companion plants. You all have been so helpful and nice, I'm so happy to be here, thank you so much! I'm off to rescue some more plants from my co-worker. It'll certainly save me another trip to the nursery :)