Also, has the elevation changed substantially in recent memory? Might soil or high levels of debris or leaves been piled or washed around it, raising the soil level greatly, essentially burying the plant? If any plant is buried too deeply, it can suffocate it. You might need to gently reduce the soil level around the plant to permit sufficient air, water and sunlight into it to stimulate it to grow. Might you be able to find photographs or take photos of the insect you say eats it? If either insects, rabbits, squirrels, gophers or other vermin are eating the plant, essentially keeping it severely pruned, it may not grow and flower. Something is definitely wrong when a plant which has flowered for approximately a century, stops blooming for twenty years. Any and all photographs can help diagnose the issues, so take lots from various angles, showing the area, overhead canopies of any nearby trees, anything you think might affect the plant's performance. You may post them to Photobucket and link them here or any other photosharing site. Some even permit you to copy and paste the address to this form so they open right in your post. Seil is right. Knowing where you are, where the plant grows, can assist greatly in suggesting what you might be able to do to encourage it to grow and bloom. What's appropriate for Idaho right now, is probably very different from what I would suggest to someone living here outside of Los Angeles, where I am. It makes an enormous difference. Kim

And this is Coral Sunset. My iphone didn't do it justice, it made it look more pink, I'll try again later with a camera instead. This one is my favorite coral, it stands up nice and tall, no staking needed. It has really dramatic coloring, hopefully I can get a better photo! And it has no side buds so I don't feel like I'm sacrificing later blooms if I cut it for inside.

I'm sorry to say, plectrudis, that Souvenir de St. Anne's is gone, and it was difficult since it's such a healthy and wonderful shrub. Unfortunately, the sun even when it was in the seventies shriveled the blooms in less than a day. I probably would have kept it anyway except that I had William R. Smith to place somewhere, and I didn't want to put it back in Tea Rose Row where it died the last time. I thought I had another place but then decided it would crowd La France and hang over into a narrow walkway there. I do find the flowers of WRS infinitely more beautiful and wanted to give it the best possible chance to survive this time. The days of roses flourishing here just anywhere are gone.

I've tried off and on for 30 plus years to grow Lupines. They are one of my favorite flowers - unfortunately for me only in others gardens. The foliage looks wonderful right up until the time our heat and humidity strike and then, pooft, it almost collapses overnight. I had a friend of mine in a cooler environment try them and hers failed too. I think it's one of those plants that's like the girl with the curl in the rhyme. When it's good (for you) it's very very good and when it's bad (for me) it's horrid...........Batik is simply wonderful..............Maryl