Woodyoak, I certainly always enjoy working with clients that like bold color in the garden, but have a hard time with those who also insist on roses! It is particularly easy to use color in the landscape here in California; as we have the bright light, year round growing climate, and the ability to use subtropicals, succulents, temperate plants, etc in unique combinations that are only possible as summer annuals or container plantings in more severe climates. I do tend to find myself biased against some long time traditional plants used here in the northern California landscape, as they don't seem as well adapted to current conditions, or have developed diseases that tend to mar their beauty. In that respect, Camellia japonica is not one of my favorites, as the flowers are almost always disfigured by petal blight these days. Most Rhododendrons are also suspect in my view, too many get disfiguring thrips that mar the foliage, or look tortured from lack of ideal conditions, they don't gracefully accept our drier summers and lack of rains. Roses, except for a few, generally don't have the form to look good in a garden when out of bloom, and I hate getting pricked by them, moreso than any of the other various spiney things I do enjoy growing. Fall blooming Chrysanthemums are another pet peeve, with an all too short bloom season for the amount of space they take up and pinching they require to keep them in bounds. I've never understood why the fall blooming asters aren't equally popular,(I really do know why, they can be rather thuggish in a border), or less common but equally beautiful fall bloomers like Nerine bowdenii. In general, I am most attracted to those flowering things outside of the spring season. I want to see flowers in the dead of winter, which would give me a reason to venture out into the cold and the wet to experience them. And if you can incidentally combine subtle or strong fragrance with late season bloom, this combination in particular gets to my own heart and soul... Color in the landscape is something that speaks to me in its own language. While the deep greens of a lush northern forest or a japanese style garden can be beautiful, it is not a style I would seek to surround myself with. Give me the brilliant jewel tones of massively blooming bougainvillea against stucco walls and azure skies, the steely blue foliage of a Blue Hesper Palm, a sweep of deep blue Blue Chalk Sticks/Senecio mandraliscae set against the deep purple black foliage of Aeonium 'Schartzkop', or the equally intense nearly black foliage of the Purple Smoke bush, etc, etc. Vivid color in plants and trees is all around us, and there to be exploited visually in gardens in any climate. In fact, in some of the most severe climates, massive displays of color seem to outdo themselves; such as the west coast deserts(Namaqualand) of South Africa or the Sonoran deserts of southern Arizona in early spring bloom, or the alpine meadows of the Sierra Nevada or Rocky's in June/July after snow melt. I also enjoy seeing strangely incongruent color combinations such as hillsides full of Euphorbia dendroides in red leaf in May in Crete, ready to go dormant for the dry season and giving an early taste of fall color to the landscape. This is a plant that is found growing across much of the mediterranean, but never seems to have made it into gardens looking for compatible plantings below the Olive trees, but they belong together. In the same way, some of the most vividly blooming subtropical trees also bloom when they are naked of leaves, and are much more dramatic as a result. Tabebuias, Jacarandas, Chorisias all come to mind as examples of this phenomenon, or our more typical spring blooming stone fruits or California natives such as our Aesculus californicus. If you are really attracted to bold use of color in the landscape, it is worth getting more familiar with the Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx's work. At his best, he was a master of using plantings much as paints to create modernist gardens full of swirling and contrasting colors. Certainly he has influenced current american landscape architects such as Oehmes and Van Sweden as well, who design plantings in similar large blocks, but with temperate plant materials. It does seem as if many landscape designers and architects are not familiar enough with the planting possibilities to effectively use flowers and color to their maximum impact. Or could it also be that the use of color other than greens does not call out to them in the same way as it does to those who crave color? Don't apologize about your preferences, get out there and design something that makes people take note of the other possibilities, establish your own style and see whether you influence anyone to your point of view!

Webcat Either the red or the burgundy. I've got pink ones, one is a very pale pink with a white eye, the other is pink with a red eye. I've got so many seeds of the pink with the white eye that I finally started dead heading them, so no seed pods would develop. I snatched a few seed pods of a burgundy one last year or the year before, but it has not flowered yet. I've also got seeds of Texas star hibiscus, that is really growing slowly this year. I wonder do they peter out after a few years? I started white texas star last winter sowing season, wintered them over in a holding bed and one is setting a flower now, but it looks very spindly. I'm hoping to get seeds from it before the season is over. The reds that you have shown are just to drool for, LOL. They are absolutely georgous!! So if you have some seeds for either red, please keep me in mind. Alberta

Princealbert and all, life is so funny at times. As I watered all plants...seeing and checking how many of those gorgeous pink swirls I got growing...I also checked the one I bought at the sales rack at Lowes a few weeks ago for almost 6 bucks...can you guess what one of em is? YUPP roflmao But I did buy the red one too. They also had the white one but it was not on sale yet and cost almost 13 dollars. Lucy

With the corydalis lutea, I'm afraid my seeds won't produce much in my climate. This is what I read about them: Blooming from May through September, Corydalis prefers well drained areas in full to part shade and will naturalize if conditions are met. Suitable for borders, rock, cottage and woodland gardens, this hardy perennial is intolerant of hot and humid summer conditions, and wet soil in winter that does not drain well. Hardy in zones 5-7 and reaches around 16 inches in height and will spread around 12 inches wide. Chances are not good for this beauty, since the prime characteristic of our climate is hot humid summers and wet winters. Well, all I can do is put them in the ground and hope for the best. Meanwhile, I have these columbines/aquilegia PLANTS, as well as seed (which are no problem), and I don't know quite where to put them now. Pot them up? They are in very small maybe 4 inch nursery pots squares, and look good, but of course not flowering. I like their looks, do not want to kill them just yet. :) Must download some photos taken this morning early. See you folks later.