Stachys byzantina 'Helen von Stein' (big ears) is my favorite and it has never bloomed. The smaller ones bloom and then they (to me) are a mess to deadhead and keep neat looking compared to big ears. Here's one of mine with a rose campion pretending to bloom out of it. :-) Thyme is also good. If you like lime/bright, the spirea 'Limemound' is a great little thing when used as a companion with plants of blue foliage/blooms. I have it beside a nepeta. I wish I could send you some of my creeping perennial heliotrope 'Azure Skies' as it blooms not stop from spring until frost. A great groundcover that resembles verbena. Totally deer and rabbit proof. It even floats across my stream and can take full sun or partial shade. A few plants and you can keep taking cuttings to create as much as you want.

Thanks! Do you know how sedums do when they DO get a lot of water? The information that I found only said that they were drought tolerant, liked well-drained/sandy soil, but didn't mention if it would survive heavy rainy periods that we also get here certain times of the year. I'm not familiar with the other 3 you mentioned... have to look them up to see what they look like, if they're supposed to be OK in zone 9B, rainy season tolerance, etc. Also... maybe I should start a new post for this... What about ground covers to replace turf grass in areas that DO get foot traffic, but aren't in full sun all day? I was shown "perennial peanut" in small pots today at a nursery, but need to go look at an established "lawn" full of it(I know someone in this area to visit who has it.) Karen

So I've finished my comparison between the following "sweet" cherries: 1. Sunsugar (hybrid; SS) 2. Sungold (hybrid; SG) 3. Ambrosia Gold (OP; AG) 4. Big SunGold Select (OP; BSS) All were grown from seed and then transplanted in ground with similar soil conditions, sun/shade, watering. Ranking data is below with the best listed first. A. Germination success: SS, SG, BSS, AG B. Productivity: SS, AG, BSS, SG C. Growth: BSS, SS, AG, SG D. Flavor: AG, SS, SG, BSS E. Brix: SS, SG, AG, BSS General observations: GERMINATION: As expected, hybrid varieties tended to show a lot higher germination rate than the OP varieties. That being said, germination is also a factor of seed harvesting techniques, storage and age. I don't have any information on these characteristics, but it would be interesting to note if my germination for the OPs goes up for seeds that I saved and grew out next year (I'm betting it would be a lot better). Take home message, when growing the OPs from seed, make sure that you plant more than you need due to germination success. GROWTH: All varieties grew at a similar pace indoors as seedlings all showing good strong seedling health. As I recall, none stood out as particularly better or worse than others during the seedling stage. Once transplanted BSS definitely observed the tallest plant with thick strong limbs. There was not that much difference between SS and AG. For some reason I always see SG as being more wisphy and frail and this occurred again this year. PRODUCTIVITY: SS was the best with productivity generally showing good strong trusses and generally observing good success from flower to fruit. AG was a very close second. BBS came third and SS was a distant fourth. As noted in the pics below, BBS is indeed a large cherry (1-2oz) and is easily double the size of the hybrid varieties. AG came in second. SS tended to be a bit larger than SG, but they were relatively close in size. As noted by others, SG tends to having more cracking/splitting issues vs SS. AG and SS tended to hang on the vine the longest. BSS showed some cracking, but not as much as SS. In terms of coloring when ripe, SS tended to have the strong golden orange color. SS was more yellowish orange while both AG and BSS were a deeper red when ripe. FLAVOR: Flavor is of course very subjective. My personal favorite was AG, not b/c it was the sweetest, but b/c it has a noteworthy complex flavor. It definitely has sweetness to it, but it mixed it with a tang/acidity which I quite liked. SS was also very good, but it had more of a linear sweet taste which I like (as well as my kids) but it didn't have the complexity of AG. SG came in third. SG tends to be a little more variant in it's taste. Sometimes sweet, sometimes slightly sweet like it was not completely ripe even though it appeared to be the case. BSS was by far the least flavorful. BSS had a somewhat bland tomato taste, which was not awful, but was definitely not sweet. BSS would be fine in a garden salad and is obviously the largest of all cherry tomatoes evaluated, but if you want to get a nice large cherry with good taste there are others that are better (like Gardeners Delight which I also grew). BRIX/SWEETNESS: I thought I should mention this since after all these varieties are supposed to be "sweet" cherries. SS was by far the sweetest. Although I didn't actually do a brix test, I'm certain the sugar content would be the highest. Next up was SG, but as I mentioned above, it's sweetness tended to be hit or miss. AG came in third with a pleasant sweetness but not overly sweet. BSS was not sweet at all. CONCLUSION: I have grown SG for many years and for many years it has always done well. SG always germinates well and is a solid producer as cherries go in my garden. That being said, SS was hands down a better hybrid. It produced more and the flavor was more consistent. It was definitely the sweetest of all cherries that I grew and stayed longer on the vine and split less. As mentioned above, I also really liked AG and was pleasantly surprised by its flavor and productivity. It was my personal favorite of all four. It observed many of the same characteristic as SS, but was larger and had a more complex flavor. I was very happy to note these attributes especially since AG is an OP and the seed can be saved and regrown year after year. BSS was a dud. But only b/c of its flavor. I suppose if BSS were marketed as a large cherry with traditional tomato taste, I would grade it much higher, but as a "sweet" OP that was supposed to compete with SG/SS, it wasn't even in the same ballpark. That being said, you definitely get your biggest bang for the buck due to its size and growth. .

As you may have noticed from my previous posts, many of the roses in the Tea and China classes get BIG here: Comtesse du Cayla, 8' x 8' at 8 years (with regular, firm pruning -- heaven knows how big she would be otherwise...has on occasion tried to climb the nearby orange tree...), blooms do fry in temps over 85F, but I imagine if you have some humidity, they may have more fortitude. Etoile de Lyon, 7' x 12' at 10 years, totally heat-proof (one of my best if it is over 100F, and generally a great, favorite rose here), but a total catastrophe if there is even a hint of moisture in the air (brown blooms that hang on forever -- this one always gets deadheaded). The first flush is almost always trashed by moisture. Ducher, hit 4' in a couple of years and was still going, but was such a mildew magnet that he was removed. Ferndale Red China, hit 5' here in 3 years, got moved last winter because obviously NOT a front-of-the-border rose, but already now back to 5' as if nothing had happened (I call that "vigorous"). I'm glad, seeing Mendocino Rose's comment, that the new spot gets afternoon shade. Mildews, but not insufferably. Miss Lowe's Variety, perfect tea-like foliage, amazingly does not mildew. 6' x 6' in 5 years, spring and fall flushes are best, but some blooms all the time. Alliance Franco-Russe was mostly annoying here. Mildewed leaves always, fragile blooms (moisture, heat, you name it) , so he was a big (7' x 7') ugly plant that really had no good time of the year (and in a great part of the garden). I put up with him for 6 years, hoping for improvement, then said goodbye. Devoniensis did not fry in the sun, but did mildew badly on the east side of the yard. Was fine on the west side of the yard. Was going to be too big for space available (5' x 5' when he left), and I needed the space for rarer roses, so no longer here. Thomasville Old Gold was such a mildew magnet that he only lasted two years here. Cramoisi Supérieur, like most Chinas, mildews some, but not so much as to get booted out. I am charmed by this rose, especially the spring and fall blooms. 4' x 5' so far (4 years).