Hi taraleigh, So far, it sounds like you've done a good job with your garden by planting things that will thrive with the good drainage that your sandy soil likely has. The only plant I could see being a problem may be the Bee Balm, since it likes rich, constantly moist, humusy soil, and can develop powdery mildew if its in a crowded spot. It sounds like you have kind of a "Cottage Garden" look going on in this bed, so I wouldnÂt worry too much about "casual" style plants next to more formal ones. In general, I think the soil conditions, moisture, PH (acid, neutral or alkaline) and light conditions that different varieties of plants need to be healthy is the main thing people should concern themselves with when planting a new garden. Then you can find plants that you like the look of, that thrive in the conditions of your particular garden area. The bloom time of various flowering perennials, as well a garden's ability to look good in the fall and winter is also a consideration. I would just "google" each of your plants, check their water, sun, and soil PH requirements, and provide them with what they need. At this point in the summer, I wouldn't transplant anything, so hopefully you are pleased with how your garden area looks for now. If you donÂt like the placement of anything, I would wait until the spring to move it. As far as your overall garden design goes, I agree with laceyvail about the arrangement. You didn't say what direction the sun is coming from in relation to this garden bed, but you may want to check that the more drought-tolerant plants are on the side that gets the most hot afternoon sun. Also, be sure that anything tall isn't creating an excessive shade area over smaller plants that needs full sun. You will have some autumn interest with your "Blue Star" aster, "Autumn Joy" stonecrop, "Blanket flower", and Artemisia "Silver Mound". Personally, I would have added some low-growing evergreen shrubs that tolerate sandy soil, such as Common Bearberry / Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) to this bed, but that would just be my preference as far as some winter interest. Not sure what your soil PH is, but your soil would need to be acidic, sandy soil to grow Kinnikinnick. The foliage of your daylilies, asiatic lilies, veronica, bee balm, delphinium, "Snow In Summer", and Shasta daisy will likely die back to varying degrees in the winter in Zone 5. But in Zone 5, the bed will most likely be covered in snow for much of the winter, so you won't notice the dormant foliage as much. In the fall or spring, you can always add an evergreen small shrub or two that tolerates sandy soil. This fall, you may also want to add some spring-flowering bulbs, so that you have some early spring interest in this garden plan. Be prepared to be pulling up some of those "Snow in Summer", Artemisia "Silver Mound", and Shasta daisies if they get too invasive in this bed. Daylilies can have buds on them for many, many days before they bloom. I prefer the pretty lemony-yellow of the "Happy Returns" to the margarine-yellow of the "Stella D'Oro", but they are both pretty easy to care for daylilies, and both bloom well. The "Stella D'Oro" is really tiny. As far as colors go, I like to keep plants with blossoms on the red-orange side of the color spectrum (such as your "Black Bird" Lily) away from plants that have purple or blue-ish blossoms (such as your delphinium, and "Lavender Joy" lily, but this is just my personal preference color-wise. Hope this helps and good luck with your new garden!

The 1st is Mammillaria candida and the 2nd I don't know. The offsets of the Gymno can be taken off and rooted. But I would give them one more growing season to let them become bigger. I wouldn't mix them with even small Aloes. Because I think the Aloes need more water (and to a different time) than the cacti. Jordi

its tropical, it needs good and direct sunlight. it needs long exposure to good sun so if you are that into recreating an indoor greenhouse, they do not need lots of water being that these are cacti. I suggest checking for lighting needs. hydrophonics stores do sell the types of lights you require as do aquarium store but its expensive. Also do research more on the plant and there's lots of information on the web. Look for cactus maintenance. or check with cacti collectors.

What a great kitchen! The main piece of advice I would offer is this: get rid of excess plastic containers. I had zillions of rubbermaid containers that didn't nest at all. I thought I needed every shape and size out there, so I bought far more than I could ever use. After we renovated our kitchen, I gave myself one drawer for plastic stuff. That's it. Now, it's a big drawer, but I have a family of nine people, so we still need quite a bit. First, I tossed or gave away that which would not nest. I standardized on 8" squares that fit into one another. I bought 6 of these and I've never needed more. All the lids are the same size. I have deep rectangular rubbermaid containers for holding flour and sugar in my baking cabinet. I have round containers for lunch boxes: my husband takes leftovers for lunch every day and reheats them in these lightweight containers that are as sturdy as regular rubbermaid. In this drawer I also store two rubbermaid butter dishes, three nesting funnels, 2 two-quart plastic pitchers, 2 small mixing bowls and 2 large mixing bowls, plus about 12 measuing cups from 4-cup to 1/4-cup in size. The key for my kitchen is that any plastic container we have is in this drawer. So I've gone from cupboards and drawers of plastic containers and measuring supplies to one single drawer. I will add that I have a plastic pasta scoop and larger colander that I store under the prep sink. I never save even the nicest of plastic containers that food might come in. If we ever need more, I can use a storage container from another part of the house, wash it out, then put it back when I'm done (like when I need to bring 60 cupcakes to school). I've also done the same sort of thing for lunch boxe supplies and ingredients. I have a baking center, which is to the right of the oven. My baking center is really just an upper cabinet with wire storage things inside that make it easy to cram a lot of stuff in a 30" wide cabinet. I do store extra baking mixes and flour/sugar in my lazy susan cabinet. I don't have a pantry. All of our health food is in another cabinet, near the blender where we make our protein shakes. I bought white plastic wirer coated shelves at the container store to stack dishes and baking goods in those cupboards. And also these tall, narrow two shelf units that fit under my sinks which sit next to the plumbing. They aren't really deep but just hold the basics in view (stuff tends to migrate to the back of the sink cabinet). I also got rid of excess pots and pans. I figured that if my pots and pans couldn't fit into one base cabinet, that I would have a hard time keeping tabs on those as well. My baking pans and cutting boards store vertically in a cabinet designed to hold tall thin items. You have so much wonderful space. If you can be judicious with how you plan your storage, you will find that you can even keep major seasonal items in your pantries as well, or gift wrap, etc. In fact, it looks like you could even put a desk in one of your pantries. Lucky you!