I live in the Chicago suburbs too, and think your own instincts are great about what should stay and what should go. I think you would like your Sea Green junipers more if they served as a background hedge for the KO roses, and if you used the roses on the other side of the bed in front of the bird's nest spruce, you would get that cohesiveness I think you're looking for. You'll have to remove some of the flat juniper; use it to fill in on the other side where it looks like there's ivy now, put some of it around the tree on the lawn, perhaps with a few hostas, similar to what's under the tree in the third picture. I don't think you need boxwoods too, and the yews can definitely go. I think a hedge of dwarf Korean lilac in the corner nook would look lovely, and smell heavenly in bloom. I notice you have a couple of nice sized mugo pines under the windows on the short side of the house, but honestly some of those shrubs are so sheared I can't ID them. I would keep the pines, and remove the rest. The large round one with white flowers is hiding the great brickwork on your house! I would love to see a mix of interesting deciduous shrubs, like a Harry Lauder's walking stick in between the pines, and a grouping of variegated red-twigged dogwoods on either side of them. I think a Royal Frost birch would be too tall in the front bed, and that river birch or amur maple would be better choices. I would use Virgina creeper to soften the western wall. Hope this helps, and doesn't confuse you more! :)

Thanks guys :) Kylie, I did some indoors with bottom heat under lights, and some I started on the enclosed back porch in late winter. Yes some are the broken colors. Rigo..good luck there dude! I hope you can get that under control. I havent had the hornworms in my garden, and hope I don't, I'd prob throw them to the fish if I found any, lol..lotsa critters go to them. Edna, if you want some seeds I'd be happy to send ya some. I started mine from seed this year. Zone 7 seems to be right on the border for if they will be perennial or not for me, so we'll find out! I hope they are, I want them to get huuuge! Thanks Joyce, lol..out of all the lisianthus seeds I sowed when I got them, only 2 took. The one damped off, and this one is still hanging in there! btw, I got your email, thank you!!! and I will reply soon! promise! Thanks Brenda. Arent the 4:00's perennials for you in 7b? If you need seeds, lmk. Josh, I assume you mean the lisianthus? that blue flower? If you're candy lilies dont come back I can send you seeds, in a few weeks when mine are ready, lmk. Thanks again everyone :) I will be posting more pics soon, lol..a few brugs been bloomin, and hibs..lotus buds are gettin ready to open up soon..never a dull moment out there..I LOVE it!

Hope all the boys with their injuries are getting better. Yes they will always call and sometimes if the child acts funny they will really make your life miserable. You would think that boys never have accidents they way some of them can act. I was always at the school for some bruise or another with my two and they usually did it to each other, lol. They fought all the time and still don't get along. John says his oldest boy was always good. He said when they went to someones house they could have a box of toys right in front of them and they wouldn't move from where he told them to sit unless he told them it was ok even if the other person told them it was ok to play. I told him thats because he trains us all like the dogs, lol. He makes you want to mind him, lol. I often wonder if my boys would have been different if I had met him sooner. It has surely helped with my daughter. She acts very different around him than she does with her father and he will do anything in the world to please him. I thought he was going to faint when he heard her back talk her father on the phone once, lol. He just expects you to behave and thats it they do it, lol. Even my boys don't act up in front of him. His younger son got arrested once and sat in jail 3 days and wouldn't call and tell him until his brother found out and called us, lol. He would have stayed there forever rather than tell his father he got in trouble. He gets this look on his face and it makes you stand up straighter, lol.

I do try to be helpful, and I try to write with the idea that more than one person will read what I say and hopefully gain more enjoyment from the growing experience because of something they learned. I enjoy nurturing plants, and look at nurturing people who also enjoy nurturing plants as a natural extension of my own growing experience. If I couldn't know I was helping, my efforts would be for naught & I'd quickly lose interest; which is why kind comments like yours are always appreciated. Thank you ..... and I enjoyed your story. ;-) In reference to the part you italicized ...... I always figured it's pretty hard to push someone up a ladder unless they were wanting to climb. ;-) So from what I gather from your linked post is this: • I should definitely repot my plant to a slightly larger container and not just pot up. It hasn't been done in at least four and a half years. You can repot or divide PLs for best outcome. If you repot, it might not need to go into another pot, but the root structure of PLs doesn't make them top candidates for root operations related to repotting. You can also simply cut the leaves off each plant and most of the roots, divide the plants and repot into the same pot they came from. They'll recover quickly & take right off. Of course, you have to look at a bare pot for a month, or just stick it in bright indirect light outdoors somewhere & ck on water needs every few days. • When repotting, I should remove all old soil and prune any large roots, upward traveling roots, and "j-hooked" roots. When I do this, where do I clip? As high as possible? This is the part that scares me the most! Honestly, IO'd divide thios plant and save the root pruning learning experience for plants that really need it as part of their care regimen. • I should find a general potting soil (I'm thinking Miracle Grow brand because, as a beginner, it is the only thing I know of that has a seemingly good reputation) and mix it with Natures Helper and Perlite. If this is correct, what should my ratio be? MGs reputation is more a result of its advertising campaign than its performance record. If I were you, I'd seek out a source for pine bark in an appropriate size. If you can find it, you can use perlite and the MG potting soil as small fractions of the soil (added to a large fraction of pine bark) to make a very good soil. A good soil can eliminate over-watering concerns and make a sound nutritional supplementation program monkey easy. See pine bark from 3 different suppliers at 3, 6, & 9 o'clock, and finished soil in the middle: When I refill the new container with the soil mix, how far up should I fill it? There are a lot of stem cuttings that are visible. That's probably not the correct terminology but I assume you understand what I mean. Should I clean this up? Should I bury these any if at all? The soil level should be .5-1" below the pot rim, minimum; and the plants should be planted so the crown is above the soil line to prevent crown rot. Lastly, if I remove all of the old soil, will I need to pack in new soil to fill the void at the thickest part of the roots? I'm sure some of these are silly questions but I truly have no idea what I'm doing and this plant means a lot to me. I want to do what's best for it. I use a wooden dowel rod, sharpened in a pencil sharpener (same tool as you can use as a tell to show when plants need water) to work soil into the voids between roots. See the 2 tools on the right. They serve the same purpose, except I favor the white one I made. Al