How practical are those self-watering hanging baskets? I've seen them at the garden center and they seem pretty pricy. But if it's worth it.... At this point we have some vinca vine, creeping jenny, hot pink ivy geranium and powder puff ageratum. (Not all for the same pots!) I really like the look of the trailing lobelia, and kept coming back to it at the garden center. But the label said "sun - part shade" and I worried that it might not like the blazing sun we get. We got the lighting up this weekend; rope lighting along the soffit the width of the porch. I think she wants to wrap some tiny fairy lights up the railings of the bannister on her side of the porch, which is obscured from the street by our little tree, but we're going to wait a bit on that. We've figured out how to handle the water, by putting in a garbage can "water tank" in the corner. We got PVC pipe and fittings to run from the hose on the ground to the porch, even spray painted it to match to brick. Now we have to figure out how to attach it to the brick! Appreciate all the suggestions!

Crocosmia, I have also had the same problem as you in that bulbs do better in the center of my beds than along the edges. Mine are all interplanted with perennials and even shrubs. I think that this provides them better drainage. I have learned to live with the occasional (well actually fairly frequent) slicing of the bulbs by my shovel. My daffodils are planted in circles or semi-circles, or behind many of my daylilies, especially those that are seen from some distance. The daylilies do a great job of hiding the dying daffodil foliage. I try to leave some room for growth of the daylilies, but in any case the daylilies seem totally unperturbed by the bulbs, even though I am unlikely to give them the foot of space :~) that at botanical garden might - I garden in a small area & everything is crammed. Some orange daylilies I like are Backdraft (orange with red eye), Egyptian Spice (amber orange blend) Orange Velvet, Orange Vols, & Tuscawilla Tiger. There are lots more available! Most of my daffodils, however, are planted around in my red daylily/shrub bed at the back of my yard. In my small orange daylily bed I used a different method that you might find interesting. I use minor bulbs all in shades of blue. Smaller bulbs like Ipheon, Scilla, Chionodoxa, Iris reticulata & such can go much closer to other plantings and only need to be planted 3-4 inches deep. I actually planted all the bulbs when the bed was first made and the daylilies had not been chosen yet, poked them in with my finger. I then partially buried upside down nursery pots in the bed to mark the daylily spots and let the bed rest until the following spring when my daylilies arrived in the mail. It was a sheet of blue in the spring. Many minor bulbs can also go in shade areas around hostas for example which come up very late. If the shade is from deciduous trees, these bulbs can easily finish their cycle, and get enough nourishment to bloom and spread around, before the trees are leafed out. So look around at all those areas too and plant more bulbs! Don't overlook miniature daffodils they can be tucked in here and there and everywhere and the foliage disappears so much faster than full-size daf foliage. Please see my pictures in the thread Tulips return. Over the tulips in the first picture, I usually plant portulaca as someone in this thread mentioned, or some other low water annual. I am always afraid I'll do something stupid and these perennial tulips (still going strong in 4th spring) won't come back for me. Most tulips are strictly annuals in my garden. I also have the tulip area edged in Blue Fescue Grass, and use the small blue Sedum sieboldiana and blue Myrtle spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites) & other dry plants like Geum coccineum borisii (bright orange which you would really like) which do not thrive in my dense wet clay, except in this raised gravel bed. Blue and orange is one of my favorite combinations! And while there aren't many cold zone early spring bulbs in orange, there are plenty of blue, whites & yellows. Tried a pretty in-between size daffodil this year called Bantam that you might like. It's a very neat & compact bright yellow daffodil with a ruffled orange edge on the cup. There are many others with this color, but the size is more unique. Oh, and there are lots of hardy lilies that come in orange, can't forget them. Anyway have fun! Sorry this is so long, I get carried away when I get enthused about things. LOL

Although I live in NJ, I have had wonderful dealings with Woodlanders, down South. Mostly native, with honest descriptions. If they say, drought tolerant, it will be.

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.