Jana, thanks for the info on Tantau's Nostalgic series. I'll take a look at Piano. I actually also got a Chippendale this spring, and mine has not bloomed yet either, so I guess we can compare notes later this year. I also remember looking at Heidi Klum, so any more info and pics on yours will certainly be appreciated. Princess Alexandra of Kent is not that vivid, but of a deeper pink with a very distinct smoky salmon tint, quite nice actually. Lots of petals in nice formation, it looks superb when it slowly unfolds. It lasts quite well on the bush and in the vase too. I really like its scent, old rose with tea, I'd say. Young Lycidas is of a very vivid color, but I'd put him more into the purple-cerise group. Toward the end his huge blooms fade into a nice soft mauve. And the fragrance is really superb. Claire Austin, now that's a very very vigorous, extremely healthy rose (basically no BS in my no-spray garden), and a very good bloomer too so far. Looks like it wants to be a climber. Its flowers open light lemon fading to white or cream white, with a complex myrrhy scent, not too bad. It blooms in clusters and the blooms are very cup shaped. It's pretty, but I think it just looks a little pale somehow, perhaps because it doesn't quite have the radiant quality of say, Margaret Merrill or even Fair Bianca, and the blooms tend to not quite fully open, staying cupped pretty much until the petals drop. Currently, mine is a tall arching shrub (in its second year with me), but I think it'll look better with some support as a climber, perhaps next to a dark red rose like WS2K. Anyway, so far it has proven to be an excellent garden rose, so I can certainly recommend it. Roselovr, sounds all very good, especially if you're already familiar and comfortable with Nikon and perhaps own some Nikon glass already - did you get the D5000? We'd certainly love to see some pictures! Andrea

Marcia, I have 'Honey Bells' hosta also. I like the large shiny green leaves on it. Last week I went shopping at Lindenberg's. In store they are clearing out their perennials at 40% off. So, I bought... Supreme Sultan TB iris... $2.39 regularly $3.99. American Halo, Fair Maiden, Sleeping Beauty and Sea Lotus Leaf Hostas all $3.29 each instead of $5.49. First Frost, Summer Breeze and Great Arrival Hostas all $5.09 instead of $8.49. Monarch's Velvet Potentilla followed me home also for $2.99 instead of $4.99. I also picked up some Japanese peonies for $10.19 instead of $16.99. I bought Kukenu Jishia, Bride's Dream and Glowing Candles. The herbacious peonies I bought were Springfield, Eden's Perfume, Kansas, Laura Desert, Tom Eckhart, Pink Cameo and Edulis Superba. They were reg $6.99 and I paid $4.19. Daylilies...I will plant and hope that they are true...if not then I may just have to give them away or sell really cheap. I bought Black Stockings, Fire and Fog and Moroccan Sunrise all regularly $7.99 and now on for $4.79. The daylilies that were regularly $5.99 and on for $3.59 that I picked up were Edge of Darkness, Cherry Valentine, Canadian Border Patrol, Paige Pinata and Daring Deception. Each year I go and get stuff at their clearance sale. Sure is a lot cheaper. They are bare root so I just plant them up immediately and they do fine. Thank goodness perennials can grow in a pot until I have time to plant them. I have done some cleaning through the beds and found a few spaces already and the rest are going to be placed in my new walking garden where the old holding garden used to be. Brenda

Mt. Cuba Center is a non-profit that does research on piedmont flora. "We were delighted to think that T. grandiflorum might be produced from seed to blooming plants in five or six years" is a quote from them. I also found this to be true with T. g. var. roseum, no flowers for the first six years. I have a nice patch started and they are blooming as I write this but six years in commercial production is an eternity. Just like terrestrial orchids they are usually produced in small numbers by hobbyists and non-profits. We have 3 sites near me in the Susquehanna River drainage with tens of thousands of trillium flexipes and a small population of t. grandiflorum. This is in a diabase area with neutral soil. Va & W Va has tremendous natural areas on limestone with large populations of trillium. I've never seen T. grandiflorum growing with oak/hickory canopy.

Wow, that's a lot of plants! I don't have a list of what I'm growing in my little gardens -- sometimes it takes me a couple of weeks in the spring to realize that that weird looking weed in the corner is something I've had for years. I just assume that more plants than not will grow in this area! One of the more unusual plants I grow is agapanthus. Not a particularly hardy variety, this was simply a florists' plant my mother gave me four years ago. But it's come up reliably every year for the past three seasons in Central Ohio. It's planted against a south-facing brick wall with excellent drainage, and apparently doesn't realize it's not in zone 8+ anymore! One of my mother's more spectacular plants is a 15 year old calamondin orange that arrived as a little "get-well" houseplant. It spends the winter on the unheated glassed in back porch in Cincinnati, and now stands over 6' tall in the pot, and is nearly 4' around. It always has flowers and fruit on it, and we've picked 200 ripe fruits at one time.