If you go to the monthly "show us your gardens" thread, you'll find photos of what various folks are growing. I don't generally grow grasses, but I do grow ribbon grass in a container. I started doing this since it spreads badly in a regular bed, but I like the way it looks in a container. I then put containers nearby with other plants for contrasting foliage and flowers. None of the plants in the vignettes from my garden below are particularly uncommon, but the foliage contrasts give them a long season of interest. Though they are growing in the ground, these would work in larger containers. I like the contrast between the deep green of the hosta and the flowing gold of the golden Hakonechloa grass. The dying columbine foliage just adds a bit of color that could as easily come from a Heuchera. From June 2010 The old-fashioned Geranium sanguineum has woven itself around this yellow-flowered daylily which begins blooming around the time the Geranium flowers end. The Geranium's flower color is echoed a darker shade by the Euphorbia, but I mostly love the way the daylily foliage sort of explodes out of the Geranium. From June 2010 This is a terrible photo, but I like this combination of the large blue-green hosta, the delicate-looking cranberry which would trail over the side of a pot, and the white-edged Daphne x transatlantica 'Summer Ice' which blooms for me all season with tiny scented white or pale lavender flowers. From June 2010 If you use the search function near the bottom of the main New England forum page and look for Bill _RI_z6b he has posted some photos of his gardens and you can get an idea of some of his plants. For what you plant in containers, the general rule of thumb for selecting perennials is to chose ones hardy to 2 zones colder than your zone since they will freeze deeply without the ground around them to insulate them. My containers that stay out year round are wooden whiskey half-barrels and clay chimney liners AKA chimney tile. The chimney tile is buried a 6-8 inches deep to keep it upright, and it is bottomless. Craigslist or Freecycle might be a good source of damaged chimney tile. I haven't found that metal or plastic pots stand up well to the weather since they sometimes have split on me, though perhaps heavier metal or plastic would do OK. I have heard that the foam fake terracotta pots do well, but I haven't tried them. Before buying plants mail order, check with the G*arden W*tchdog (replacing the * with a) for honest reviews. You'll find that White Flower Farm varies in quality, and you can often get better quality for less $ elsewhere in my experience. I will second ctreynards's recommendation for Brent and Becky's bulbs, however. I also have done well with mail order from Avant Gardens. http://www.avantgardensne.com/

pm2, I was just listening to an older (early September) podcast from Ken Druse on transplanting in the fall and he was insistent that you don't want to be planting/transplanting grasses, broad-leaf evergreens, or conifers. I myself have moved oakleaf hydrangea in the late winter as well as spring and in both cases they were surprisingly very unhappy. Here is a link that might be useful: Ken Druse Real Dirt

Hi Susan, If you're going to start them in pots you can start perennial seeds anytime. I'd recommend you start them in small pots, when they root to the bottom of those pots pot them up to a slightly bigger size and because of the summer heat grow them in those pots till it starts to cool some, probably in August sometime--by then they should be really well rooted and should transplant easily. Then they'll have all winter to be rooting in well and by spring you probably won't believe how quickly they take off. (Do water occasionally over winter if we're not getting precip.) If you want to get a lot more things "the easy way" over winter consider trying Winter Sowing. If you've never heard of that go to the search box on the BOTTOM of the main RMG page and search "this forum" for "winter sowing" and you'll come up with some of the past WS threads on this forum. There's also a separate Winter Sowing Forum which will give you the basics. Starting them that way will get you small seedlings next spring that you can plant in the ground before it gets too hot so they'll be smaller than the ones you start this summer but they should do well next summer too. If the "evening primrose" you're considering growing is the pink Mexican Evening Primrose, Oenothera rosea, I suggest you read the thread I'm linking below first! Invasive is an understatement! Can't start these from seed, but if you want to put something in NOW that can take the heat even when it's getting started look for succulents, most common are the hen & chicks (Sempervivum) and sedums, both the groundcover kind and the upright ones. I'm on the far north end of Denver, up in Thornton, so you're a long ways away from me, but if you ever do get up this way give me a few days heads-up and I can get some sedum cuttings and some hen & chicks starts ready for you to pick up--along with directions about what to do with them! You might also want to keep an eye out for the Fall Swap--we usually have two swaps a year--and if it happens this fall you could pick up some small starts for more perennials. Go to that same search box on the bottom and search for "swap" to find out more about them. Have fun growing, Skybird Here is a link that might be useful: PLEASE! Help me get rid of Oenothera 'rosea'

Around May last year, after finally getting some plants into the yard, I got some cutworms in my garden area. Never had seen them before or experienced it. They were there for about 1 month before they matured and took off (I guess -- unless I managed to kill or control them, or the plants got bigger) So protect those seedlings, especially if they are still as small as what you describe. You'll have to learn to recognize some of your seedlings, especially if some of them self-sow. Next year, you'll have to contend with weed seedlings and your perennial seedlings in the same area. But I think your timing will be fine. Many people will just be planting directly to the soil in a few weeks and those seedlings also survive just fine. In fact, some of my unfortunate luck with transplanting seedlings is that I don't transplant correctly. That probably kills more seedlings than sun or rain at the beginning.