I have many new phlox that were planted last year from Perennial Pleasures Nursery in Vermont, including 'Blue Paradise'. I look forward to seeing how they grow this summer. I planted 'Peppermint Twist' and 'David' in autumn 2011. 'Peppermint Twist' remained small as advertised and flowered steadily all season long. I loved the bicolored blooms. No mildew and it had a light fragrance, though it was hard to bend down that low to sniff it, LOL! It will be interesting to see how much larger it grows in the future. My plant of 'David' grew into a nicely robust clump about 2.5 feet tall its first summer with GIANT bloom heads of pure, brilliant white. During its first wave of blooms, it stayed in full flower for weeks even with sweltering heat and erratic water availability from a hose. Once finished, I never got around to deadheading the old bloom panicles and was surprised to see a wave of secondary buds pop out underneath the old spent buds in the same bracts. The second wave was just as good as the first. After wave two finished, I deadheaded which stimulated a lot of smaller bloom panicles from almost the entire length of the remaining stems. There were at least a few blooms present until early November. No mildew and a wonderful fragrance. I can't wait to see what it does next year!

My first blooms of my salpiglossis just appeared this week. Glad to hear that yours are doing so well, Marcia. I have tried and tried osteospermum, Claubill, with no luck. But I think it depends on which osteospermum it is. I tried to w/s 'Tradewinds®' this year but I think the seeds might be sterile. I'm going to try some cuttings this year. Marcia and I had very little luck indoors with osteos two years ago - they were 'Giants Mixed', if I recall, and they just went really long and spindly. I ended up chucking mine. Ang, you definitely need to try w/s'ing Livingstone Daisy. I had lots come up this year (be patient) and they were very nice and compact. Much better than inside. I had quite a few annuals do really well this year and it was only my second year. I seemed to do more perennials in my first year and more annuals this year. I did clarkia, kocchia, godetia, nolana, asters, zinnia, stocks, amaranthus, venidium, mimulus, portulaca - wow, there are so many that did well. I was trying many of them for the first time from seed and also tried them both ways - w/s and indoors. My consensus is that most annuals that self seed will do pretty well by w/s'ing. Saves lots of room in the greenhouse. But, as Sharon taught me, they can't be put out too early. Mid March and they should be fine. Shauna

I'm still around. : ) I'd already gotten seeds (from Everwilde) when I saw them on Dandy_line's list. I have to admit I was tempted to ask for them anyway. If I didn't have so much to plant already this spring, I'd try both and compare. I think it would be interesting to plant seeds from different sources on this one. Alplains says their variety is short and I think I'd rather have a taller variety. Butterflies tend to go to taller plants and they would show up better for me. $5 for fifteen seeds is expensive but still cheaper than buying plants so you shouldn't feel guilty for paying that if it's what you want Hemnancy. Sounds like it's a selected variety and may be worth it. Wantonamara and Ontnative - Thanks for your replies. It's helpful to know that p. pilosa is drought tolerant. I will try planting it in different spots to see where it's happiest. It might like being in reach of some greedy shrub or tree roots. I LOVE phlox divaricata. Not many plants survive in my dry shade but that one does. Mine has reseeded a bit and some are more fragrant than others. My original plant came from a trader so I don't know if it was from a cultivar or just a native plant.

Is the hydrangea really that shade of mixed pink and purple? (Sometimes colors don't photograph well.) If you want something short to puddle at the feet of the taller plants I could see Nierembergia, which might well winter over for you, though for me it's treated as an annual. A short Campanlua like 'Blue Clips' or 'White Clips' would serve the same function. Both have enough flower power in my experience to be seen from a distance if planted en masse but are well behaved and come in blue and white. If you want other spikier plants, there are some Campanulas like persicifolia that might work, though I don't know if seeding is a problem for them or if they have enough flowers for your use. This also is available in blue and in white. There are some shorter summer-blooming "tall" phlox on the market now that would be a bit shorter than the daylilies and would sort of match the shape of the hydrangea flowers, but later in the summer. Don't know what colors those come in. A shorter daylily in front might work also. Some of the yellow hostas seem fairly sun tolerant and might work here if deer aren't a problem for you, depending on how much shade your part shade is and what time of day. I find the yellow foliage stands out against the greens. My Siberian iris can be pretty stunning in mid to late spring and the foliage is neat the rest of the year, but it looks similar to the day-lilies as far as foliage. Some of the shorter rhodies and azaleas might look good here if you don't mind the short season of bloom and have the room. How tall are your daylilies? That's what has occurred to me so far - don't know if any of those meet your requirements and taste.