I'm not well-versed in conifers, but do have a list at work from a presentation given by our Ag. Agent "Underutilized Trees & Shrubs". If I can remember, I'll bring it home; anything suited to our area should do just as well in yours. Right off the top of my head, two deciduous woody plants with good winter interest are the river birch (betula nigra) 'Heritage' and redosier dogwood. 'Heritage' is better suited to our hot summers than white birch, and is resistant to many of the pests and diseases; as it matures, it also develops a lovely an interesting exfoliating bark. There are a few different varieties of the redosier dogwoods now, with different coloration. They thrive in full sun to part shade, but will have better winter color in full sun. Winterberry holly is deciduous, and you need both male and female plants, but will have a beautiful display of bright red berries in winter - for the birds or to cut and bring indoors (use them as supports for your forced paperwhite bulbs ... great combination). I'm glad to see you've chosen the serviceberry (shadbush, amelanchier, etc.). Check the different varieties for the characteristics you prefer - some have more vibrant fall foliage than others. The berries are very attractive to wildlife (I didn't realize chipmunks climbed trees until I saw one gathering berries in one of the serviceberries at our park). The berries are edible for humans, if you can get to them before the wildlife does! They taste a lot like blueberries. One of my favorite local nurseries is also a good resource for information, rarefindnursery.com. Even if you don't order anything from them, you will find a lot of photos and information and I've always found it to be reliable. Ah, sweetbay magnolia (magnolia virginiana) - another native, semi-evergreen, very fragrant blooms (heavy in June, intermittently thereafter), seeds are colorful and food for wildlife. The undersides of the leaves are silvery, making a nice display when they flutter in the breeze. Choose an upright or multi-branching variety, according to your needs. Like serviceberry and river birch, they do well in a moist soil. Ninebark (physocarpus) is another deciduous native, for sun or partial shade. 'Diablo' is a dark red leaved cultivar with contrasting clusters of tiny pale pink flowers. I'm sorry, I should never get started.

Out of the 43 grasses growing in the yard I would say there are very few that look "bad" this time of year. Even with the limited snow fall we have received this winter the grasses in there varied stages of butter / vanilla / beige / tan and some red hues mixed in everything is just plain cool to look at. With snow sitting atop the grasses the colors I mentioned become even more pronounced as the snow divides the colors from each other. Our grasses include Miscanthus, Pennisetum, Panicum, Stipa, Calamagrostis, Eragrostis, Festuca, Schizachyrium, Koleria, Deschampsia, and Helictotrichon. Sure some are less attractive than others but again w/ snow cover (if we ever get any) the grasses take on a different character than just brown and dead looking. Jake

We live in a suburb of Toronto on a 1/4 acre. This is our first year observing the birds so I can't identify all of them yet, but so far the ones we can identify are cardinals, mourning doves, robins, chickadees, sparrows, woodpeckers, finches, grackles, starlings, plus one tiny owl last Halloween. More exciting for me has been the family of raccoons who nest in our silver maple. The tree is right beside the patio where I sit on warm nights. Last summer, Mama raccoon was so used to me sitting there that she didn't mind my observing her leading her four babies down the tree, one at a time, about five feet away from me! One of her daughters stayed with her this year and they spent some time wintering in my garage (I made a bed for them). Here's a pic of last year's baby... There seems to be a wildlife freeway through our yard. In addition to the raccoons, we get visits from opossum and skunk who walk by the patio on a regular basis. Can't wait to see them again this year!

Mole TX, happy belated bd! (I checked out your page). Where are you in Texas? I don't know what DFW means. And what exactly is Texas sage? I've been thinking about sages, and also germander. My lavender is suddenly looking awful, must be the consistent temps in the 20's every night. Zones don't always serve as the best guide for what works I guess, it depends not on average minimum temperatures, but average consistent temperatures. My brother lives in Galveston (Z 8b or 9?), and he says it rarely gets below 40 degrees F at night, which makes growing certain evergreens a lot easier. Here the average low is supposed to be 0-10, but it rarely gets below 15. Good luck with your candy tuft and eucalyptus. My candytuft is the white kind; found it growing in the shade when I moved here and transplanted it; I've seen the colored kinds but often listed under annuals and am not sure if this is the same thing? I tried a few eucalyptus seeds last year but they damped off--my fault. I got mine as a shrub, kept it in a pot and sheltered for a year, but it is now about 4' x 3', thriving in max. exposure and looks great. I've been digging up unknown evergreens from the woods in the back and potting them up to display in my front sun garden--talk about desparate! Andrea