There's nothing wrong with Knock Outs it's just that it's getting to the point where you can't get anything else because they've been pushed so much. They've been hyped as the silver bullet rose that is disease free and perfect for every yard. But they aren't either of those two things. Landscapers love them though because they're easy and usually cheap so they use them everywhere. But they're not the prettiest of roses, rather shapeless blooms in a ho hum red. People who love roses are getting pretty sick of them. There are so many other roses that perform just as well but are MUCH prettier but no one has pushed them like the KOs. The difference between Bonica and The Fairy is that Bonica is classed as a shrub rose and The Fairy is called a polyantha rose. They have different growth habits. Bonica will grow more upright and have larger sized blooms in small clusters. The Fairy tends to drape it's canes more and the blooms are in large clusters of smaller flowers. They're both fairly disease resistant and are lovely roses. I don't know what zone you are in but they are both supposed to be hardy to zone 4. It just depends on which you prefer. Do you know about the rose data base where you can look up all these roses and see pictures of them called Help Me Find? Go to: www(dot)helpmefind(dot)com(slash)roses. You can do a search for the ones named here but you can also do an advanced search with your list of requirements and it will give you a list of roses to choose from. And on each rose page there is a tab for where the rose can be purchased on line. If you can't find a rose locally you may have to order it.

Hi Castorp, I don't know FLA well except a bit of Ft. Lauderdale as my Dad lived there in his last decade. When I visited, I did notice which succulents did well & suggest you pay close attention to your neighbors' plantings & if friendly w/ them, ask them questions abt this & for their help. I noticed healthy & happy landscapings of Euphorbia miliis (Crown of Thorns), Aloes & Yucca plants. Unless money is no object, I'd avoid the hit & miss approach, could be expensive & frustrating if you lose lots of plants. I'd also go to local greenhouse &/or nurseries & ask the same thing.

There are so many variables when choosing grasses. I'd try to choose a grass that is the size (at maturity) that you want. The plume height (when it "blooms") will vary among grasses and is something to consider in the height decision... Some grasses will grow more straight up and others will arch more (think water fountain). Some will stay in a tighter "clump" and some (for lack of a better description) grow broader. Some grasses change different colors (summer & fall) and some have variegated leaves. So that can get interesting. Some grass will "do-nut" and are a hassle to divide and replant, especially if they have sharp blade like leaves. Try to find out if there are possible maintenance headaches with certain grass that you may not care to tackle. This spring and early summer, while you are getting your beds ready, it might be a good time to visit local nurseries. Check out the different grasses that they offer and make a list of the ones you particularly like. Notice the appearance of the grass in their exhibit gardens. Take your list of favorites home and take your time to do even more in depth research at home. I'd suggest to get everything else in place this year and notice the grass (that you think you like) growing in other gardens. Then make the final grass purchase late summer/early fall or even wait until next year. It's good that you are planing ahead and asking questions. The more you research, the better decision you will make choosing grasses for your pretty front gardens. hth, Deb

Thanks for the generous suggestions, everybody. bubba62, I'm concerned that you're right about bletillas and hellebores (especially the caulescent ones) not getting enough sun to flower in areas like what I'm working with, and neither genus has a lot of ornamental value without flowers. Iris japonica is an excellent recommendation and a good example of exactly the kind of tip I was looking for. It's a plant that I've never grown in my yard, but that I've always admired elsewhere. I think it will provide nice semi-evergreen foliage, occasional flashy flowers, and kind of a spreading groundcover effect, even in dark shade. Cool. I also agree with your assessment of Illicium henryi as a choice selection, but unfortunately, I don't know of any nurseries around here that offer them in anything larger than 3-gallon pots, so I'll probably have to stick mainly with my old standby, I. floridanum 'Halley's Comet.' Tricyrtis, Saruma, Asarum, Disporum, Disporopsis, Speirantha (my favorite), Trillium, etc., etc., etc. are all worthy suggestions, but for now I think I'm going to focus just on larger, more substantial plants as I lay out the structure of the new beds, and then go back later and fill in the gaps with smaller little perennials like those. jeff_al, I agree completely about Pachysandra procumbens, although I find its slow spread almost as frustrating as the aggressively rapidity of P. terminalis. Still, a better all-around choice, and I've put it on my list. ncdirtdigger, leatherleaf viburnum is another great example of exactly what I was looking for with this post. It's another plant that I have never grown and had sort of forgotten about, but I have seen it prospering even in very heavy shade. And I think it's really pretty, too, although I've known some people to be repulsed by the droopy, wrinkly texture of the foliage. Aucubas were already on my list, but definitely worth another mention as indispensable elements of the deep shade landscape in this part of the country. I'm not sure if winter daphne will get enough sunlight to flower in any of the areas I'm working on, but I love it so much that I think it I'll give it a try. If nothing else, I know that it's one of the few shrubs that won't be bothered at all by the extreme root competition that it will face from the maples and sweetgums in the wooded portion of the new beds. birdannelady, aren't fatsias terrific plants? I can't imagine having a dark, shady garden around here without it. I've already bought and planted two in my new beds, and may get more as the layout continues to evolve. Which variegated osmanthus do you have? My usual go-to favorite one is 'Goshiki,' which is gorgeous in light to moderate shade, but loses a lot of its color in heavy shade. Maybe other variegated varieties are better-suited to these conditions. What kind of acanthus are you growing? I like acanthus, but I don't really think of them as plants for dense shade. But I don't have a lot of experience with them, and I haven't really experimented with them very much. You're also exactly right about competition from tree roots being as big a problem as the shade itself. And I too have faced the catch-22 of the situation where each and every thing that we as gardeners do to provide good conditions for the roots of the plants we plant (soil amendments, fertilizer, supplemental watering, etc.) also end up promoting the roots of nearby trees to invade the hole and compete with your new plant. Some trees seem to be particularly bad (magnolias, river birches, and the worst: red maples), but most trees pose this problem more or less. It's a conundrum that I've never solved if you have any tips about how to cope with that paradox, I'd love to hear it. Nonetheless, I'm a big fan of edgeworthias, too, and in fact I bought one the other day for the new bed. Hopefully I can find a spot for it where it'll hold its own. Anyway, thanks again for all the help. I've begun acquiring some plants, but I continue to add to my list of others to consider for inclusion. In a lot of cases, I think the thing to do is just to find which plants will work there through some trial and error. But if anybody has any more suggestions or tips, please keep 'em coming. I really appreciate it.