I placed an order to Roses Unlimited the other week with clarity and purposeful thought -- really, I did. Old Gray Cemetery had to be on the list because my original one died this spring, and I had to have another. I love my Red Radiance, so I got the original Radiance for the antique HT bed in front of the house. The other 4 are ones that I thought would be interesting: Mrs. Keays Pink Noisette (you know about me and found roses), Dr. J. H. Nicolas, Ringlet (a cool Alister Clark climber), and Pharisaer (an old HT). With my fall Palatine and Pickering orders, I concentrated on getting roses to replace the ones that I already have budded on Dr. Huey. The exception to this is Peace. I have Peace from a Walmart bag, Peace VID ownroot from Vintage, and now I'll have Peace on multiflora. I'm going to grow them all just to see what happens. I agree with the assessment about shopping at an actual nursery (except when I'm with Robert -- hey, Robert, how many plants can you stuff into a BMW?). Went to the nursery yesterday to get some supplies . . . wandered through the plant section and oohed and aahed at lots of stuff (tropicals were 50% off, BTW) . . . went back inside and left with 2 bags of spagnum, a huge bag of perlite, and 3 packs of bamboo stakes. No plants. But, put me in front of a computer with a cat in my lap and a credit card close by . . . you all know the rest. :) Connie P.S. I blame it on the cat.

Four o'clocks come to mind as well as scabiosa. Also, chocolate daisy (smells like chocolate, too). These will bloom all summer to frost, as long as you deadhead them. None of these are invasive IMHO. If you like roses, what about a mini? Have you been to Precure yet? I love their plants, and they are very helpful, unlike a lot of nurseries where you are left to your own device. I'm assuming you're in OKC, though. TLC, of course, has a huge selection of plants, but hard to find anyone to help. Does it have to be a plant that blooms, or could it be something that has fantastic foliage, like the sun coleus? You can often find these with bronzy, black foliage that might compliment your other plants. It is an annual, but not very expensive to purchase. I have a beautiful Salvia 'Black & Blue', that is just a gorgeous dark blue bloom with a black calyx. The hummers love it, too! Would look good with your golds and pinks. It is hardy in our zone. Or, you could find some dwarf grasses that would add texture, but don't spread around a lot. Susan

I go to extremes to ensure fruit production for seed only when a variety is quite rare and seeds of it are not readily available either commercially or thru the SSE YEarbook as an SSE member. To give you an example, Craig LeHoullier got seeds out of the USDA in the early 90's when you could still do that, for the variety Magnus, which was featured on the 1900 cover of the Livingston catalog. He couldn't get any of the seeds to germinate and sent the rest to me and after two months I was able to get ONE seed to germinate. It was put out late but grew well. Fall and approaching frosts came. I was back at work after a summer off. The plant was at a place other than where I lived and I can't tell you how many times I stopped on the way home from work and covered that plant to protect it from freezing. Finally a couple of fruits started blushing and I picked them and took them into my mother at the old family farm and told her I'd be there on the weekend, I did so and the fruits were gone. At the time she was having problems with senile dementia, had forgotten that I'd told her that the fruits were very special and had let them ripen and had cut them up for a salad. Sigh. I was able to get seed from three other fruits and all seeds for Magnus now extant came from that one plant. And that's what I mean when I say I'd go to extremes if a variety is rare. Other than those kinds of special situations I don't think it's worth it to obsess about saving seeds. ( smile) Carolyn

You need to post more photos. It looks like maybe you could take out the grass growing in the bed next to the house on right side. A lot of people dislike 'meatball' shrubs but they don't bother me. I am not a fan of the center island. I would remove it and have grass there. Yes, I see there is a light there but it could be mowed around. Do you know the names of any of the plants? What USDA zone are you in?