Still in bloom: -Colchicum -Fall Crocus -Aster erichoides -Aster laevis 'Blue Bird' -Aster 'October Sky' -Aster 'Moench' -Aster novi-belgii - NOID - 3 - 4 of them -Sedum 'Autumn Joy' - will last until spring -Calamagrostis brachytricha - Korean Feather Reed grass -Eragrostis spectabilis - Purple Love grass -Miscanthus sinensis 'Yaku Jima' -Miscanthus sinensis 'Morning Light' -Hydrangea 'Annabelle' -Chasmanthium latifolium - Northern Sea Oats -Lamium maculatum 'Pink Nancy' -Feverfew -Echinacea purpurea - a few stragglers -Geranium 'Rozanne' in deep indigo color - love he in this cool weather -Geranium 'New Hampshire Purple' -Geranium lancastriense -Lobelia - annual -Petunia -Pelargonium - annual geranium -Solidago 'Fireworks' -Solidago 'Wichita Mountain' -Clematis 'Henryii' -Carex grayii -Little Bluestem -Eryngium yuccifolium - Rattlesnake Master Can't remember what else. Hostas and Variegated Solomon's Seal and many things are still looking good. I leave the grass, Sedum, Hydrangea as they are for winter interest. Other plants in my winter interest collection is getting ready to show off their beauty: -Viburnum opulus 'Compactum' - berries are bright red -Red Twig Dogwood - stems are turning red -Willows are also turning bright colors -Evergreens are looking their best and ready for winter -Betula nigra 'Little King' is growing taller and the barks are lovelier as the trees grow. I used to hate fall, but these plants make me more fond of the season nowadays. Dahlias froze this weekend. I have more than 200 dahlias to dig up from 6 - 7 gardens around me. This is one garden chore that I rather hate, most especially cleaning the tubers and dividing the clumps for winter storage. And I actually planted no Dahlia in my own garden this year. lol

Hello Bryan! Trish too! Sounds like you two are doing well. I've been absent from the forum for awhile due to several reasons. I really wrecked my back last fall(ruptured my L5, S1 disk) and went through pyshical therapy for 4 months in order to be able to work this year. I have avoided surgery for the time being and so far, this planting season hasn't been too awfully painful. I've added some new woodies to my "already too large for one person to manage" field. I put in 100 Avalanche lilacs, 50 Ruby spice summersweet, 50 Arnold red honeysuckle, 50 Guincho purple elder, 100 Saugeana Chinese lilac, 50 Calicapra beautyberry, 20 Exochorda pearlsbush, 50 Fothergilla mount airy, 50 French pussy willow, 50 Charles Joly lilac, 50 Pres Grevy lilac, 50 chinese lilac sunday, 50 Asessippi Lilac, and 20 Seven-son flower. That field has now grown to 9 acres of woodies. I started it 5 years ago and I'll finally be able to harvest my snowball viburnum, cranberry viburnum, blue muffin viburnum, pee-gee hydrangea. I will also be able to harvest some lilacs; Sensation, Beauty of moscow, Wedgewood blue, Monge purple, Mount baker, and Pocahontas. Some of my baptisia crosses will flower for the first time this year as well, so I will finally see what the hybrids look like. The annuals are prety much the same as most with Suns, Zins and glads making up the bulk of the main event flowers. I should have about a 1/2 acre of butterfly milkeed this year. That orange always looks great with the purple hoary vervain and suns. I also have the rest of my natives to compliment the boquets. Due to my back injury, we didn't do nearly as many wreaths last year, hopefully this year I can stay injury free. Trish, We might be taking a late summer trip to Michigan. Where are you located and would you mind visitors? Nice to read all the info and see what people are up to again. It gets me amped up to get er' done! Take care, Steve

Thanks to all of you! I liked the idea of dark purple better, too. It's just that, on my small, non-market scale, I'm never sure what will be blooming. I function much better, especially emotionally, when I have a backup plan. (And I'm pretty sure that a florist's bout is likely to be my backup this time.) Here's my question again: If only the serving table includes purple with the red, yellow, and white flowers, will that lack unity with the guest tables decorated in only yellow and red? (Those tables won't have flowers, but rather gift bag decorations, done before vacation, before I thought of purple.) I don't want the added purple to look like a foreigner or afterthought. (Yes, I know--it IS an afterthought!) We just arrived back from vacation this AM. I've checked the cutting garden, and there will be plenty of zinnias in canary yellow and scarlet red. I also have a few glads that I think will be ready--a yellow-and-red, a red, and hopefully at least one more of those glads. (There are others, too, but in the wrong colors.) White statice and Bells of Ireland will be ready. With all our heat, the snaps have slowed way down, so I don't know if I can use those. On the other hand, I was surprised to find some red monarda still in bloom. Purchased yellow lilies are another definite possibility to go with these. Thanks for all you've taught me, and for taking time during your really busy season, to answer my question.

Hi herblady...well, it's loamy, although it has shale bc of where we live. Used to be farmland before they developed on it in the 70's. Then they put in grass. When I landscaped the front several years back I dug loads of humus from the garden center and some old leaves I had mulched over in plastic bags for a couple of years into that bed...but I had a perennial planting in there that pretty much exhausted the soil over a period of several years I think even though it was still nice and black and friable. Last year when we did a big landscaping I dug in peat and composted mushroom soil (it was still pretty fragrant so I worried a bit that it might burn but it turned out to be ok). The mushroom soil makes me worry it's fungus...but I would think I would see it affecting other plants right around it (it's a grouping of 6 echinacea with 6 rudbeckia next to it). In general I am not a big fertilizer. I do natives where possible and typically they don't like/need a lot of fertilizer. I DO fertilize my rhodies/mountain laurel and use hollytone for that. (My soil is slightly acidic to begin with but I like a yearly hollytone). And I DO fertilize my perennials like the coneflowers, the geraniums, the coreopsis etc and typically use Miracle Gro if and when I do it but I am casual about when. I've used organic fertilizer in the past...with blood meal and fish emulsion and stuff but it drove my dogs crazy and they wouldn't let the flower garden alone. All my training was for naught! . Would love to hear what you think! Robin