Cross referencing with your other thread, it seems your walkway is flared at both ends. From your drawing here I thought it wasn't. OK, so you aren't going to re-pour it, and I wouldn't either. If you were, I would not make that corner a right turn, but rather redraft the whole thing into a more gradually curvy swoosh reaching further down the driveway. You could leave the narrow bed by the garage wide enough for something, but to be honest, I think even with a redo I really would just pave to the wall - fill in the whole bed. Plants don't like growing in that situation anyway. With what you have I would tend towards a concept that works for me in my narrow beds: Basically a container gallery with plants at their feet. You could fill in the whole bed with pavers and put in a killer container gallery, or make it a container gallery among plants like mine. Your plants can be a single ground cover or a collection like hostas, hellebores, etc. In short, a bed like this only avoids being a plant line-up with a LOT of hardscape (can include wall art). If you really don't want containers, then study columnar conifers. Say, Taxus media 'Flushing,' Taxus baccata 'Golden Dwarf,' and the other usual suspects. Very structural stuff, including anything smaller you put in and can prune fairly flat (Cephalotaxus might be cool like that, has great foliage up close). But stay as far back from the door as you can with anything tall or wide. I would not do vines here. I would do structure. Structure is really missing from all the plants you have there too. Indeterminate blobs. You need big leaves. But I'm suggesting containers because to me your yard really needs hardscape. I know you have rocks, but they echo what I think is a bit of a design failing IN your beds (never mind their shape for a moment): kind of a tendency toward... spots? That captures what I don't like in your narrow bed now, what I don't like about the rose bed (and sorry, I hate those plants anyway - more indeterminate blobs with small leaves), and what I don't like about the rocks you've got. Plop. That's kind of the way I see a lot of those placement decisions. Collecting your boulders into groups might be much better. Collecting your plants into groups would too. I know all this doesn't address overall design, but that narrow bed isn't likely going to be part of any overall design anyway as it doesn't have "line" connection with anything you might do on the property (unless you can apply Woody's idea of running lines across the walkway...). I still like Woody's drawing but as far as overall design is concerned, I LOVE pls's concept. I wonder what would happen if you erased all the beds you've got and tried to sketch that out. Maybe boulder rearrangement could be guided by this concept at least. And it might enable you to keep some of the house wall clear. So I'm rambling a bit, sorry. Yes, I see bed shape as a problem here, but I think bed design/planting scheme is also contributing to the whole composition not working. Focal points, structure, hardscape, garden furniture... I think that is where you will need to go once you have bed shape worked out. It is not only plants that contribute balance, unity, repetition, etc. Actually now that I think about it, my plant zoo is actually irrelevant to my yard's design. I could move all my plants into different positions tomorrow, and the overall impression the yard makes would remain the same based on the hardscape alone. I think you are expecting the plants to BE your design, and that is maybe the fatal flaw. Karin L

I've grown Mister Lincoln on and off for many years, and more often than not it takes on magenta/bluish shades. Those of you that posted magenta pink pics of Mister Lincoln...In my opinion, you definitely have the right variety, sometimes that's just how it looks. It's the marketing for 50+ years that's always described Mister Lincoln as the quintessential red, in truth it's not always that red. Back in the late 60s when it was introduced, I think it was rightly considered very red. But the standard is higher now, with the introduction of roses like Olympiad and Veterans Honor, which are a far purer, true red. Mister Lincoln also opens too fast and doesn't last as long as those newer reds. It is still probably the best of the old 'reds' , a strong grower with very good fragrance. I think Firefighter is the best compromise between old and new reds...it is quite red, still very fragrant, and very generous in bloom.

DON'T TRUST Comfortis. I had 2 dogs of different breeds that developed a small flee problem. One dog (golden retreiver/labador mix) was 11 years old and the other 10 1/2 years old (doberman/german shephard mix). Both dogs in very good health other than a newly developed small flee problem. In fact, other than the newly developed flee problem the vet said verbally that these dogs are healthy and will live forever. My vet suggested a new flee product called Comfortis. The flee problem did seem to go away quickly HOWEVER this is when many other health problems developed in both dogs. The first signs from both dogs was a lack in appetite. Then one dog developed a very bad salivation problem. I was just into the 3rd dose for each dog when the problems became worse in both dogs. Both dogs had a very significant weight loss and became very lethargic, vomiting, excessive salivation. I looked for answers from every direction, the dog food manufacturer to see if any change was made in their recipe to something that could have gotten into the yard to any new medications. This is where I discovered that Comfortis could have been the major problem in their rapid declining health. Both dogs, of different breeds, developed 7 of the possible 10 listed side affects listed on the Comfortis warning. I was told by the vet that I had to let the dose run its course as there was no way of getting Comfortis out of their systems. All I could do was just watch their health decline as the vet told me they could do nothing. I called the 800 number for Comfortis and was also told that the medicine just had to run its course. 2 different dogs developed the exact same symptoms listed on the Comfortis warning list at the same time. The vet actually still did not admit that Comfortis could even be a possible reason for their declining health and said they must have gotten hold of something in the yard like a squirrel or a rabbit or something. One dog developed what Ill call seizures near the end and died just after the 3rd dose of Comfortis. The other dog died just 4 days later. The day before the 2nd dog died I took him to the vet where they ran blood and urine test. IÂm not a medical person and donÂt remember the exact terms but they compared his blood work from just 3 months earlier and the decline in the blood cell numbers were unbelievable to even the vet. In my opinion, Comfortis is a POISON. Be very careful about this product. If your dog has flees, give your dog a good old fashion flee dip. Flees are on the outside of your dog, NOT on the inside of them. pbloom@northgeorgiaauto.com

Just a little shout out for the species (especially for you foliage lovers). Our native h.foetidus (although it really doesn't whiff) has the most elegant deep green, almost black foliage...which looks utterly gorgeous with snowdrops and red stemmed dogwoods...and when the small, lime green, crimson edged flowers arrive (look out for 'wester flisk'), it is stellar. The huge leaved h.corsicanus (and smaller h.lividus) have been used extensively in the new hybrids (particularly the ericsmithii types)...but the straight species are fabulous, with the foliage looking as good in August as it did in March. For the warmer areas, the balkan h.torquatus and h.atrorubens are smaller in flower and daintier altogether but have uniquely coloured forms which look exceptional with ferns and grasses. I generally avoid the iffy h.niger....although I am seeing some possible hybrids such as Potters Wheel having niger in the mix. I confess to disliking the doubles, although the flowers do hold for weeks and weeks...and although I do try to buy when in flower (my sweetheart drove 70 miles to collect a single yellow, unspotted single once), I have not really made any inroads into the named varietal craze as the variation in the basic h.orientalis has been sufficient to keep me entertained. To start a collection, I heartily recommend buying a packet of Ashwood or Ballard hybrids and sowing around September. Within 3 years, you will have a good basis for a collection (they are almost foolproof at germinating and growing on, being able to go into the ground the first autumn and left alone for another couple of years.