I was on vacation, returned yesterday, happy to get so many responses to my post, and wonderful feedback. Coolplantsguy - yes, I do love peonies and heirloom plants for that matter, I just don't have the room though I admire them in my neighbors yard. The one we had toppled from the weight of the blooms, I don't know the variety, they were here when we purchased. Thanks for the suggestion, I will consider if I ever find the space again...my lawn gets smaller with each passing year. LOL. Pat, you make me chuckle. I'm like you. I spend so much time planning and thinking things through over the winter, only to find later that I don't like the combos or placement, so I plan again for next year. Some of my plant combos happened by accident & some I've followed suggestions when researching companion plants. I'm still learning how textures compliment eachother, and other things I didn't know to think about a few years back, but it's fun to learn. Summer is too short though. Prairiemoon, I also have Astilbe planted next to my Annabelle, and I enjoy the contrast of the red plumes and darker foliage with the brighter green backdrop of Annabelle. I've learned it's best to NOT fertilize it once it's established, it makes the blooms too heavy and they'll topple. Still, the rain does make them flop, but mine usually bounce back, I have one staked with a support, but it was just planted this year. I also cut my dianthus blooms back before I left for vacation, and returned to a new flush of blooms, the foliage tends to yellow on me though, I need to stop watering, I didn't realize they're drought tolerant. I forget the variety, it's got blue spiky foliage and red flowers. I will have to do more research on hellebores...we added a raised planting bed/retaining wall with a row of purple leaf sandcherries on top, and I'm looking for an underplanting in full sun; the sandcherries will be trimmed into a tree form once established. For now, I planted yellowish hostas at the base for contrast, but I know they won't do well in full sun. I'm glad to hear about Sedum Angelina, mine will be delivered some time this week, now I'm really looking forward to growing them, I just worry about our new dog, she's so rambunctious - she's a chihuahua boston terrier mix, the cutest thing, she likes to grab my plants and tug on them..I'll have to get her some more toys. I was thinking of amending my soil for the iris, adding more grit for drainage, we'll see if that works. I had one aster that bloomed for me, but it was spindly, a combo of dry soil in this area and minimal sun, but my campanula that I moved not too long ago is doing much better, must be the sun. I have to move the asters, just trying to find a location. It's funny about the Autumn Joy Sedum, my husband keeps telling me to pot them up since I can't find the 'right' place for them, I'll have to try that. I do like the blooms, very pretty, and they grow amazingly large after transplanting a single stalk, very impressive. I will try to post a pic of William Baffin rose when I have a chance..the pic is not mine as mine is only a few months new and I'm still learning how to prune them to shape, but my friend has one along their property and it's a stunner, grows upright almost like a tree canopy, and does well in our zone without protection and is disease resistant, with prolific blooms, but I know they have to trim it back regularly, it's a monster. Give me a couple of days and I'll try to post here if I can figure out photobucket. Of the climbers, I have Don Juan and Sombreuil. They died back almost to the ground, but new growth emerged in the spring, so they're still puny and it's the end of July, though I also transplanted them in early spring. We'll see next year if they do better. I purchased Smokebush 'Grace' and 'Golden Spirit' - I've read there's some potential winter die back, mine is only a month new, but I've also heard that they grow like weeds once established, so even with winter die back they'll grow like crazy. 'Golden Spirit' has new growth in a pretty lime green color and grows more upright in form whereas 'Grace' fans out. 'Grace' grows at a house up the street from us and it's just beautiful, especially with the smokey plumes. I ask my husband to slow down every time we drive by. :) Phyl in Chicagoland, I'm embarrassed to post pics. I still consider my landscaping in the beginning stages, most plants aren't mature or established yet, I've moved a lot around, still a work in progress. I had problems with photobucket last time I tried, but I'll see what I can do. I'll tell you though, do an internet search on 'Nancy J. Ondra', I came across her website when researching plants (that's where I got my iris and lemonbalm combo inspiration from) - her garden is to die for, absolutely STUNNING!!! I peruse her garden pics whenever I get the winter blues. Mxk, I was also looking at the Iris pallida but wasn't sure if it would look odd to mix these with the non variegated type. If you like the look of Jacobs Ladder, it reminds me of a shrub, Carol Mackie Daphne. Same variegated foliage, with pretty spring flowers. Connie, this is also my first year with wave petunias and I love them, I have them in hanging baskets. I've read they are self-cleaning, unlike the regular petunias, but I still deadhead here and there. I'd do them again, definitely. The foliage is also very pretty. Gabby, I used to throw tags away, but as the gardening world became more intriguing to me, I've learned to write down the names of my plants on a 'map' of my yard...LOL. Mostly in an attempt to overcome winter blahs, I also compiled a list of plants that need deadheading, cutting back, dividing, etc. so I know what to do come spring. Daylilyluvr, ok, like I said I'm an 'advanced' beginner in the gardening world, still in my learning curve. LOL. I had no idea Sweet William was a biennial. I've had it for two years now, the blooms are stunning, but this year it got all brown and ratty after blooms were spent, I chalked that up to too much watering. I cut it back and it looks like a few blooms are starting to come in again, but I had to remove old dried stems. Web says if you don't let it self seed it will shoot up more stems and act as a perennial...looks like that's what's happening for me as I likely cut back the spent blooms last year too. Crunchpa, my favorite person from the container gardening forum. LOL. I have a TON of containers this year, maybe too many. It takes me over an hour just to water everything, and that's just the containers, but I think I got overzealous and overstuffed them this time around...still, I wouldn't go without my containers, I'm hooked. I love that moss sedum, I'll have to try it. You always have the best pics. I still have dirt to cover until everything is established, I'm waiting patiently though my transplanting doesn't help either. I was looking into that red hot poker at one point, if I remember correctly I think it goes dormant mid season and then comes back again later?? Or am I thinking of something else? Pretty. I'll have to research more of the suggestions here, though I'll probably be losing more lawn in the process. :)

I am an animal lover and nature freak. The type of person who will go up to a spider and watch/ study it then leave it be (providing it's not on or in danger of getting into my bed). They are really interesting to me. They still are but... I just moved into a new apartment and things have changed. The spiders started appearing in late June. They would be in the bathroom and tub in the morning trying to climb out. Then the exterminator came to spray the complex and informed me that BROWN RECLUSE SPIDERS are prevalent in this part of Kansas. And, that even though I don't see them probably still there. Well, since the extermination my spiders have increased more than 10 fold. Instead of one spider in the bathroom sink every couple of days there are now 3-8 spiders every day (THAT I SEE) and they are in every room (I have a small apartment). There are at least five seperate species, the biggest of which I am 95% sure is the brown recluse, and I see 1 to 2 of these every day. It's starting to give me "issues." Where as they didn't bother me before, I now jump when I see them. I avoid my closets, I shake out everything, and I just freakout at tiny things. I used to live in a state and area that was extremely high in black and brown widows. They didn't bother me at all. At least they are distinctive from a distance and for the most part they just stay in their webs. They don't come out at night to hunt. One of the main issues is that I have never lived in an area that is proned to brown recluse before. So I am not adept at identifying them. The fact that they look like any ordinary little brown spider until you get up close enough to examin for the fiddle shape just sucks. And all my other spiders... look just like little brown spiders to!!!! The even scarrier thing is that to have so many spiders... I have to have an amazingly huge bug population. I have only seen two bugs, period, in the apartment. So, the fact that I have only seen two bugs in what has to be a huge population... gotta mean that the spider population has to be much larger than what I see. Unless they're eating each other.. in which case, the population whould still have to be super huge cause there still enough to sustain the population and mate. While haveing me kill 3-8 everyday.

I was going to suggest boric acid as well. Walmart sells it in powered form. It’s enviromentally safe for kids and animals. We work the powder into our rugs, put some alone the window sills, backs of cabinets, along the thresholds of the doors, under cushions and so on. When the insects walk through it, the powder sticks to their bodies and dehydrates them. ETA: since animals will lay on the rugs, they get the powder on their fur which in turn kills any fleas or mites they may have as well. In SoCal, there is a flea exterminator called Flea Busters and that’s what they use.

Cooper8828, good for you for stepping up! Yes, they are most likely nice people who just never thought about it before. A lot of times an exterminator just tells us what we should do and we blindly follow. The exterminators, for whatever reason, don't even educate their clients about how the poisons might kill non target animals etc. For your neighbors, if they are going to kill the mice, they need to get snap traps because those usually are instant and don't cause suffering (not all the time, but it's the most humane way to kill them) and the traps need to be enclosed so, for instance, a cat's paw can't be caught or a bird or squirrel isn't killed, etc. And even in those enclosures, sometimes another animals head can get caught in them and then something kills the stuck animal. It's all pretty awful. The most risk free way to do it is to have the traps IN your home where unsuspecting animals aren't at risk. (I'm no expert and just sharing what I've recently learned because there was a rodent problem in this new house we are renting and I've been working with the exterminators to seal the house and live catch and release what we have inside). Lucille, If you google, you will see that it's universally accepted that peppermint oil repels mice. When we moved in, I soaked cotton balls with peppermint oil to put near the holes where we saw droppings and that seemed to make a difference. We have since sealed the holes. In fact, when I was buying the peppermint oil, a guy next to me in line was telling me he did the same thing to an attic space and it worked like a charm. Our exterminators are going to install a seal for our garage doors that allows us to open it and keep rodents out. When they do it, I can let you know how it works because that is a better long term solution. But today, you could line the entrance of your garage with peppermint soaked cotton balls, or you can try a products like these granules ( granules). I have some but haven't used them yet so can't vouch about how effective they are. For anyone who might be interested in a live mouse trap, this works really well (live mouse trap).