In my area, the blooms of Rozanne Geranium turn to pink in the summer heat. On the other hand, it is very long blooming, virtually all summer. It does sprawl, but I give it a snip here and a snip there (not all at once) as the summer goes by and that helps keep it neat. Kalimeris, Blue Star is a wonderful front of the border plant. I would call its blooms pale lavender, but it works well in my yellow and blue border. It has nice foliage, stays low and neat, and blooms nearly all summer. For salvias, I recommend Salvia farinacea, Victoria. Of all the "blues" that I grow, this one is at the top of the heap. It is unfailingly neat, even the spent blooms. It blooms continually from spring to frost. It is deer resistant! And, I love the spires that it provides in a sea of mounds. It is not reliably perennial, but is very easy to start from cuttings or seed. I grow Peachies Pick and I love it. The foliage is absolutely neat, is evergreen, and does not sprawl. They are very similar to the look you would get with a pulmonaria, which, of course, needs shade. The flowers are a true sky blue. They will repeat some with dead heading. This plant is so dramatically different from other stokesias I have grown, it's hard to believe they're from the same family. I have also grown May Night salvia. It is a lovely plant, but only blooms in the spring. After about three years, it declined and died. Salvia Victoria is far far superior. I am going to need to check out Blue Ice. I have the larger Amsonia taberaemontana, and it's one of my favorite blue perennials.

Thank you, thank you -- I appreciate your kind words. I so enjoy following the progress of everyone else's gardens, it's nice to have the beginnings of mine to share. Not to worry. There's no way I could take the patina off 50 year old concrete. I have to do some stabilization on the cracked ones to keep them from deteriorating any further. (concrete adhesive and metal bands should do quite nicely). Three of the worst ones, that you can't see in the photo, completely fell apart while the forsythia was being taken down. Water infiltration rusted the center iron support completely away in spots. I plan to use their cannonball tops in the garden in some way. (gosh, they're heavy) Everyone will definitely get to follow my progress with this part of the garden and others. We all love photos, don't we? If you're convenient to the area, I enjoy having visitors and meeting new people -- I call my GW friends my 'Internet dates'. Things in the garden should be cooking along really well by the time we have the 2nd annual plant swap gathering at my house next fall. I have plans spinning around in my head for a series of arches by the detached garage covered with my new climbers . . . and the Van Fleet roses on the other front fence . . . and the modern cutting-style garden . . . and a cottage style garden by the workshop building . . . and what to do with all these Austins? Lots of planning to do over the winter. Goodie, goodie. Connie

@pingpong: "Does anyone have anecdotal ..." I'm an engineer - not a civil engineer - but I will reiterate what others have told you: The driveway fails because the foundation (class 5 limestone - probably) is failing - due to movement of the earth. Each time the foundation moves - it creates more space for it to move again. Also water seeps into the cracks and errodes the foundation more. This is a fact of nature. If you put a layer of asphalt over the current - you will still have the same foundation. Those cracks will eventually telegraph through the new asphalt. How long it will take? There is no textbook answer. To do it properly, the driveway needs to be removed and the foundation needs to replaced / compacted. As far a concrete cracking... that's why they cut the concrete - to control the stress cracks. It seems like you want a 'magic bullet' answer?

I had commented earlier in the tread that I am leaning towards cutting down that birch. It's sort of a shame, because of the 5 birches in the yard, this one is my favorite shape (and I really like birch). But it makes such a mess on the front steps and walk. Also, if I'm to have any symmetry between the two beds, I will need some sun on the right side. It's in dense shade once the trees leaf out. For the time being, I will keep the other trees. I really dislike the elm and the walnut tree (I think that's what they are) and I wish the maple had been planted more towards the property line, but I also do not want to be too hasty. If the tree guy ever answers his phone, I will have him over for a major trim session. There are at least 40, if not closer to 60 trees on this lot, and the yard was neglected for quite some time before I moved in.