Hi Bea, The vining cukes and/or beans sound like a cool idea in the flower beds. Thanks Regarding Belinda's Dream: Of all of the hundreds and hundreds of roses, the AARS only recommends two for the Southeast, which is pretty amazing. See link below. It is the only Hybrid tea that is highly fragrant and does not get blackspot or diseases. Here is a link that might be useful: AARS - Southeast

Wow - if I were you I would dig up most or all of that chicken wire. The bigger you let the perennials get, the more difficult it will be to extract the chicken wire from the roots and the entire garden. You won't be able to plant or transplant anything unless you go through the persnickety process of cutting away chicken wire - and the cut edges are sharp! Just try to cause as little damage as possible when cutting or pulling the chicken wire away from the roots of the perennials. Then after getting rid of the chicken wire, I would replant the perennials as you like (keep them well-watered so their roots get re-established this fall - no fertilizer though! Maybe just compost.). You can move things around, put taller perennials in back, etc. It's a chance to create something artistic. Then you can plant new bulbs. I have transplanted many clumps of tulips and daffodils from other parts of the yard to my gardens, which are large mixed borders of shrubs, perennials, and annuals. I plant them under deciduous shrubbery or just around the perimeter of established perennials. The growing perennial foliage or emerging shrubbery foliage hides the dying bulb foliage. Like Debgrow says, Daffodils are nearly maintenance-free, long-lived, and you don't need chicken wire because nothing eats them. They multiply like crazy if they're happy and you end up with zillions of them like I have now (I already gave extra daffodils to two different neighbors this past Spring - seriously the previous owner went crazy planting bulbs in this yard). Bulbs are so colorful and cheerful in the early Spring before things really green up - I love them!

I'm drooling over these photos. :O) Lovin' it! Karen, Amazing how we are in similar zones, but I have great difficulty in growing Zinnias and Yvonne's Salvia. It's all in the summer heat which you get but I don't. Still, I persist and this year both will again be winter sown. Shemeows, What a photo! Candy for sure. I'm getting better at containers, but wasn't quite there last year. Beautiful! Fran, That's lovely!! I can see a pumpkin/squash plant vining through between the plants. :O) Cute! Grow some Lavateras for me this year. They do well here but the deers love them too so I don't grow them anymore.

Here's some farms/garden centers I know of, including links to their websites: Johnson's Roadside Farm in Swansea has a simple farmstand operation that I frequent. The prices here are unbeatable. The vast majority of produce they sell is grown on their farms, however some organic fruits, like California peaches, are imported (I'm guessing because they don't grow well in MA?). I choose not to buy fruits that they don't grow themselves, anyway... you can taste the difference. What else I like about Johnson's is that they sell products from a LARGE number of small, local businesses from the Providence/Fall River metro area (Landry's, Willow Tree and Star just to name a few). There is also a greenhouse that they share property with--I'm not sure if it's owned by the same people, but you can purchase annuals here (buyer beware). A 4-pack of tomatoes I bought from there all succumbed to bacterial spot on exactly the same day. Weird mojo from that greenhouse; I called them to ask if they were having bacterial spot issues with other customers or plants at their greenhouse, and the woman on the phone completely disregarded the issue and told me my plants were probably being under-fertilized. The tomatoes are dead as of tonight when I get home from work to pull them all up to throw them out. To sum up a long story: I'm not sure if the two shops are affiliated, but I'll keep patronizing the Johnson's Farmstand because aside from importing some of their fruits from California, they have some really economically focused business practices that I'd like to support. I will not shop again at the greenhouse next door though, for fear of the bacterial spot! http://www.farmfresh.org/food/farm.php?farm=930 4-Town farm near the Seekonk/Rehoboth/Swansea border has healthy--yet slightly pricey--plants every year (annual and perennial). This year I purchased two blueberry bushes, two hydrangea, and various other herbs and annuals, of which NONE show any sign of disease. Customer service here is great. They also operate a farmstand out of the same building as the flower shop. I consistently visit 4-Town farm because their produce selection is always fresh. You can tell this farm has been in the family for 5 generations... http://4townfarm.com J&L Landscape and Garden on 44 in Seekonk is a great supplier for bulk soil, stones, mulches, etc. They also offer a variety of plants. The staff was friendly and knew a lot about various species. I took issue with their recommendation that I apply insecticide (read: poison) to my cherry trees to kill the bugs one year**. I guess it's just me, but shouldn't farmers be advocating for the END of chemical fertilizers and xxxxx-icides? Seemed odd to me/the organic gardener. After a terrible failure with the product**, I have since stopped using that product and stopped returning to J&L. http://www.jandllandscapingcoinc.com/index.html LittleTree Nursery(ies?) in North Seekonk specializes in an immense selection of young trees, 'bonzai' style garden trees, and loads of those ugly evergreen trees (that are shaved like poodles). They do sell other garden related items and tools, but specialize more in landscape design. http://www.littletreenurserygroup.com/landscaping.html **PS: The chemical J&L recommended was a product from Bayer, I'm not too sure of the exact name, but it is supposed to enter the entire plant from the roots and protect for an entire year after just one application. My trees could have done with a second application this year, but after one I think I've polluted my yard enough. What a terrible, $40 product recommendation. The product works as long as there aren't immense rainfall totals washing it all away to the ocean, and even when the weather was dry, the results were minimal. My cherry trees were able to send out about 6 uneaten leaves per branch before the bugs continued their feast.