Lux, I also have Mlle. Jeanne Philippe, my only apricot, but it's still too early for me to really comment on it, as it is only about a year and a half old. So far, I like it very much. It's really graceful and pretty to look at even when it's not blooming, and last spring/summer/fall it really didn't bloom much. This year, however, it is starting out with enthusiasm - it's right outside my window as I sit at the computer, and I can count seven buds, one of which is starting to open. I'm glad to read in your post that it's a very floriferous rose (though I would keep it even if it were not). Can you tell me anything about how big it will get? Vintage described it as being small, which is what I need (all of my few roses are in pots and must remain so), but Vintage didn't sound entirely sure about ultimate size. Thanks for any info you can give me. Laura

Sunflowers are easy--plant from seeds, and put them in the ground now. The dahlias are also ready to go in the ground now, plus this is the best time for getting them at places like Costco or Sam's Club. You don't say where you are in LA, but your sun situation should be fine, unless you live near the coast, where it might not get sunny enough due to morning clouds. Carla in Sac

Ada, I either do grow or have grown many of the flowers you listed, so here's a few comments. Amaranthus--I grow many kinds and they all sprout easily and grow well, even in areas where the yucky, heavy, red clay soil has not been improved at all. Most years my various amaranths reseed. Angelonia--performs very well even during the hottest parts of the summer. Black-eyed Susan Vine--grows well, self sows abundantly, and I've had the same results you have with the various colors. Butterfly Weed--grows very well here and truly is a butterfly magnet. We have them growing wild in the fencelines here near us. I have grown them in my cottage border too. Calendula 'Flashback' and the other calendulas I've grown have done very well. They are supposed to be more of a cool-season flower, but some years they have made it through most or all the summer as long as I have been able to keep them well-watered. Cleome 'Violet Qween'--grows fine here although it doesn't seem to reseed as prolifically as Rose Queen. I just grow taller flowers in front of it to hide the naked stalks, esp. as the summer goes on. This year, mine continued blooming in late November or early December because they were in a spot near the house where they got a little water every occasionally and sunlight/heat from a southward-facing wall. Cosmos--I've grown 15 or 20 kinds of cosmos here in southern OK and they've all grown more or less equally well. I haven't had any powdery mildew problems with them here, but then I don't have much rain or high humidity most years. Echinacea--grows well but not necessarily long-lived in my garden. Any individual plant may last 3, 4 or 5 years, but not forever. It tends to be our occasionally very rainy year that gets them, but then they are always planted in fairly unimproved clay soil. (I save the heroic amounts of soil prep for the veggies.) Gaillardia--At our house, it does best if I plant it in well-drained, compost-improved, sandier loam and not in the heavier clay. We have gaillardia here by the acre in our part of Love County, so I don't plant it much. It does, however, come up here and there from wind-scattered seed. Gazanias--Quick and easy from seed and tolerates really hot weather. Geranium--I grew them the first couple of years we lived here, but they really don't like our hot, dry summers so I haven't grown them since about 2001 or 2002. They always look great until late June or early July and then the struggle with the heat begins. Gomphrena--I've grown several kinds here, including Strawberry Fields, Purple Buddy and QIS Mix. My Strawberry Fields self-sows and comes up in the gravel driveway down by the road, about 200' from where I originally planted it. Some of the darker purple ones reseed also, but the paler lavender or lilac-colored ones have not reseeded. I get better germination when I presoak the seed for 24 hours before planting it. Heliotrope--I love the smell, but it does love our dry heat, so I don't grow it here. Hyacinth Bean Vine--I've grown these every year since we moved here, and for quite a few years before that. I love them, and they are edible, although I don't think they are as tasty as many other agricultural beans. Mine have reseeded for the last 4 or 5 years, so I don't bother saving seed to replant any more. I probably get more compliments on these plants than any other single plant I grow. Impatiens--Grew lots of them in Fort Worth, but only grew them the first year here. The wildlife ate them all to the ground, and I haven't grown them since. Larkspur--I've grown Imperial Mix for years and they reseed every year. Haven't tried the one from Park's that you mentioned. I have them in several places around the yard. Millet--I've from the Foxtail, the purple ornamental ones, and the common ones that sprout from henscratch that the hens and wildbirds miss. All grow equally well. If you have a problem with stink bugs in the veggie garden, plant millet close to, but outside the garden, as a trap crop and kill the stinkbugs when they flock to the millet. That way, you won't have to spray your veggie crops with anything. Nemesia--I don't grow it here because it doesn't handle July and August well. Nicotiana--I've grown every one of them that you can find seed for, and they grow great here. Langsdorfii likes a little more moisture and afternoon shade than sylvestris. Some nicotines reseed for me, and some don't. I've had them come up in the middle of pastures from seed blown from the garden, and they were some of the best-looking ones ever, even though they got no supplemental water and no care. Petunia--I'm just about done with all the standard petunias. They just struggle too much in July and August. There's two exceptions: Mexican Petunia and 'Laura Bush Pink' wild petunia and 'Laura Bush Purple' wild petunia. As far as I know, the Laura Bush wild petunias are only available as seed from Wildseed Farms in Texas. I raise mine from seed every year. They grow just fine in the heat, although they do best if you cut them back hard once or twice during the summer and let them regrow and reflower. Mine were in bloom from April through December, and even reseeded, both in containers and in the ground. I grow them in well-amended clay soil in full sub. I've grown plenty of other petunias from seed over the years, and had some of the Wave petunias in handing baskets on my wraparound porch for several years, but they just don't like our July/August heat in Love County. (Most years it is a fairly dry heat.) Rudbeckias grow better for me if I put them in the one bank of sandy soil that runs across our property. They've never done as well in the heavier clay soil I have on most of the place. We have native ones that grow just fine here, but a lot of the cultivated ones don't do quite as well. Salvia 'Victoria' grows very well. I haven't planted any in years, but the ones I planted in about 2001 or 2002 reseed every year and do just fine. Very long-blooming here. Bloomed into late Nov. or early Dec. this year in spite of some pretty cold nights (down in the teens). Sages--Most of the sages don't do well for me unless I put them in raised beds in very well-amended, well-drained soil. The exception is Texas Hummingbird Sage which grows very well despite the heat, gets huge, is a butterfly and bee magent, and reseeds everywhere. Sunflowers--I grow gazillions of them, and like to color-code them to the season--growing the paler yellow, peach and lime ones for late spring blooms, the golden yellows and orange (Soraya) for summer blooms, and the red, gold and orange (and bi-colors) for the fall. If you have a lot of sunflowers, you'll have to watch for the black-and-orange caterpillars that like to devour their foliage. Verbascum 'Southern Charm'--only did so-so here. It may not like my heavy clay or my hot summers, but my grandmother always loved verbascum and grew it in her sandier, more well-drained soil in Texas. Verbena bonariensis--a longtime favorite and it reseeds all over the place here most years. Some years I have to pull up hundreds of them because they come up as thick as grass if I didn't deadhead early enough the previous summer. These even come up in the middle of the pastures. I have the best luck surface sowing it outdoors in a covered container (winter sowing). Since it reseeds so prolifically, I've only grown it from seed twice here, and I wouldn't have planted it at all the second year if I'd realized how much it would reseed from the first year's plants. Vinca--I grow it every now and then, but not most years. It has a lot of disease issues here so I usually only grow it every 2nd or 3rd year. I grew it more when I lived in Texas and had better soil. It is really easy from seed though. Zinnia--I've grown all kinds of zinnias and they are my favorite flower. I like 'em in all sizes, shapes, and colors and they attract billions of butterflies. I've grown the entire 'Profusion' series ever since they first came out, and this year I'm going to add the Knee-High ones and the new double ones. They grow insanely well here and the only trouble they have is the occasional bout of powdery mildew in wetter years. I've never met )or grown) a zinnia I didn't like. I grow a large cottage border around the perimeter of my veggie garden and in various other areas around the yard. Because we have a large property, I only grow plants that are pretty tough and fuss-free. If they need pampering and lots of special care, I don't bother with them. Most of what I grow reseeds, although every few years I bring in new batches of seed (maybe the same flowers I already have, but in different colors, for example) to shake things up a little. It sounds like you have a lot of fun flower-growing planned for this year. Dawn

Okay, here's my list! As you can see it's a real mix of veggies, herbs, and annual and perennial flowers. :-) (BTW - the formatting of posts sure leaves a lot to be desired in terms of flexibility and formatting it the way you want to! Oh well, hopefully it's legible.) AMARANTH Golden Giant Greek ARTICHOKE Imperial Star Purple of Romagna BEAN, FRESH Kentucky Wonder Empress Contender Asian Winged Red-Seeded Asparagus BEAN, SOUP Hutterite October Tiger's Eye Jacob's Cattle Gasless Speckled Cranberry Cherokee Trail Good Mother Stallard BROCCOLLI Packman De Cicco BROCCOLLI RAAB, Zamboni BROOM CORN SSE mix CARROT Scarlet Nantes Chantenay Thumbelina Purple Dragon CAULIFLOWER, Early Snowball CUCUMBER Lemon Crystal Apple County Fair Hybrid Mexican Sour Gherkin Early Fortune Richmond Green Apple Poona Kheera Thai EGGPLANT Fairy Tale Hybrid Rosa Bianca Japanese White Egg Thai Long Green Thai Dark Round Green ORNAMENTAL Gourd Mix KOHLRABI, Kolibri LETTUCE Black Seeded Simpson Salad Bowl Mesclun Mix MALABAR SPINACH MELON Noir des Carmes Delice de Table Early Silver Line Charantais Ambrosia Ananas d'Amerique a Chair Verte Tigger Collective Farm Woman MUSTARD, Southern Giant ONIONS (thanks to Dawn!) PEA Sugar Snap Oregon Giant Oregon Sugar II PEPPER Blushing Beauty Garden Sunshine Golden Bell Jupiter Sweet Banana Orange Bell Purple Beauty Tolli's Sweet Italian Bounty Hybrid Fat 'n Sassy Giant Aconcagua Giant Marconi Hybrid Golden Marconi Socrates X3r Hybrid Sweet Spot X3r Sweet Cayenne POTATO (all they had at the feed store...) Red LaSoda Yukon Gold PUMPKIN, Small Sugar RADISH Cherry Belle French Breakfast SPINACH, Bloomsdale SUNBERRY SQUASH, SUMMER z. Italian Harvest Multipick z. Eight Ball z. Black Beauty SQUASH, WINTER Waltham Butternut Potmarron Lakota Queensland Blue Buttercup Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato Sweet Dumpling Gold Nugget Buttercup Rouge Vif d'Etampes TOMATILLO, Dr. Wyche Yellow WATERMELON Moon and Stars Crimson Sweet Blacktail Mountain ORIENTAL GREEN Shanghai Green Choy Extra Dwarf Pak Choy ANNUAL & PERENNIAL FLOWERS AMARANTHUS (ornamental only) Autumn Palatte Magic Fountains Coral Fountain ANGELONIA BACOPA BEGONIA Show Angels Mix Nonstop CALENDULA Triangle Flashback Flashback Citrus Smoothies Apricot & Oranges Pink Surprise Chrysantha Citrus Cocktail Porcupine CLEOME Violet Queen Rose Queen COLEUS, Giant Exhibition COREOPSIS COSMOS Cosmic Orange Bright Lights Polidor Mix Sunrise Yellow Garden Redcrest FOUR O'CLOCK, Marrakesh GAILLARDIA Arizona Sun aristata mix GAZANIA, Daybreak Petticoat Mix GERANIUM Inspire Appleblossom Horizon Rose Ice Orbit Salmon GODETIA GOMPHRENA, Strawberry Field HELIOTROPE Mini Marine Blue Wonder "garden" (heirloom) HOLLYHOCK Fig Happy Lights mix Single Mix Spring Celebrities HYACINTH BEAN VINE IMPATIENS, Fanciful Mix Improved MILLET, Foxtail White Wonder NASTURTIUM Caribbean Cocktail Alaska NICOTIANA langsdorfii sylvestris Tinkerbell Marshmallow Lousiana Piroque NICONDRA, Splash of Cream PETUNIA, Aladdin Nautical Mix POPPY o. 'Coral Reef' p. 'Angel's Choir' Danish Flag Imperial Pink Heirloom Corn poppy RUDBECKIA Cappuccino Spotlight Autumn Colors Goldstrum Cherry Brandy Prairie Sun RUELLIA SALVIA f. Victoria coccinea Coral Nymph SUNFLOWER Van Gogh Mix Arikara Mix Italian White PRAIRIE SUNFLOWER Ox Eye THUNBERGIA TITHONIA VERBASCUM Southern Charm Snow Maiden Copper Rose YARROW Summer Berries Love Parade ZINNIA white star Apricot Blush Whirligig profusion, Apricot profusion, Coral Pink profusion, double golden profusion, deep apricot profusion, white Bennary's Giant, Orange Bennary's Giant, White Bennary's Giant, Salmon Rose Bennary's Giant, Lime Bennary's Giant, Golden Yellow Bennary's Giant, Coral Bennary's Giant, Bright Pink Starbright Mix Old Mexico LADY'S MANTLE, Thriller HERBS - BASIL Genovese Sweet Poppy Joe's Thai Holy Kaprao BORAGE BRONZE FENNEL CATMINT Felix blue carpet Select Blue CATNIP CHIVES CHINESE CHIVES CILANTRO CULANTRO aka Vietnamese Coriander ECHINACEA White Swan Magnus Bravado Yellow (native wild) Prima Donna Deep Rose Prairie Splendor THYME English (vulgaris, sometimes also called German) and creeping LEMON GRASS PARSLEY SAGE common white broad leaf SUMMER SAVORY GREEK OREGANO Here's looking forward to it all going great guns and a happy planting season! Ada