I love playing with my tree frogs. I go out, and start calling them, and they sing back. I love how nature works. The second they sense water......can be rain or me just watering the flowers.....they start up their mating calls. Isn't that wild? They must be able to smell or hear water and know that their eggs might have a chance to survive, and they start singing. Even if I water with the hose for just a short time, they start singing.

Rb, thanks for the tips. Sounds like you've got lots of shade -- and cyclamen and toad lilies! Adrienne R. Roethling, the Garden Curator of Juniper Level Botanic Gardens at Plant Delights Nursery, wrote me a very nice note saying: a) "Tricyrtis hirta and its cultivars have been the best for informal yet graceful plants in the garden. They also flower reliably heavy every year"; b)"Of the Tricyrtis hirta group, the best one that meets your specifications is T. hirta 'Miyazaki.'"; and c)'Taipei Silk' is one of my favorites . . . it flowers in an impressive candlabra fasion. The foliage stays clumped and the bottom and the stems branch out giving you this wide flower head with neon purple flowers." She also mentions two of the T. formosana group: 'Gilt Edge' and 'Autumn Glow' but said, "They flower well in fall, but not has heavily as the T. hirtas. This species does not have the arch look, but still have an attractive appearance. " How's that for customer service? All praise to her and Plant Delights for taking the time to write. Check 'em out! (http://www.plantdelights.com/) Entling, that's a beautiful phlox, and I like the idea of autumn crocus -- might be one of the few shade bulbs I don't have! Creeping barberry. I love Rare Find Nursery and hope to get there this spring for another shrub or two. Chelone also looks great. Sigh -- need more space!

duplicate message This post was edited by jean001a on Wed, Jun 11, 14 at 22:22

C -- just some thoughts to ponder. For one thing they like rich moist soil. I happen to have mine in a pot and they didn't bloom the first couple of years because I didn't pay much attention to them and probably didn't water them very often. Then last year when it rained so much they bloomed their heads off. Or it might be the variety. Someone said the 'improved' varieties don't do as well.