Cath, we have a lot of the same plants, but evidently mice and boars don't gobble up all your crocuses. I am so glad that hellebores and narcissus are poisonous and get left alone! It all sounds lovely--lots of little plants that you can pay close attention to. You remind me that for some reason I've never planted snowdrops. There's a nandina with pale berries? I'll have to keep an eye out for it. And I need to start getting pickier about my hellebores. Most of my orientalis ones are seedlings from friends' gardens, some very pretty, but a few have flowers that could honestly be described as insignificant. H. foetidus and, I think it's H. viridiflora, are native locally; it's a clan that does well here. Suzy, You're right. I'm pretty well acquainted with my winter rhythms: every year I collapse around our Thanksgiving (it falls in the fourth week of November) and come back to life around the end of January/beginning of February. You could say that my illness and the bad weather will help tide me over the dreariest time of the year, since by the time both are past we should be arrived at the period when I regularly perk up anyway. Meanwhile I intend to stay warm and, perhaps, continue my review of Latin. 'Treasure Trove' is satisfactory once it gets going. Last year when it flowered it was a sheet, a wall, of pale apricot-tinted bloom, and the foliage and new growth are handsome. I don't know how hardy it is; its appearance suggests Tea not too far back in its ancestry. I wish we had more trees to grow massive climbers up. I definitely approve of your intention of growing lots of them on your new property. About garden design vs. plant collecting: Graham Thomas said that gardeners tended to be predominantly one or the other, along a continuum of course. For my part I think I'm equal parts collector and landscape gardener, and a lot of my garden planning is dedicated to finding the right plant that the garden needs for a particular situation, and finding the right situation for the plant I want to grow. You CAN have it both ways. YOU can have it both ways, if that's what you want. As you say, you already know what you need to do; it's just a matter of deciding what you truly desire. Henry Mitchell (my favorite garden writer and a wise man) said that gardeners generally start out just wanting a lot of flowers, and then over time start learning to plan along more architectural (for want of a better word) lines, just because they find they like the results better. I totally agree with him. Obviously I'm a collector, and I'll add that I'm allergic to masses of cloned plants; I'm for variety, once and always. But there's nothing in the garden that moves me more than a glimpse of the ignoble shed in one corner, with ill-tended grass and three happily grouped adolescent Italian cypresses: that combination of volume, form, height, and emptiness causes a thrill in my stomach every time my eyes light on it. Shade gardening is probably easier in Italy than it is in England, as we get so much more sun than you do. Roses actually like part shade here. The difficulty of the shade garden is that much of the soil is extremely thin, as it's an old slide area, and where it didn't slide it was because of underlying rock. The garden needs a lot of organic matter, and adding soil doesn't hurt either. These may not be problems on the property you're moving onto. Your plants are going to somewhat different than the ones I grow: perhaps box will do better for you than for me; perhaps bay laurel will be too tender for your garden while osmanthus or holly are a sure bet. But I agree about evergreen shrubs. To quote Henry Mitchell on the Hick's yew: "Like all yews, it confers a remarkable air of solidity, cheerfulness, [and] sobriety..."; and similar claims can be made for many other evergreens. Best wishes for your new garden! Thanks, Pam, and you are so right. Paula, continue ever hopeful. I hope my garden will come together one day and begin to approach what I have in mind; so much of the that mental image seems a remote dream. But I keep on planning and digging and planting. Visitors are welcome, by the way, if you get round to this part of the world. Suzy, I would be interested to see what you make of my activities. Melissa

Thank you again everyone for the kind words. :) Where am I going to put all of these ? That certainly is the $64,000.00 question !!! I counted yesterday: 31 different types in pots 3 of those pots are Andrew 33 pots total 3 different types in the ground 3 Elegans (stationary, not moving them) 2 Wide Brim 1 Tiny Tears 5 NOID in ground 3 clump #1 3 clump #2 1 ½ clump #3 1 mature mini no ID 1 mature mini no ID TONS of Elegans seedlings we dug up out of the front bed and put in the back. That is all the hosta on the property. So I have about 31 places to find for all the new additions. This does not include the 40+ I have still “to order” on my wishlist. As of today 7/29/12 I have only one bed clear. Initially I feel like I want to panic . . . but the flip side (for me at least) is I am not necessarily in any hurry to get them in the ground. I would almost prefer to let them get a few years in pots where I can coddle them and take my time finding just the right spot. So, in theory I believe I have enough room for them all (plus more) but it may be a good long time before they get placed in a permanent position. When I started this project I knew it would be a long hard road to beautification. My goal is to work with as much already existing in the ground as feasibly possible. I will be ripping out a lot of established shrubs and moving existing perennials, but more so to rearrange and start over. There is an existing design that was originally landscaped into the yard, so I will be working with that and adjusting lines and height as needed. But for the most part I am settled into a very long project with no real agenda. I will of course keep you all updated as to any progress that is made. This year though is rather uneventful since I am still in the process of amending and clearing out the first bed so that I can be ready for a spring planting. Here are some glamour shots of “The Jungle”. This first one is a pic of me in the process of clearing out the first bed. These were all taken in early June. And here is basically the jist of what it looked like before I mowed it all to the ground . . . The next grouping are of the section of yard that leads up to the side porch. This I don't think ever had anything planted in it. There is a bed separating the two sections of the front yard so you can't get to this part without going around the house and coming off the side porch. The Hosta in the picture are of seedling Elegans and one of my MIL NOID. It is still too young and neglected to pitch here for proper ID. So all in all I def have enough space to keep me plenty busy for a very long time. Plus we are having an arborist come out in the winter and trim a few trees that desperately need it as well as remove a few that are too close to the house. So there will still be a nice canopy but I will have a lot more light coming through starting in 2013 and that is also something I am going to keep my eye on for plant placement. Thanks as always for looking and reading, Ludi

How did I miss the first post?? Sounds wonderful! I'll be trying the Lemon Cake next week! I never have lemon extract.... do you think a little of the Boyjiann (sp?) Lemon Oil would substitute? Also could you share the names of the wines and the vineyard? I'll be moving about an hour from Charlottesville soon and would love to try them! Grace

The rot could be from a fungal disease that resides in the soil, and I say that based on the fact that once upon a time, not all that long ago, you had good rainfall there in your county before the current flash drought began. I saw lots of various fungal diseases on various things when it was wetter, but not so much since July. Still it is possible you have a fungi lurking in your garden that thrives in heat and low moisture. Such things do exist. When I grew both Black Futsu and Yokohama, their fruit did seem more prone to rot than that of Seminole or Butternut so it just may be a particular weakness that they have.