I also bought "Plant Combinations" from Fine Gardening. I loved it so much, I gave a good friend a copy, too. I've just planted the following combinations, so we'll have to wait and see how they turn out, but I love it when I put the photos together: Group 1 -- magenta (main color): Penstemon Garnet Coreopsis 'Heavens Gate' Rose Campion Agastache 'Red Fortune' Hypericum 'Albury Purple' Group 2 -- butterfly garden (right side): Rudbeckia fulgida v. sulvantii 'Goldstrum' Aster frikartii 'Moench' Echinacea purpurea Big Sky 'Sunset' Veronica 'Royal Candles' Hypericum x hidcote Group 3 -- butterfly garden (left side): Crocosmia 'Lucifer' Agastache 'Blue Fortune' Asclepias 'Hello Yellow' Ascelepias tuberosa Middle of the butterfly garden: Bronze fennel Miscanthus sinensis v. condensatus 'Cosmopolitan' Vitex

pixie_lou: Nice job on the hardscaping in the front of the house - have you decided what you want to plant in that big empty space on the left? nhbabs: Gorgeous pictures! I love the muted colors, particularly the delicate pinks and the morning mist view. Nothing very dramatic here for the end of September - lots of berries and grasses and goldenrod. The cotoneaster along the wall: Volunteer crabapple fruits: Winterberry with Euonymus 'Silver King': Winterberry with Osmanthus 'Goshiki': Miscanthus 'Cosmopolitan' is beginning to bloom, but the seedheads aren't all fluffy yet: About half of the seedheads are open. The birds are finding them. The old forsythia leaves are turning red: The path to the house is getting wilder: The wisteria pseudo-standard keeps trying to extend its reach and I keep cutting it back. I usually leave some vines in the skirt if they're not a tripping hazard. You can't really see them in the previous picture, but the three big Blushing Knockout roses are blooming. Not a huge flush but still pleasing. Sedums with Juniper 'Grey Owl': A few plants are still green. Maybe it's because of the shade but the slugs haven't bothered these. Hosta 'Paul's Glory' with variegated Solomon's Seal: and Hosta 'Northern Exposure': Claire This post was edited by claire on Mon, Sep 29, 14 at 12:41

Earlier I posted that my Carefree Wonder was still blooming. Well, I was rooting around in my plant label bucket today, looking for a hellebore, and I found a tag for Carefree Beauty, not Wonder. So the rose is Carefree Beauty. Why did I bother to post, you ask? Because for a week I've been watching some of the buds that seem to have survived a hard frost. They're definitely opening! Probably get slapped down tonight, but still very impressive - it's a week away from Christmas! Claire Here is a link that might be useful: Carefree Beauty rose

I will offer some thoughts... As you probably know, Orchids are the #2 selling flowering plant after poinsettias, and they are rapidly catching up and will certainly overtake the #1 spot since they are sold/cultivated year-round and not just at Xmas. As an orchid grower, I judge all nurseries I visit on how well they serve me for growing orchids. Oklahoma is essentially a vast wasteland for orchids and supplies. The only thing one can get in this state that is prized for orchids is New Zealand sphag. moss. I have seen it at Southwoods. The only other thing I found there were some nice pots with holes in them. Unfortunately the saucers were attached or I would have bought more. Semi-hydroponic growing is becoming more widely known and perhaps by 2050 someone in Oklahoma will wake up to the benefits and provide supplies. As it is now, the closest place to buy LECA (light expanded clay aggregate), is Dallas. Since the method is suitible for all kinds of plants and has so many advantages over organic medias... i'm literally shocked that someplace such as Southwoods has not stocked it. Southwoods reminds me of TLC nurseries of OKC in many ways. They have lots of very nice plants that are displayed very nicely and everything is spread out and clean. However, for the price of a typical plant, one can go to Stringer nursery (in Tulsa), and get one twice the size. As a specific example, early last year I was seeking a weeping mulberry tree and some japanese maples. I visited Southwoods and was impressed with their maples but i left empty-handed since they had no mulberry trees. I then went to Stringer where i got a weeping mulberry of a size that certainly would have cost well over $100 from Southwoods. I also picked up a maple or two. I guess what i'm saying is it is a nice place to visit but why buy there when one can buy elsewhere for 3/4 the price? I would love to see a section set up for orchids. With all the open space, it would be easily done. Have a selection of high quality sphag. mosses, LECA pellets (hydroton, aliflor, hydrokernels, etc.), MSU type fertilizers (also not available in Oklahoma), clear plastic pots, etc. Of course what I would REALLY like to see is the orchids themselves. But since nurseries have to appeal to the lowest common denominator, I know they would consist of hybrid phals and dendrobiums which are ubiquitous at Home Depot, Lowes, etc., and really couldn't be more boring to an orchid nut. But it isn't very realistic to hope for that in Oklahoma and I can live with mail-order. But I shouldn't have to mail-order basic supplies in the capital city OR the "cosmopolitan" capital of the state. I would visit a place that might be more expensive if I can get things there that I can't get anywhere else, be they plants OR supplies. That's what was so great about Binding Stevens. You went there just to look around and be amazed and then you spot some rare wonderful plant and you just have to buy it. But since you're buying that rare thing...you might as well get a few hostas and ferns or a flat of groundcover. The problem I've had at Southwood is I never found that one rare gem that i HAD to have...and so I didn't buy anything else either. I admit a two-fold bias. One is orchids, and the other is dry shade. I'm surrounded by mature Oaks here in OKC and so when I go to a nursery, after my customary dissapointment at the lack of orchid related stuff...I go straight to the shade plant area. Southwoods seems great for full sun plants, but the shade lovers were all a lot more expensive than I can find in OKC or at other places in Tulsa. But as much as I despise paying too much for things....I despise driving all over for no reason even more. So get some orchid supplies and I will drive there for them...and spend too much money on shade plants and maples etc., just to save trips and driving. :) I had more thoughts about it all...but after typing all this I've forgotten the rest. -MB