Thumbs up: Removing truly invasive, non-native plants (japanse honeysuckle for instance.) Thumbs up: Using plants that (once established) can get by (most years) on whatever rain falls. Thumbs up: Plants that provide food and shelter for birds--and realizing that snakes and hawks gotta eat too. (One of my neighbors asked me if I'd figured out a way to keep the resident hawk from eating the birds who came to my feeders (I've never seen this happen.) Same neighbor was horrified when she learned that Fred the Black Snake had gotten the second round of cardinal nestlings that were in my Rose bush. Nature at it's finest! Thumbs down: Rubber mulch (except in a playground situation)and synthetic pinestraw. Thumbs down: Neighbors who ask me to design THEIR gardens...just becasue mine "looks so good." I could be flattered, but-- 1) I garden by "feel"--my designs are the product of trial, error, plant obsession, plantwalking, and some great guidance from THIS group. 2) I actually TAKE CARE of my garden. Neighbors in question will not. 3) My garden is built around serious hardscape--it provides the structure for what I plunk in place. The yards in question have little-to-no hardscape. melanie

OUCH Faye - that's an expensive perennial. What about campanula 'Sarasota' - anyone? It overwintered fine in a pot but was barely there in the garden. I was surprised that the yellow 'proven winner' shasta daisy overwintered, ('Banana Cream?') but it seems to be a total bug magnet compared to the other shastas. All of the blooms are disfigured. Here is a link that might be useful: (My Place)

I use Safari on an iPad usually, and sometimes I have to poke the icon several times before it will turn green. There seems to be a delay often times too, so sometimes I just wait a few seconds to see if it takes. Frustrating. I too wish they had left it a larger size. I didn’t have these problems before. And yes, Dawn is correct, if you hit the icon again, it will reverse the action.

Now that's absentee voting.