I found one dianthus called Roseish One that the tag said it supposed to be a mat former so I got that one. I'm still looking for Arctic Fire but that shouldn't be too hard to find. I was ignoring Bluestone's sale as it is way too easy to spend a ton of money (to justify the shipping costs, you know). I'm hoping to be able to get one of each and let them seed and spread around. Vampire certainly has done well at spreading out to fill a large spot so I shouldn't need many.

I have to agree with all who have mentioned that sasanquas will get to a tree-size more quickly than japonicas. I think you could go with any color, given what I see of your house. One of the best-looking sasanquas I'm noticing locally is 'Kanjiro'. One neighbor has an especially attractive large shrub/small tree in the front yard that is good-looking all year, but a real show-stopper now that it's covered with flowers. 'Setsugekka' is a good-looking sasanqua also, and that photo of 'Pink Snow' is very nice indeed.... 'Masterpiece Pink' was born in the Lake Charles area & has a reputation for having attractive foliage & getting tall rather quickly- for a japonica, that is... If you like 'Pink Perfection', the pink, formal MP flowers might appeal to you. Another pink formal double that hails from Slidell is 'Tammia'- I rather like the shape & shading of the miniature flowers, but I believe that it's growth rate is 'medium', so not a speedy grower. As you mentioned, you would need to find a fairly well-established plant if you choose almost any japonica. 'Pink Perfection' AKA 'Otome' is a classic garden plant & will branch nicely, but I don't know how large it gets. There seems to be at least 2 different 'Pink Perfections' out there, so if you decide to buy for the flower, try to get a look at the bloom before you buy. It might be a good idea to test your soil before you plant anything new there. If the fatsias died, and the CM is languishing, there could be a soil deficiency? Here is a link that might be useful: LSU Ag Center info on soil testing

I just pruned my yellow/orange hibiscus. any one need cuttings???? trade what you got? I need brugmansia /Angel trumpet. Thanks

Wow! Thank you all for that warm welcome. (Hey noocha, nice to see you here) And thank you so much for some great suggestions: I've linked to the site that quiltdiva posted - and saved it for future reference. I've also ordered the book Reverse Applique With No Brakez by Jan Mullen. Looking forward to reading it. scraphappy - Indeed this looks like the quilt you described. (I don't mean the design, but rather the many small lines) Here's a better picture of the quilt I want to do. It's a wall hanging measuring 30" by 30". I've re-read the instructions - the black is the background so as you can see there is a LOT to be cut away. I've concluded that this is not a good project for a first attempt at reverse applique, BUT as scraphappy indicated, it looks like a fairly simple one for the stained glass technique with black bias to cover the raw seams. I went to a quilt shop yesterday and purchased some fabric that I love. I'm going to be out of town for the next ten days with a lot of time on my hands, so hope to get it done. I'll post a photo when I get it completed. Then - I'm going to tackle a simple reverse applique project. Thank you all again grandma