Eric_oh - Nigella in Upstate NY - they bloom for about a month in midsummer (June-July), then form their balloon-shaped seed pods. They reseed freely, and their seedlings form a fuzzy green carpet in the fall, overwinter without trouble, and grow on in the spring. Their foliage and seed pods look scruffy (totally dry) by September, so I pull them out then, and sprinkle the seeds where I want them (or harvest them to share). I have three mixed borders in my yard (suburbia, but a nice little lot bordering a wooded ravine). The widest border (full shade under hemlock trees for half its lenghth) is about 12 feet deep by 75 feet long. The others are both about 9 feet deep by 30 feet long. I wish they could be deeper, but then I'd have no lawn and the kids would have no place to play, LOL - they were unhappy when I took over part of the back yard for an island bed the last two years, so I'll be shrinking that bed this year to give them a little more room. SO, the point of this is that I've had to keep the shrubs in proportion to my smaller mixed border depth. I can only dream of a border that's 30' by 90' - that's almost my entire yard, LOL! In a small yard I have different issues than if I had a large lot. For instance, I can't use a full-sized lilac by the sidewalk (it would block the line of sight down the road from the driveway - a safety issue), so I planted lilac 'Wonderblue,' a "dwarf" that should max out at 6 feet tall. Nice plant, gorgeous flowers. And, my neighbor might not appreciate having a forest planted on the property line, so I have to be respectful of her view, too. Fortunately, she likes looking at my garden, and doesn't mind the border shrubs at all. The backbone of that front border is a mix of five shrubs: a tall lilac nearest the house ('Krasavitsa Moskvy'), which I'm training to be more tree-like and vertical than bushy and spreading; a butterfly bush ('Plum Purple,' dies back most years, stays 4-6 feet tall/wide), rose of sharon 'Blue Bird' (very vertical, self seeds like mad though), philadelphus/mock orange 'Virginal' (again, more vertical than spreading), and then the 'Wonderblue' lilac by the sidewalk. In front of those is a mix of perennials and annuals: peonies, tall bearded and siberian irises, daylilies, white echinacea, a spiny acanthus, pennisetum alopecuroides, culinary sage (makes a nice shrubby, furry texture), chrysanthemum 'Emperor of China,' Stokes asters, plumbago, rose campion, nigella 'Miss Jeckyll Blue,' alyssum, sempervivums, snapdragons, a campanula (from a garden swap - hopefully it will bloom this year; it seems to be a bit invasive and might have to be moved), nicotiana 'Lime Green,' and I'm sure I've forgotten something. I wish I had a good full-length picture of the border, but it's still young - only three years old now, so it's a work in progress. (These pictures are all PD - pre-digital camera. I'll be sure to get better pictures this year.) This is the only overview picture I have of it, from May of 2005, right after heavy rain caused the retaining wall to fall over into the border - AAACCKK! It looks much better now, really. This is the shady end of the longest border. You can't see in this photo, but I've included two Kalmia (mountain laurels) that should eventually give some nice form. At the back of the border, beside the house, is a doublefile viburnum - amazing foliage and delightful flowers. Again, I'm having to manage its spread a bit - I planted it several years ago, then realized it would get wider than I anticipated. The rest of the area on the left of the path is filled with hosta, lady ferns, variegated solomon's seal, pachysandra, two rhododendrons at the back by the fence, toad lilies, lamium 'Hermann's Pride' and 'Chequers,' a dwarf fothergilla shrub, and in the summer with impatiens. I could probably have gotten away with having NO shrubs and only perennials in this area if I really wanted to, but in the winter it's a straight swatch of barren mulch without the shrubs to break it up. The front (sunny) end of the long border. It's got a backbone of rose of sharon (2), rose 'Roseraie de l'Hay,' lilacs 'Andenken an Ludwig Spaeth' and 'Blue Skies,' rose 'Blaze,' a mugo pine, and an unknown rose (I think it's rosa multiflora, planted by a bird - I have to manage it diligently to keep it in bounds, but I love the sprays of white flowers and its tiny hips). That bed includes tall bearded irises, peonies, pennisetum alopecuroides, salvia 'May Night,' sedum 'Autumn Joy,' aster 'Blue Bird,' knautia, stachys byzantina, an unknown pink aster, daylilies, thrift, geranium 'Brookside' (an incorrigible flopper/spreader, but great flowers), yarrow 'Moonlight,' echinacea, hosta 'Minuteman,' clematis 'Duchess of Albany, climbing one of the rose of sharon bushes), white valerian, alyssum, and others, underplanted with clusters of spring bulbs (daffodils, tulips, and iris reticulata). This border has the fewest annuals of any of my garden areas. The reason for the dense planting of shrubs at the back was at first practical rather than aesthetic: the heavy planting (supposedly) keeps the neighborhood kids from riding their bikes through that area in the winter. . . . Laurel

count_d, I purchased my plant from Tony at ExoticPlantsPlus.com the home of Par O Bek Orchids! http://www.exoticplantsplus.com/ thespirals, I keep it growing up by using the metal chain of the hanging basket. By moving some of the leaves to the inside of the chain and letting the plant then rest against it, the plant grows more upwards. Once it gets past the metal chain I have large s hooks which I then use orchid flower spike clips to clip the nep vine to the s hook. You do not need to cut your nep. I do it when it reaches the ceiling which is 3 to 4 feet from the hanging basket. I would not cut it till you have new growth at the bottom of your plant which you say you do. My first time cutting the plant I was about 12" above the soil for my cut. Cutting the plant usually causes more basal shoots to form which will make your plant bushier, as they grow. Also usually a node below the cut will start to grow. Seeing the effects of cutting the plant from the first time, the second time I cut it was much closer to the soil, but I had several new basal points growing which were several inches tall by then. You end up with several new plants to trade away if you try to root your cuttings. Below is a link to rooting nep cuttings. This is the way I do mine and have great success, only have lost 1 cutting. Here is a link that might be useful: Rooting nep cuttings

Thanks for asking Socks .... Had the surgery one week ago today. Got out of the hospital the next afternoon. I'm now home wearing a hard collar, bone stimulator machine and trying to stay off the computer. I'm only allowed on for 20 mins at a time. I was totally bed-ridden until yesterday... sleeping most of the day and night, so that helped keep me off the computer. So far the only real pain is my throat and left shoulder. Loss of voice is typical with this surgery. Mine finally came back yesterday afternoon. I was warned my shoulders might hurt after the surgery but was never told why. I might call the doctor and ask what causes the shoulder pain. Surgery ended up not quite what I expected. Instead of removing the bottom two fused vertebrae, the doctor cleaned the bone spurs off the fused verts and removed C5 instead. He cleaned up and realigned C3 and C4 and fused C4-C5-C6 with what's called a PEEK cage. From what I can tell, my range of motion is better than before and very little pain when I move. But I'm not going to be able to fully test it for a couple months. Because my throat is still sore from them moving the esophagus and other stuff aside to access the spine from the front, it's difficult to tell if my cough and breathing issues are gone. But I think they are. Just won't know until I'm fully healed. Jodi-

omg sounds like my hubby we have a painter here,one morning i was on my excersise bike in my nightie.a knock n the door.I said somebodys at the door, he was heading there the guy just walks in.It made me mad you dont just walk in.Hubby said he told him to keep his eyes open for me naked.He said I have 2 big things in the front 2 big things in the back...imagine the nerve..I said yes like your 1 little thing in front...