I think it will be a great thread where you get ideas what to add to your garden. I have tried for several years to have blooming succession from early spring to frost. Here's what I have in bloom right now: > Merrybells (Uvularia grandiflora) - I have no idea where it came from. It blooms for the first time this spring. >Primula acaulis - Primsroses >Primula veris - Cowslips >Chaenomeles - Flowering Qunices >Phlox subulata - Creeping Phlox >Hellborus niger >Muscari armeniacum >Tulips >Narcissi - various types >Scilla sibirica - the spring flush has past - still some left dangling >Leucojum aestivum'Gravetye Giant' >Peach >Apples >Buffalo Currants >Forthegilla gardenii >Platycladus orientalis >Dicentra spectabilis - pink >Forget -me-nots >Veronica 'Gorgia Blue' >Galium odoratum - Sweetwoodruff >Barberis thunbergii I am very happy with my garden this year. The different forms, textures and colors in leaves are very interesting as well. I love spring.

I've told about this on another forum....so forgive me if I mentioned here as well. I had a friend in the town where I used to live. After I moved away, I called or went to see him once in awhile. But I hadn't seen him in about three months, and I called him and his phone was shut off. He had emphysema and after the diagnosis, he wouldn't go to the doctor any more. He was a heavy smoker and his doctor had been his family doctor and he chastised him so severely, Ken just quit going. After I moved away, he went down hill. I truly was his only friend. He had others when he used to work, but he had retired at 55 and no friends close by and he became more of a loner. Anyway, I thought he had died and no one told me. As odd a person as he was.....his family was more so, and even though they knew I was his closest friend, I knew they wouldn't bother to tell me if he had passed. So, I rushed over there. He came to the door in his underwear...long beard and hair. He had never been like that. One of the neatest people I had ever known...always shaved and kept his hair trimmed. He had no food in the house. Wine bottles stacked like cordwood in all of his cabinets. Hadn't been to the post office or paid any bills. Didn't know his phone had been cut off. I was sure he was going to die any minute. He wouldn't go to the doctor or let me call any of his family...His sister lived next door on one side, also a niece, and a nephew on the corner and his ex wife on the other side and one of his son's lived with his ex. I cleaned his house. Bought food for him, Went to the liquor store and bought his wine...he didn't need to be driving and he wasn't going to quit drinking,..or smoking. Paid his bills and talked to him and promised him I would stay with him....or at least check on him every day. How long could he live? A couple of weeks? A month? How about eight years! Went to see him every day and up to four times a day at the end. Slept on the floor many times to be with him. Arranged for someone to cut his hair and shave him and mow the grass. The last four years of his life, he never left the house. He refused to go to the doctor or let me call his family. I abided by his wishes in every way. He kept a loaded 45 revolver under his pillow. I never tried to take it from him. He said he would shoot himself if he felt he had to. I felt like that was his option. I didn't think he would, but I knew having the gun there was a comfort to him, as odd as that may sound to some people. He was always independent and had to be in control of something, and at this point, that was about the only thing he could control. We had talked about many things, all the years I had known him. Being there every day, we talked much more. He didn't believe in life after death. I asked him to please give me a sign after he passed. He reluctantly said he would...mostly to mollify me. After he died, I had a dream about him. In the dream, I was in a hospital bed and I was dying. People were standing around the foot of the bed and Ken was at the foot of the bed, but he walked out of the room. My dream shifted then, and I was walking down my driveway. He had given me his truck, and folded up between the side mirror and the body of the truck, was three pages of notebook paper, and on it, writing in pencil. Ken used to write to me when he couldn't see me, and it would be about many subjects...history, investing, football, song writing and writers, songs he had written, and on and on. Always in pencil and always on notebook paper. I started reading it and he said he was sorry he had left the room when I was "dying". He thought I was very brave but he couldn't stand to see me die. (When his cat needed to be put down, I did it....he couldn't, so that is just like him). Before I could read the rest of it, I woke up. I had several other brief dreams about him, but one day, he called me on the phone, and he said, "Why don't you come see me anymore?" I didn't want to tell him he had died and his niece that he didn't like was living in his house, so I said, "You don't live where you used to." He said, "What?!" So, I told him, "Ken, you died." And this is so typical of him......he said, "Are you sure about that?" That is exactly like him. If I told him something he wasn't aware of....he always said, "Are you sure about that?" End of dream. And yes, that could be all my doing....dreams like that, but not long ago, I dreamed about him again. We were talking, and in my dreams, when I dream about him, it is always just like he is really here....so much like him. But, I woke up and I couldn't remember what we were talking about. I wished I could go back to sleep and dream about him again, and know what it was he was telling me. But, I didn't, and when I got up, later that morning, and walked around to the foot of my bed, there was a letter K, in handwriting, at the foot of my bed. It was formed by many little drops of water. No water in the room. No one here but me. One cat....still asleep on the *water. I didn't take a picture of it at first and it started to fade, but I did take a picture, and it is on my phone. I will post it later. *Edited: Cat still asleep on the bed....not on the water...

Darn smoke KRISTINE...Wonderful pics! NEW SUMMER THREAD HERE: [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/doggie-days-of-summer-seasonal-thread-part-three-dsvw-vd~5412219[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/doggie-days-of-summer-seasonal-thread-part-three-dsvw-vd~5412219) THANKS EVERYONE FOR THE GREAT PICS AND CONVERSATIONs IN THIS THREAD!

Carol, very nice rose blooms! YES 90's-97 degrees is hot for your zone Carol... Nanadoll, really enjoyed your photos! What are hops Nanadoll??? Very humid here... Makes the mid to upper 80's feel like its in the 100's...lol Our Julia Child is out front (side) where people can see her so I want those 3 roses in that bed to look there best... MOTH has not disappointed...Plum Perfect needs more time to grow so still being avaluated... Julia Child is now 70% engulfed with Blackspot and dropping leaves at a fast rate....JC also dies way back here after winter.....SO most likely I'll replace JC with a Sparkle and Shine rose and see how that goes...Our neighbor planted a 3-5 gallon Sparkle and Shine in June its already as big as our Julia and it has no BS...SO might just try it next year... Carefree Celebration today... ES with a white streak...lol