I have ES growing in 2 different places: one is on the Notrh-East side of the house and another one is on the West-facing side. And they are so different that almost feels like 2 different varieties. This is how ES from West side looks like (it is smaller, leaves are somewhat paler, but blooms reliably every year): And this is my ES from the Notrh-East side. In fact , these are 3 hydrangeas planted in a row. They are much taller, with dark-green leaves and have fewer flowers between three of them than the one growing on the West side. Also, their flowers are mostly hidden in the foliage. These ones get more attention than their sister: they get fertilized with liquid 20-20-20 at least once a month, while the one above gets a handful of granular fertilizer in spring and thatâÂÂs it: This post was edited by green_go on Sat, Jul 26, 14 at 22:24

Ken, While I did have some roses bloom this spring, I did lose some, some had to be cut down to nothing and many are just blooming now. You are a little behind me, being further north and up in the mountains. But I have to say, some roses have really come back strong. I had to cut many way back, my teas were down to the root ball and now most are covered with nice new growth almost 2 feet high. And some other older roses are putting out new canes like crazy. I guess they are happy they survived the winter. Have patience.. and remember, the GGRS show is in October!!!!

Congrats on growing beautiful children! Don't feel guilty about allocating some $$ of the budget to keep your home happy and functioning. When I had my son the Csection went badly and I couldn't function in the yard for almost a year. The only plus side was that house was on a in-town lot and a half with sand-based soil. It wasn't so horrible to get going again as the soil was so loose and the property was small. But, it did break my heart to look out and see weeds, weeds, weeds. When we moved to our current property it was is sorry shape. Nothing had been done with the 2-acre property other than cut the open lawn areas for at least a 4 year period! (When I say "cut the open areas" I mean the cutting a riding mower can do around trees, ditches, etc). The original owner had circled the house with plantings of green hosta, forsythia, and purple iris, with double white peonies alongside the steps. The forsythia had overgrown the windows of the house, the gutter had come off the high end of the house and allowed erosion along the steps (there were no peonies to see at the time...only a waist-deep gully), and knee high grass was present from the landscape timber edger across the 3' "bed" to the house. An orchard of over 20 fruit trees that had not been pruned, maintained (or even mowed) for 4 years. No sidewalks. Just a vast green weed expanse of 2 acres with an orchard of fruit "bushes" inside a meadow and a house with basically no windows as the forsythia covered them. I hired a guy to pull out all of the forsythia, repair the deck, put in a gravel sidewalk, spray-kill the grass in my intended new flower bed, and bring in two tandem truck loads of mulch. I put my efforts into terrace gardening along the steps to get rid of the gully and reclaiming the hostas, irises, and fruit trees. Imagine my surprise when beautiful, fragrant peonies came up in my new terraced rock garden. Apparently peony roots will withstand a lot of abuse as there didn't seem to be anything but brick-solid eroded gully there before! The point of this long story: if its a big project you have to budget between your time, your priorities, and your $$$. We are ALL doing that on a regular basis. Who are we trying to impress??? OURSELVES!!! Feel good at the end of the day! Have time for your babies! Create a beautiful and peaceful haven for your family. Some people can put more of their own time and muscle behind it; others will need to put more of their $$ into a project because its beyond their physical abilities. Its all good if you can enjoy the results at the end of the day...and don't forget to sit down in that nice yard with your loved ones and ENJOY IT (there's where I miss a priority from time to time). A "before" shot, sort of, I had trimmed the forsythia off the windows, put the gutter up, and shoveled the gully wash out dirt off the driveway. An "after" shot:

Argus, it's good to see that you are starting to appreciate some of the "common" vines that grow all around you there in sunny California. Thing about those commoners that appeal to folks over such a large part of America is that they are tough and can provide viewing pleasure in climates where the whimpy fancy exotics can be grown only in greenhouses. Have you checked out some of the beautiful Japanese Morning Glories now being grown. Beautiful blooms in the 5 to 7 inch range, many with really attractive leaves. You are blessed with a great environment for gardening. To really appreciate it, you need to spend a year in a hot, windy area or where the temperature gets below zero with 3 feet of snow------then you will really appreciate the "weedy vines" so abundant in your neighborhood.I'll take 'em all if I can get them to grow in this alkali soil around here!!!