Another hybrid tea is Berolina --a brighter, fuller yellower color than Elina although Elina's creamy color highlighted with a lemony yellow in the center is quite lovely. Anyway, Berolina is supposed to be very disease-resistant also. My neighbor grows the Sunny yellow Knock Out you were considering, and I think hers is very attractive. The opening blooms fade considerably, but the plant as a whole with its combination of sunny yellow new blooms mixed with older blooms fading to a creamy color is absolutely charming to me. She has never complained about it blackspotting, so it must be all right. She certainly lets me know about which of her plants are causing trouble. If you like Sunny Knock Out, I say go for it! It may be the most easy care. Another yellow that many posters praise to the skies is Julia Childs--supposedly has good disease-resistance, but I have never seen one, so I dont' know for sure. But do check it out at helpmefind.com--helpful info. there, if you don't already know about that resource. Good luck. Kate

It sounds like you have had your soil tested. Is this correct? If so, did your lab provide "base saturation" numbers? Base saturation is the amount of each nutrient in the soil within the context of "how much" your soil can hold. "How much" is determined by your soil's CEC. Because you have a soil with a high CEC, your calcium levels may be "good" but they may not be "good enough." If your lab provided base saturation numbers, your calcium should be roughly 68%. Magnesium--which goes hand-in-hand with calcium--should be about 12%. The relationship of these will affect your soil in two ways. First, calcium will "open up" a soil and promote better aeration and drainage. Magnesium will have the opposite effect--it will tighten the soil. Second, if the relationship between Ca and Mg is out of whack, it will affect the availability of these nutrients to the plant. The common wisdom suggests that if your pH is low you add lime (calcium) and if it's high you add sulfur. However, in addition to calcium, magnesium and potassium (and sodium) affect pH. In fact, magnesium affects pH 1.66 times more than calcium. So, in other words, it is entirely possible to have a high pH and still need more calcium. I suspect this is your situation. One indicator is that many grasses (including wheat) are good at foraging for calcium. If you're growing good pasture grass but other crops are faltering, it could be a sign that you have inadequate available calcium. Another indicator is your poor drainage which suggests a "tight" soil. If your soil (mud) builds up on the soles of your boots when you walk in it, this is a sure sign of high magnesium. If your lab did not run a "base saturation test" I would find a lab that does. I use Logan Labs in Ohio, but there are others that will provide the same service. Then, if you find you have low calcium and/or high magnesium, you'll need to address the problem. When, and if, you have to use lime, remember that dolomite lime contains magnesium as well as calcium. If you're Mg levels are high already, you'll want to use a lime that does not include magnesium--Ag lime or calcium sulfate. If you have your base saturation numbers already--or any other information from your soil test--I'd be happy to make more specific suggestions. As an alternative, if you don't have the info and/or don't want to re-run the test, ask around at neighboring farms or an nursery/garden center. They might know the predominating soil conditions in your area and be able to make an informed recommendation. If possible though, I'd start with the soil test. BTW, this test was developed (?) and promoted by the soil scientist, William Albrecht. If you Google "Soil Fertility and Animal Health" you can find much more information about the method. I've also included a link to Kinsey Agriculture which is one of today's leading practitioners of the "Albrecht Method." There's a handy FAQ that provides some interesting information along the same lines. In any event, it sounds like you have a great plot--the soil just needs to be balanced a bit. Once that's accomplished, I imagine you'll be able to grow great crops. Here is a link that might be useful: Kinsey Ag

Cjc45, I had also thought that about the multicolored ones, that the birds carry the seeds and plant them in the wild, but this nursery says these new brightly colored ones are not invasive, and it sounds like others here agree? June, those are almost too perfect! They sure are pretty, and so bright. Those are the color combos this nursery has, but the plants don't look as full or perfect. Olya, I think I may need to try some. My problem is not too much full sun. Ladywingr, I'm also interested in how others are growing them, and is this a bad time to plant them? Will they wither in winter in 9b/10a? Should I just wait till spring? Anna

Snidely, thanks for your help. Thank you for the nice photo of the view of the little arrow you were speaking of. Normally, the files have a blue icon with a crown in it signifying it is a Print Master file. This makes it easy for me at a glance. I am using an older version, one that I had on XP. Perhaps Windows 7 does not have what ever driver it takes for a .sig file. Guess it is just one more thing I have to learn to get used to. The icon for the software on my desktop is correct and I do have all my files in the software that I have created and show up when I need them. I don't understand why there are so many hidden files, or I used have not learned how to find all the file folders. An example would be trying to locate the fonts file folder to add more of my favorite fonts. Each time I go to add more fonts I have to do a search for fonts then, that file opens up. It could be I just don't know how to find all these files. I thought going with Windows 7 would have been easier than learning windows 8, maybe I was wrong. This post was edited by loralee on Fri, Feb 7, 14 at 12:56