Oh! They look just like the giant round yews I used to have on the corners of my house. One yew in the yard was removed after we moved in by my very useful DH and I hemmed and hawed and thought about what to do with the others since I didn't want to see DH destroy his back. Well, I finally decided that I didn't want huge bare spots next to the house and have to put something else there anyway. So I went with the major trimming and I really like the result. HERE'S WHAT I DID: I would NOT recommend cutting them back to 2 feet even though eventually they will grow back. The trimming can be done in stages so you are not left with a bare stump. 1) You can cut back the bush hard all over as far as the green goes to leave some green showing. I did this first. Yours look much too tall like mine were. 2) Then, if you look inside the yews, you can see that there is basically a trunk with radiating branches and the green is mostly on the ends of the branches. What I did was to trim off all the lower radiating branches and leave the top of the bush green. The result will be a vase shaped bush. I wanted to make mine narrower to keep off the house siding and because they were blocking the path. The trunk and branches are actually quite attractive and the top can be rounded or shaped naturally or done like topiary if you want. This left a lot of room underneath the bush where I can plant bulbs or anything else. The yew roots don't seem like they are too thick or shallow for other plants. This will let you keep the shrubs, make them smaller, trim them away from the house, and plant more plants in front of them. If you would like a photo, email me and I'll see if I can figure it out. I just dropped in on this forum for a minute, but had to respond. Susan

Hi FlowerLady! and thank you again for your kind and encouraging words. Sometimes we are so busy doing what we do we lose sight of it all! That lovely blue-flowering shrub is Ceanothus Impressus 'Victoria' ("California Lilac") - there are many other varieties and I chose this one for the colour, growth habit and because there's lots of it around here so I know it will thrive. When I mapped out a landscaping design for the front part of our lot which began as 1/2 acre mess of brambles, mint, horrible landfill and rock - I needed a fast-growing evergreen screen for what is now a parking area that can take three vehicles. In three years it grew to 10' tall; it's now 12' tall. In midsummer it is literally covered in those gorgeous blue blossoms (in fact another name for it is 'blueblossom'). Sitting in the rose garden on a warm summer afternoon you can hear the background bzzzzzzzzzz of countless bees as they do their work on those lovely blooms (much too busy to be bothered with anything or anyone else). We love it. It's taken quite a beating this winter with the snow (unusual for this part of Canada where we get more rain than anything else) but it's quite resilient. I would imagine it would do alright in Florida? One of the plus factors is that it originated as a desert plant and is drought resistant; we don't water it at all even during the hottest summers. The shiny leaves retain water naturally and aside from tidying it up a little with my pruning shears it is maintenance-free. Here's some photos for you and a link to read more about it: and this is a close-up of the beautiful blooms (can you see the bee?)

Hi Funnygirl76, There are lots of ways to garden frugally. There's even a frugal gardening forum here at GW where you likely could pick up some great ideas. (There's a Cottage Garden forum too and you might come across photos there of some of those folks' cottage gardens that would give you ideas.) The most important thing is your soil and your location. If you are in northeastern OK, for example, you can grow a lot of flowers that would struggle in southwestern OK. If you have sandy loam, you have a lot more planting options than if you have soil with a heavy clay content. So, first figure out what kind of soil you have. Do the jar test I've linked below and it will help you figure out your soil's composition. Then, do your research on the flowers you like and determine if they can grow in the soil you have. Also be sure you understand which flowers are annuals versus perennials as well as which ones are cool-season bloomers versus warm-season bloomers. You need a balance of both types in order to have a long period of bloom. If your soil is poor and needs a lot of amending and you cannot afford to do the necessary amending this year, then it might be wise to go mostly with annuals your first year and work on soil-building next fall/winter before putting in perennials. You don't want to put perennials into a bed until it is properly amended and prepared for them. Understand, too, the drainage needs of the plants you want to grow particularly if you have soil that drains slowly. Slow-draining soil that holds excess moisture a long time will kill plants like lavender that need excellent drainage. You'll save yourself a lot of money and heartbreak by getting the soil properly prepared and by matching the drainage needs of the plants to the soil you have. Often here in Oklahoma raised beds that are 4 to 8" above grade make all the difference in the world in terms of success or lack of success in gardening. Be sure, too to take into consideration the amount of sunlight that your plants will receive and do not mix 'full sun' plants with 'full shade' or even 'part shade' plants because if you do, some of those plants will never be happy. It isn't hard to have them in the same bed if one end of the bed gets part shade while the rest of the bed gets full sun, but you do have to plan your groupings carefully. Also, do not rely on seed packet or even internet info to tell you which flowers will grow well here and when they will bloom. Some perennials that bloom all summer long in parts of the country that have cooler climates will bloom here in spring and burn out when our heat arrives, so you need to be sure you understand the bloom periods of the flowers you're selecting here in Oklahoma and plan accordingly. Sometimes it can be challenging to blend wildflowers with flowers that are more sedate in their growth habit. Often, wildflowers grow best in a fairly lean soil and can get too big and too rampant and outgrow their space in a humusy, rich loamy soil that is appropriate for many perennials and annuals. I try to keep my wildflowers somewhat removed from my other flowers for that reason. A lot of the flowers you mentioned....foxglove, bleeding hearts, forget-me-nots and sweet peas bloom earlier in the season and do better in the spring down here in southern OK. If you're in OKC or points north, folks who live up there will be able to tell you when they bloom there. To mix vines with annuals, perennials and roses you need to give the vines a fence, trellis or arbor to climb, and plant the vines far enough away from the other flowers that they don't vine all over them and cover them up. All of the following cottage border-type flowers grow well for me here in southern OK and would grow equally well in most of the rest of the state, although some of them might find southwestern and western Oklahoma too hot and too dry. Here's my favorites: dianthus larkspur poppies bachelor's buttons (Centaurea cyanus) sweet alyssum bells of Ireland nasturtiums pink evening primrose (ONLY in its own bed far, far from everything else or they will take over the whole border and yard) yarrow nicotianas (flowering tobaccos, and comes in different heights, some with white flowers some with colored flowers, most are very fragrant) veronica iris chamomile Texas bluebonnets Red Texas Bluebonnet 'Alamo Fire' borage 'Laura Bush' petunias (selection of a native petunia from Texas and, unlike many other petunias, tolerate high heat extremely well) Mexica petunia (a wildflower that grows naturally on the edge of our woods although some varieties are available commercially) Pincushion flower (scabiosa) Hummingbird Sage hollyhocks French hollyhocks (Malva sylvestris 'Zebrina' and 'Mystic Merlin') daturas brugmansias four o'clocks zinnias (many different kinds) butterfly weed Tall Verbena (Verbena bonariensis) celosias hardy hibiscus kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate Cleome amaranths cosmos (many different kinds) sunflowers tansy feverfew clary sage Vines: Moonflower vine (Ipomoea alba, related to morning glories) Morning Glory (Grandpa Ott's, Pearly Gates, Heavenly Blue, Sunrise Serenade, Crimson Rambler, Early Call Mix) Black-eyed Susan Vine Purple Hyacinth Bean Vine Cardinal Climber Cypress Vine Sweet Autumn Clematis (blooms in August Wildflowers that tolerate poor soil and average or below-average drainage: Plains Coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria) Snow-on-the-Prairie Compass Plant Maximilian Sunflower Native Sunflower (many small sunflowers per plant) Indian Paintbrush (cannot be raised from seed and has a symbiotic relationship with grass) Western Ironweed Joe Pye Weed Gregg's Mistflower (part shade) Black-eyed Susan Helenium Purple Coneflower Aster Goldenrod Blue Autumn Sage Butterfly Weed Indian Blanket (Gaillardia) (grows alongside the road here in southern OK in very poor clay and very poor sandy soil) Mexican Hat (Ratibida columimnifera) I only mentioned a couple of herbs, but you can mix almost any herb you choose into a cottage border. I especially like Mexican Mint Marigold (aka Texas Tarragon) and Pineapple Mint in my mixed cottage borders. If you aren't already a member of your city's Freecycle website, sign up for it and check it daily. You'll see people giving away everything from old sheds to tools to rocks, pavestones, bricks and landscape timbers to plants (often...if you dig it up and bring soil to fill in the hole the plants are yours) and even sometimes fruits and veggies when their plants are producing in abundance. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Jar Soil Test

I would grab some plants that are wonderful in Texas like purple or white trailing lantana, cuphea, plumbago, etc. and plant them now. They won't mind being planted in the heat as long as you keep them watered and will give you a nice show this year. They are tender perennials that will probably not come back next year because of the cold. Spend the summer thinking about what you want to plant in the fall. If it was me, I'd get roses (tea roses or china roses, not walmart, home depot, or lowes roses) and blue or purple salvia and some of the nandinas that make berries, preferably the short ones called Harbor Belle nandinas, and a winter honeysuckle (it's a big bush, not a climber). That way you've got blooms from spring to frost from the roses and salvia and blooms from frost to spring with the winter honeysuckle, and an extra bit of winter interest from the berries on the nandinas. Maybe I would throw in a jasminium nudifolium (spelling may be wrong) for more winter blooms and some crocus and daffodils for the spots that the salvias will leave over winter when they die back. To me, that sounds like the perfect full sun bed. Fragrance in the summer from the roses and in the winter from the winter honeysuckle. Blooms all year. With plants like winter honeysuckle and the jasmine that bloom all winter long, you wouldn't even need evergreens for winter interest. If you decide to go in this direction and need help finding plants (that jasmine is hard to find) or picking out roses that will bloom all summer without any pause then email me and I'll help you out. Carrie