I've mostly gotten rid of my sunflower hedge as it was becoming wildly invasive. The Max's really took off here, apparently loving the clay. I interplanted Silphiums (rosin weed/compass plant), which weren't as bad, but they were thuggish after a few years. Their roots grow very deep. I've left some scattered clumps (aka "giving up"), but I'm watching them like a lazy distracted hawk. Johnny is disliking the Scotch thistle and fuller's teasle I have planted with Poncirus 'Flying Dragon'. Only the hardy bitter orange is perennial, but right now nobody with any sense is coming near that bed, which had a history until now of getting trampled. (We had someone light firecrackers on our porch, so next year the thistle and teasle will be growing near the windows. Johnny already put in cameras.) I've tried grasses, but only the Miscanthus species have done well. There again, one large clump of M. floridus is proving difficult to get rid of. Some is still growing, in mid-air, in the compost. I did plant some along with Arundo donax (giant reed) around the chicken run for shade, the hens can tear both of those up as much as they want. Ironweed (Vernonia) has been a good mixed hedge plant, it's not invasive here. I've had some tall asters do well too. The taller goldenrods have been something of a mistake as they reseed like crazy. Who knew goldenrod could be such a weed? ; ) I've been admiring my still young hedge along part of the back yard this year. I've mixed various elderberries with a butterfly bush, a chaste tree, one of the jujubes, two Decaisnea bushes (deadman's fingers), a short persimmon, and a serviceberry tree. It's coming along fairly well. The elderberries would be less manageable if we had more rain I think. I would have an Illinois Everbearing mulberry too if an otherwise cute groundhog hadn't eaten it. A hedge along part of the front is proving more difficult. I planted a dwarf oak to anchor one corner and hopefully the che fruit trees will continue to fill in part of that hedge. I'm still trying to get something else to fill some gaps (I'm still trying to find something that will LIVE, I don't lack for ideas). Another line of hedge is mostly cherry bushes and assorted other bushes with similar heights with tall flowers in between. Honestly, it looks like a big mess now. I'm thinking I may just go with mulch between the maturing bushes or one very short ground cover. Once the bushes get a few more years on them, it'll look less like a scraggly line of weed trees. We can grow rosemary here, but it never really gets all that large (the largest bush I've seen locally was maybe 3' tall). I think that or Russian sage would be gorgeous. Good luck with the Ceanothus, I keep hoping some brave gardener will try some around here. They do sound tricky. I bought an Osmanthus to try here, I figure it'll survive a mild winter. kent

The Mackenzie-Childs brand isn't "out of business" per se-- the bankruptcy was a dozen years ago, but their wares have never gone off the market. Their line was bought by a firm that had the wherewithal to handle the production and marketing. There are a number of stores, a lovely catalog and website, and department stores like Nieman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue carry the line. The business moved to Aurora long before the designers' farm was sold. (Article about sale: http://auburnpub.com/news/local/updated-buyers-of-mackenzie-childs-property-just-like-other-folks/article_2493296a-70a0-11e3-9080-0019bb2963f4.html) Just because it's a mug doesn't mean that it's meant for coffee. Their enamelware is similar in styling to mid-20th Century enamelware, with the capping rims and all. Graniteware mugs get hot too. It's metal! It's not insulated. It's to be expected that hot liquids will make the mug hot and then cool off fast. OTOH, for glampling and picnics, if you don't want to deal with plastic or glass, what better? Try them for cider, or lemonade cooled in a mountain spring.

I guess I am very late to this thread. I will not presuppose what the value of her show is to others, but I can communicate what I value. I do NOT watch Garden Answer to learn about gardening, per se. Laura is a highly commercial animal, and all of the products she uses are transparent product promotions. I don't know how much she understands gardening outside of the framework her sponsors feed her. She probably understands a huge amount, but I always feel she is reading from a commercial script. It is very clear that Proven Winners is her main product sponsor, and I do see some value in having her catalog their latest products. That said, the main value of her show to me is landscape design. She has a pretty modest property that she has turned into an oasis of small gardens with semi-formal design. She uses a lot of statues and formalisms throughout that really elevate the garden. I guess her co-producer/husband is a landscape designer, and maybe these are his designs? That really does not matter to me, because the main value for me is in seeing how they use space, and just as important seeing how their designs evolve over time. That helps me to shape my own use of my small space. Understood in this way, her channel is a kind of landscape design aspirational channel. It is a place everyone goes to dream about a garden they would like to have but probably will never get. Here is a recent overview video she did showing how their property grew from just under two acres to over seven acres in less than 10 years, and how they created 25+ named garden areas within this space: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlJpdCIKvHs Considering that both she and her husband love gardening, and that they must be getting many/most of their plants and garden supplies for free and make considerable money on gardening videos in this space, it is a kind of dream job for someone who loves gardening.

Connections Puzzle #142 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟨🟨🟨🟦 🟨🟨🟦🟨 🟪🟪🟪🟪 🟦🟦🟦🟨 🟦🟦🟦🟦 🟨🟨🟨🟨 Now look, I could swear I had entered the right combination for yellow, but I guess I didn’t. Never heard of two of the blues, it was a look-up of one of the words that, by chance, led me to a clue of the category.