Hi d_giffin, thank you so much! I like the white peonies very much now. Yes, sometimes mistakes can make it better! :-) George, I want to first of all tell you how much I really appreciate you giving me all the advice! Thank you! You know, I actually realized that I might be overcrowding these paniculatas. However, I did it anyway, thinking that I might be able to severely prune these lovelies every year to keep their size down, and more importantly, I did it for a selfish reason - I know that this is not my forever house, and I probably will only be here for a few more years. I wanted to enjoy these paniculatas and so I just planted them there, realizing that they may not be fully grown before I leave... ouch! I hope that is not too selfish. You know what? The worst thing is that someone or myself will need to chop down the shrub(s). The physocarpus is Summer Wine, which is actually supposed to be only half the size of Diablo and Coppertina. So it is much more compact. The crabapple is supposed to be about 12' tall when fully grown. Yes, it may create some shade, but with crabapple, the foliage is not that dense so it should not be too much of a problem. The neighbors' shrub was always a mystery to me, until recently! They did not even know what it was - they just planted it there several years ago!!! Anyway, it's a lilac... yikes! It might get big. The thing that gets me is that the buds get eaten by the deer every year before they bloom! Sigh... I am going to advice my neighbors to prune it hard every year! LOL Anyway, if I do want to move the Limelight, since it was in a 5 gallon pot before and this is its 3rd season now, how deep and widespread should I expect the roots to be? I want to make sure that I will dig carefully just so that I won't damage the sprinkler system. The trouble is, if I did move it, I am not sure where to put it then... Hey, George, if you remember, I already removed the Pink Diamond from this bed to another corner after your advice last fall!!! :-) Thanks again!

Hey NC, Your plant looks fine, just do not start fertilizing her too much. As for my plants yes, the reds are turning darker, the yellows that are suppose to have red veining or red colors like Ruby Gold from Oz, Sherbert Town, Firestorm from JJs, Penang Peach, Lava Flow start to develop their reds. Up until the heat wave Sherbert town was solid Yelow, Jackie was solid Yellow, Kimo was more yellow now pink and orange, and Musk rainbow is loking more purple around the edges. So your plumies fine. As for Sheer Beauty that is another one I had 2 of, one from the source Anucha and another one from a friend who I think got it from BBB. Brad does have Sheer Beauty from time to time so you need to check out his site as it sells out quickly. I ended up getting rid of both of my SB as they did not perform well, did not look like its pic, save your money NC. JL Dane is another one that does not peform well.... So save your money. Get a purple Jack or a JL Golden Pagoda before Dane or SB. Golden Ray from JJ's is also nice and will perform to a degree in cooler temps and if you get in to the mid 80s plus GR is a stunner. Ok hoped that helped.

1Kgrace345, I kept going back and forth pondering over getting a Presto canner or the All American...I really could have gotten the Presto many years earlier, but I wanted to save my money and just wait. I have two mirro canners that I have had since I was married in 1970 that my grandmother gave to me that she used and they were literally falling apart. The handles were gone, and they no longer had handles to replace them, so I was having to lift the pot by the hot metal...last year I burned my hand really bad...but I kept on canning. I just bought those new gloves made out of well, what ever that is...my brain just backfired...I hate when that happens...darn it. My husband (behind my back) took them both to the dump...that made me really MAD because they were my grandmothers, and I would have like to have kept them for old times sake, anyways. But, he bought me this new one today..and I just about had a flying flip when he said we were going to town to get one...I got ready faster than lighting! I understand how you would still feel like you were a proud parent of your All American, lkgrace!! LOL If my husband wasn't looking at me on the way home I would have petted mine...LOL!!!

This is very exciting for you! I retired just a year ago and like RubyClaire I decided to take that time to just get used to my new life and its different pace. Some things that I couldn't wait to do now don't have the same appeal and other things have taken their place. I did minimal gardening over the summer just maintaining but not changing much in order to thoughtfully decide what exactly I want. Same for many other of my hobbies and interests. The best part for me is that I can spend large amounts of time doing things that I want and not having to cram them in evenings and weekends. I'll be doing a lot of experimentation trying new things and see where they go. I'm trying to thoughtfully enjoy the things I do, sometimes a luxury in my hectic, high pressure working years. If something isn't working for me or I don't like it enough I can take it out of the equation. I need to be mindful of that - not always easy or automatic for me. Enjoy your new adventures and have fun with the planning phase!