pixie_lou: Nice job on the hardscaping in the front of the house - have you decided what you want to plant in that big empty space on the left? nhbabs: Gorgeous pictures! I love the muted colors, particularly the delicate pinks and the morning mist view. Nothing very dramatic here for the end of September - lots of berries and grasses and goldenrod. The cotoneaster along the wall: Volunteer crabapple fruits: Winterberry with Euonymus 'Silver King': Winterberry with Osmanthus 'Goshiki': Miscanthus 'Cosmopolitan' is beginning to bloom, but the seedheads aren't all fluffy yet: About half of the seedheads are open. The birds are finding them. The old forsythia leaves are turning red: The path to the house is getting wilder: The wisteria pseudo-standard keeps trying to extend its reach and I keep cutting it back. I usually leave some vines in the skirt if they're not a tripping hazard. You can't really see them in the previous picture, but the three big Blushing Knockout roses are blooming. Not a huge flush but still pleasing. Sedums with Juniper 'Grey Owl': A few plants are still green. Maybe it's because of the shade but the slugs haven't bothered these. Hosta 'Paul's Glory' with variegated Solomon's Seal: and Hosta 'Northern Exposure': Claire This post was edited by claire on Mon, Sep 29, 14 at 12:41

artemis78, I found your link in my "working" list of threads needing repair, and I submitted it on 2/24. You're right, it's still missing all the photos. :-( Modern California Bungalow Kitchen artemis Oct 2011 Thank you for posting, because I also rechecked the last group of threads I submitted around the same time...and found a few more that are still missing photos and/or text. I've sent a new list to Tamara, to re-send to the tech team folks. I'll keep an eye on the threads I resent today. I appreciate the heads up!

Claire, I tried using a similar system over winter to try to grow a Camelia, but it didn't help. All the leaves around the foliage all winter, managed to produce a fungal problem and it died the next year anyway. [g]. I don't think I have another marginally hardy plant. I have about 4 varieties of Hydrangea and all are supposed to be hardy here in zone 6 but some years I get few blooms from the mopheads, even those that bloom on new wood. I added the 'Little Lime' paniculata last year and I love them. Lots of blooms dependably. I think I prefer the white blooms anyway. I love the purple or the pink, but I've decided I'm not a big blue fan. [g] I'm planning to replace some of my mopheads with more of the paniculatas. If I had enough sun, I'd grow a Crape Myrtle and if I had one I'd definitely use winter protection. I'm surprised you have to cover a Euonymous, I thought they were indestructible and hardy and you are warmer than I am. I've seen something variegated for sale at Lowe's here. Babs, I also hate to buy disposable plants. About the only one I am usually a sucker for are the Hyacinths in late winter. I love the fragrance and I have added them to the garden every time I am finished with them and have gotten a lot of Hyacinths that way. I wonder if I couldn't keep the cyclamen as a houseplant? Haven't tried it before. Or add them to containers in the summer outdoors, if I can keep it alive that long. I normally don't start putting up Christmas decorations yet, but, this year, my daughter gave me the idea. She's going to be away after Christmas so she wanted to get her decorations in early because she won't have that after Christmas time enjoying them. And since we just finished painting the LR/DR, there was the blank top of the DR hutch and one thing led to another...lol. We draw the line at putting up the Christmas tree this early. [g] And it's the darn Hallmark Channel's fault. They run Christmas movies non stop from Halloween on, and I caught a couple and it just got me in the spirit I guess. I just hope I won't be sick of them by Christmas. :-)

I recently posted about damage on my new rhododendrons planted last year, which is severe, on the Az/Rh forum (and this one, I think?). This response from akamainegrower seems to sum it up: "This past winter was the most difficult I've experienced in what is now close to 40 years of growing rhododendrons. Large rhododendrons, some of which were planted at least 30 years ago, were very badly damaged and some, including two large Percy Wisemans, appear to have been killed outright. The 2018-2019 winter followed another very hot and dry summer, so rhodendrons were first stressed by that despite attempts to provide enough water. Then we experienced unusually cold temperatures in November before rhododendrons had fully hardened off. Almost every snow storm ended up turning to rain which then froze into solid ice which does not provide the insulation of snow. Heavy wet snow and ice also collapsed many fabric shelters. Temperatures also fluctuated dramatically from near 0 to well above freezing time and time again. By far the most damaging aspect, however, was the repeated instances of unusually high winds." His summary is what we experienced here. Lots of wind, temps were not dangerous but ice was common. I would never have known that those conditions were so bad. But, I will certainly say I was worried in our dry summer, and very grateful for the rain in fall. If we have a third dry summer, I'm thinking I need to do some deep watering of the established rhododendrons. Interestingly enough, NONE of my older rhododendrons seem in the least bit phased by anything, and they are old. It is just my new ones that are suffering. At last three are outright dead (but I was zonal pushing with those, I'll admit), and several more on the edge, waiting to see what will happen. The non-evergreen azaleas are fine, I hope. Here is the link to my original post. NHBabs, I know you posted on that original thread. Do you have any thoughts? P.S. I think a third dry summer won't be too friendly to my hostas planted in late 2015 and summer of 2016. I assume they're not reaching potential without adequate moisture. Empress Wu still looks more like a eunuch than an empress.