Thanks for your kind comments, everyone. Also, thanks for helping me learn how to post multiple images. Here are a few more blooms from tonight. Scapes are everywhere, so it will soon be time for daylily shots. This is another favorite peony - not fully open yet, but I couldn't resist. This is the single or anemone type of bloom on 'Bowl of Beauty.' Another rose I've grown forever, the oldie 'Tiffany.' ( HT) I also love Japanese maples - wish I had more room to grow them. Several have grown in big pots for several years. This is 'Green Hornet.' In the bird house on the fence behind, we have 4 bluebird babies! I'll be gone next week to National and hope they can make it and fledge. Will be worried about them while I'm gone. A favorite Heucherella is 'Stoplight.' ( the one in the middle.) It was showing its veining tonight. My bearded iris don't have many blooms in comparison to last year. Next year should be better! I thought the drought had killed this Japanese maple last summer. It survived,although I had to trim a bunch of branches. This is 'Orangeola.' This is "Little guy" almost covered up by plants in a shady corner. Last shot: This iris has the same name as a daylily. This is Honky Tonk Blues.

I built 2 raised beds and filled them up with dirt this spring. One was for veggies, and the other was an extension of my partly shaded flower bed. I was late starting my tomato seeds and then the near triple digit heat in May hit. I've picked one grape tomato so far this year. The rest were split or stolen. I had 2 large green tomatoes, and yesterday I noticed that the squirrels must have twisted them off the vine and carried them away. My squash produced a few blooms and then got scorched to death. I planted potatoes for the first time, and I did have a pretty good harvest. I also picked a few cucumbers. My cannas and elephant ears never did come up this year. I usually cut them off after the first freeze, but I didn't last year. My guess is water/snow/ice collected in the stalks and turned the roots into mush. It seems I remember it got colder last winter than it has in many years as well. I planted a bunch of lily, iris, and canna bulbs in the new raised bed. Maybe 4 lilies came up. I think the squirrels dug up the cannas. I'm too depressed to even try to see what happened to the irises. After languishing for a few years, it looks like the gophers finally killed off my rose bush. It has been a great year for them. They've been in my flower beds and another hosta literally disappears each night. They've been celebrating in my fescue lawn as well. I've been on vacation this week, cleaning up and assessing the damage in the early morning hours. By 8 a.m., my shirt is already sticking to me. I planted a couple of knock-out roses I got a good deal on. I wrapped poultry netting around the roots and flooded all the gopher tunnels I could find. I purchased about $35 of starter plants and seeds on eBay just now trying to replace some of what I lost. They'll have to be babied the rest of the year and maybe grown in containers and overwintered inside. It can't stay this hot forever, can it?

I felt it up here in Allentown, PA. I thought the cats were just being extra crazy, because they were running around. Okay, and I might have taken a percoset for my knee and been a little dizzy anyway. I didn't even KNOW about the earthquake until my brother texted me and said "Hey. Heard about the earthquake. You okay?" Apparently, my mom (in MN) was freaking out because she tried to call me a million and a half times but I had my phone on silent because I took a nap, so he texted me. One of my friends is from CA and was like "Huh. There's an earthquake. Hmm. Thought I'd escaped that." ~ Kit

Colld - You are awesome! Thank you so much for letting me know where to find the Virginia Mist and Jet Mist. Basically I think I need to work backwards - start with the supplier and then find a fabricator who works with them I guess. It sounds like PMI is great. I looked up the stones you mentioned and they are gorgeous! I have never seen the Giallo Matisse - totally beautiful. Will you do them in a different finish? or keep them polished? Eastcoastmom - who did you use to install? Are you in Philly, too? What stone did you choose? I think I need to schedule a babysitter and then do a day long trip of driving to these places. They are probably 1 1/2 hours away from where I live, but well worth the trip if I actually find something I like. I'm completely confused now that the KD said I couldn't pull off Virginia Mist. So I guess I have to rethink everything, even if I go back to VM as what I want. Thanks everyone for all of your kind words and advice. This forum is SO helpful to me right now!