My ivy leafed small light blue morning glories bloomed first and got to about four foot tall. The Early morning, or tall mix got tallest at about ten foot and bloomed much later. Because they needed to be sown after frost I didn't see a lot of difference between my direct sown and winter sown. I didn't use the best soil though and my drainage was bad. This year I'm doing more and will be direct sowing for ease of planting out.

John, I potted every breweriana and put them in my unheated hoophouse and they all died. During one of the coldest days of the winter I looked outside and saw the hoophouse was ripped to shreds. I had shingles fly off my home and rip the poly. I don't believe it was that single (overnight) event that killed them, however. I rushed and brought everything into my basement and placed them all on blankets, however I couldn't water. Lots of combinations of bad. That beech is an interesting character of a plant John and Robin. It's weeping. It's purple for a good amount of time then gradually turns green. Fall color is pretty decent. Beng: 100% agree. Our thoughts are precisely on the same page. Severn, they'll all return. It'll be five years until they look perfect again. Have a nice weekend everyone. Robin email me anytime for your guided tour :-) Dax

I have to thank my wonderful DH for all of that space. Three years ago it was a tangle mess of trash and trees that he cleared with a bulldozer and backhoe - you couldn't even walk back there. Janna, the tree on the left is a plum and the one on the right is a peach - I'm not sure of the varieties - I do hope I kept them on file somewhere. Edna, the water feature is simply a $40 round 'pond' that we bought from Lowes last summer to have water enough for the dog to get into on dangerously hot days. It came with a tiny pump which I have not installed yet. I used to keep fish in my horse troughs all of the time and just overflowed them every other day. That is what I do here and it helps water the plants. I left about 4 inches of it sticking up out of the ground, made a collar of plastic, and packed ten bags of gravel around it to the top edge. This way when I over flow it the water runs over the edge, out and away from the path towards the garden, the gravel gives it drainage so the that the clay and mulch on top does not turn into mush. I will put in a small pump eventually but I have to be out of town for a bit and will probably not be able to get to it for a while. The screen porch is actually my garden room that is off the side of DHs shop. This winter I am planning to convert it to a green house - I'm really excited about that! Annie, all of my beds are lasagna beds - I'm too lazy to garden any other way. As far as the circle goes :-) I have this 'thing' about square and pointed edges around the home. I try to avoid them. I know some of you may laugh but it has to do with flow of energy, positive energy and that kind of stuff. PLUS it makes mowing very easy, just curves on the riding mower, no corners to weedeat. Now I'm looking forward to seeing all of YOUR veggies and flowers! :-)

Hi Dave, Nice show for the Commonwealth!!!! LOVE THEM!!! ALl of your pics look great, I agree with you about Kimo...she is a beauty!! I also love Jeannie Moragne.. OK, all of them are gorgeous!! It is hard for those blooms to hang around with the rain that we have been having, the trees love it but the blooms seem to frop off to quickly. I like it when it stays dry when they bloom, but we cant have it all. Looking for more rain tomorrow too... I have many blooms that looks great, but then the rain comes and they get knocked around alot. : ( Looking good for us here in Virginia!!! We have i think about 6 of us here in Virginia that are lovers for Plumeria!!! Well, they do say "Virginia Is For Lovers... I think We Should Change That To Virginia Is For Plumeria Lovers!!!" Hope You and your family are doing well!!! My K is ready.. should be only a few more weeks now!! : ) Take care Dave, Laura