"The plant in your third pic is Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on Fire' (or 'Fire Sticks', I forget). Some call it Flaming Pencil Tree." Thanks! I know very little about euphorbia, cacti, and other succulent plants, so "that one looks pretty cool" is usually the most insightful comment I can make!

I regret that I keep buying passion flower vines and bouganvilla, then have no place for them. I have killed several of these plants because I can't resist them at the store! I regret that my grass has taken over the walking pathway garden, and that I didn't keep on top of it like I should have. I regret spraying round-up on the grass in the rose garden. Almost killed a couple of my roses, and when they finally started blooming 'normally', they were gorgeous! (By then, the grass had begun growing again!!!) I regret planting 7 knockout roses too close together - I could have planted only 3 in that spot! (I should know better than this by now.) I regret not having enough time, energy, or money to finish the beds I have now, as I will certainly start a new one next year, and will have double work ahead of me. I regret having killed a few plants by trying to push my zone, or by lack of watering, or other reasons. I regret that my bulbs I bought to plant this fall are still in my refrigerator. I regret that I have not yet shaped the boxwoods, that I never got around to pruning the trees that needed it, or cut down some of the plants that are out-growing their bounds. I may end up regretting that I planted so many lantana! So many regrets - but I also have so many things that worked well or gave me joy. Such is the life of a gardener! :)

Thank you everyone for your kind comments. Canadian Rose: I love my Chrysler Imperial, but it isn't the most vigorous plant and it doesn't re-bloom as quickly as I'd like, but it is lovely when it does bloom. Yes, mine has fragrance. To me the color in the picture is red, not pink, but in some weather, the red is a much deeper, darker red--very velvety-looking. I'm not sure why your roses don't have fragrance. My Peter Mayle has a strong fragrance, and Elle has a medium strong fragrance. I'm no good at describing fragrances, however. Yes, both Golden Showers and Love & Peace put on a lovely show and I will miss both. Both had some BS problems, though not real heavy BS. I was so sad when Golden Showers got RRD, but after I took it out, I realized that corner of the garden had become much too crammed and now the other plants could spread out and do their thing, so I haven't replaced it--but I really miss it! Love & Peace had such gorgeous blooms but it was always the first rose in my garden to get BS and I'm trying to get rid of such roses, so out it went. Hard to do, however. I'm replacing it with Berolina (yellow) that is supposed to be very disease-resistance. I hope so. However, some people don't seem to have BS problems with Love & Peace, so I'm not sure what is going on there. Kate

Peren.all - Astilboides is one of my favorite plants! I'm a sucker for big leaves :-). I usually cut the flowers down pretty quick as they are a distraction from the leaf display! These Astilboides in our north alley garden bask in water delivered by a (buried under the path) pipe from the end of a downspout at the back corner of the house. The neighbour next door also directs water to them from one of their downspouts. I have another Astilboides elsewhere in the garden that doesn't have a source of extra water and it is pathetic in comparison to these ones: What are you other favorite big leafed plants?