Hi @Ingrid-my yarden is a huge mess right now. My soil is sandy, so I am trying to amend the soil by digging holes and dumping kitchen scrap/grass clipping. On top of that, I have a huge mound of soil from the holes that I dont know what to do with.The good news is that I found a place where I can get horse manure..Yay! Will post picture when the yarden(yard/garden) is more "presentable" @thonotorose-I am right behind Disney World, so close that we can see the fireworks and hear the booming noise . @msdorkgirl-I too use too much fertilizer! It is hard to gauge how much to give and how often when it keeps raining on and off. Right now I am experimenting with alfalfa, cracked corn, molasses etc..I spray only when I cannot stand to look at the BS anymore. Right now I am trying out Kirk"s castille soap for BS. Here is another pic..i.I love having what I call "a living bouquet": combination of roses and short growing,everflowering perennial because roses in my yarden dont bloom like those in cooler area, plus the blooms dont last long. The perennials keeps the yarden colorful when the roses are resting.

Keep us posted on your plant experiments (and don't forget to plant stuff you KNOW loves it here too, so you're not too bummed if any experiments fail). :) I've tried Echinacea several times in two different gardens and it always fails by late summer. Several friends and some of our forum members have had the same results, but maybe you'll succeed. We're looking forward to updates both short-term and long term. I've since switched to Rudbeckia instead of Echinacea as rudbeckia loves it here and self sows nicely too. I do love experimenting with other climate plants too, so keep us updated! Have fun! Happy gardening!

Welcome Ivy and greetings to all you Canadian gardeners. If you're setting about planning out your winter garden layout, you can try the GardenSketch app to easily visualize your plans and pick the best one. Free iTunes download till Oct 31st, 2014: http://gardensketchapp.com/itunesdownload Enter the DesignThis# contest for Canadian gardeners - weekly giveaways of $50 gift certificates to a Garden Centre in your neighborhood. Contest: http://gardensketchapp.com/2014/09/designthis-a-garden-sketch-app-weekly-contest/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GardenSketch Twitter: https://twitter.com/GardenSketchApp Here is a link that might be useful: GardenSketch DesignThis# Contest

Hello everyone here. Special hello to my old friend hijole = Greg. Just saw this. I do FaceBook but only because people who I used to work with posted pictures there about our old mill and friends I used to work with. I post pictures of our breakfast meetings every month with the retirees that I set up since retirement. I like this forum best because it's not that personal and revealing as FB. I have sans promised out but had a bad winter season and their just now starting to look good enough to send out. I have a lot of agaves also. I have extra; Agave lophantha 'Splendida' Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor' Agave parryi var. patonii (I think) Agave Americana Variegata I also plan on getting rid of most of my Asclepiads but they are so bad looking this year due to to much rain and me having so much to do this year. I have lost interest in all plants this year and got too much on my mind and agenda . Also that variegated paddle cactus seen in left side of photo.