LL- thanks. I'm not sure what I'll put on the gate. There's not enough room for a rose, so for now I have an allamanda, but it's not hardy here. I've been thinking that when it goes, I'll replace it with a jasmine. I've not been to the cottage garden forum for a while. I need to go check out that thread. professorroush - I am quite embarrassed and am hanging my head low. The red rose in the 2nd picture is (whispering now) a... knockout. The peach rose in the third is the mini Carnival Glass (same fence, different bed). You see, when I started gardening I started with knockouts, moved to other moderns, and finally on to OGRs. (I'm a 'backdoor' convert.) My OGRs are quite small and I have no "garden" pictures of them yet. Still explaining....I never SP (if it lives, it stays), but as my moderns and HTs pass on, I'm replacing them with mainly OGRs. Well, I hope everyone forgives me for posting a knockout on the Antique Forum! I didn't think about it until too late! (Walking away sheepishly now.)

I put cleome with mine last year and they did great together. Also I ordered from swans last year and the tubers were the best, and they overwintered the best out of all my tubers. Cindy

Laura, I think that a lot of us have had cosmos that were nothing but jolly green giants with no blooms at all. Research I've read says that a big reason for that is because cosmos needs short-days to bloom well. If they're started early enough, they will bloom in late spring, and keep on blooming through the summer. But, if they are just hitting their stride in the long days of June and July, they will refuse to bloom much, if at all, until later when the days get shorter. I don't really know how important the fertility issue is. ThinMan Here is a link that might be useful: Short-Day Bloomers

Now see, Katy, I think I would prefer the shades of blues and purples of the Endless Summer to pink. Perhaps because I am used to purple asters being everywhere, mixed in with yellow mums, and the purple/blue doesn't strike me as being as discordant as the pink. Claire's got some good ideas too, about companion planting - and of course, the clear blue skies, too, lol. ;) I've been paying closer attention to the seasonal displays on the houses around here. Many people in my neighborhood don't really "garden" here - they have landscaped yards, so I look to see what they have done with, say, the front steps. Gone are the impatiens and geraniums and sweet potato vines, and in are the mums, pumpkins, cornstalks and hay bales - and no sign of pink, for the most part, lol. That being said, I really am absolutely reveling in my cosmos! I have Picotee and Daydream, and Seashells, and Purity which is a glistening pure white, and also some gorgeous deep, dark, almost magenta color, and they really look wonderful. I just have to stand right in front of them and not look past them or to the sides to see the yellows and oranges of the trees, lol. Planning. I'm convinced that that's the ticket. Doesn't mean I'll necessarily do it, lol, but that is the answer. I've got to stop my plopping ways and put some more thought into the entire bed(s), not just putting two plants that look good together, and two more over here, etc. Claire, that Eastern Wahoo is truly spectacular! Thumb away! :) Dee