Your second question: usually, compost is primarily decomposed plant material (plant material broken down by bacteria, fungi, et al.) and manure is primarily animal-digested plant material, i.e., animal dung. Let's ignore the phrase "green manure" for the time being... ;-) But, as michaelg says, it all ends up more or less the same thing (makes sense, having all started as plant material). Manure is the more dis-assembled form of plant material, has more available nitrogen. But, home composters might throw manure into their compost pile mix to liven things up. "Soil amendment compost" derived from residential green waste might also contain decomposed animal materials (we are urged to throw bones and meat scraps into our "green bin", the contents of which are ground up at a composting facility). Commercial soil amendment products based on compost might also contain a small percentage of animal manure or other animal products: bat guano, chicken manure, feather meal, etc. So, "compost" products may in fact be a combination that also contains manure. What's in a commercial product is always listed on the bag. This post was edited by catspa on Thu, Jul 11, 13 at 14:54

Like Joespider, I was wondering about the heights in your new bed. I alway list height and bloom season when I am planting a large group, but only worry about colors if I think I am going to have too many reds or yellows close together. I like a variety of color. I have a bed that is 125 feet by about 8 feet, and the section shown here outlined by the posts is probably 16 feet by 8 feet. It might be a lot of daylilies in your new bed if those roses are going to bush out a lot, but I bet you could get most of them in there. Since this picture was taken in 2007, I now have at least 15 daylilies in this section, plus some other stuff. It will be fun figuring it all out! Vickie

So, Ive been lurking on this forum for about 3-4 years, and finally decided to come out and put my 2 cents in. Im a california native who came to new england 12 years ago. A yankee gardener is somebody who waits all winter, looking at barren frozen ground, for the first signs of life to appear. My parents took a trip to holland when I bought my house 4 years ago, and they gave me a house warming gift of several hundred bulbs. Today, my daffodils broke through the ground, crocuses are up, and Im ready to don my work boots for the always to short gardening season in new england. To me, a yankee gardener is one who waits for the ground to thaw so we can rejoice in digging in the soil to try and move the rocks and boulders and make way for a short season of edible plants and beautiful flowers. Peace to all PS your quirky personalities have made me chuckle over the years...thanks

Took me a while to find this posting as well as bneing able to log in. Now almost 12 months later and I am in the suburbs of Far East Gippsland. Gradually making progress in what was a non gaRDEN. been here two years. Love those natives,but will take a few years to build up the stock. Always sticking cuttings in, some successes. Errinunda Rain forest = ferns, waratahs, not far away. Marvellous coastal heathland, lots of flowers in bloom and ground orchids in surrounding forests. LOve it.