Question:"Threedodsmom (waht a cute name!), what is the yellow flower in your fist picture? And I love the lush look in your second picture. I see some dark red in there. What are they?" Answer: standard button garden mum planted last fall, blooming now in July. A happy coincidence ! Dark red touches are Jacob Cline monarda, knockout rose new growth showing, and canna "Wyoming" leaves. Second Question: "Threedogsmom, I have those exact daylilies that are in your first picture - rust with bright yellow - a gift with no name tag. I always wondered but assumed they are just a variety of Ditch Lily. Is that right, or do you have some other name for them?" Answer: They are not the common ditch lilies - you can see a ditch lily in my second pic down, to the right, a tall scape towards the front/right of the bed. You can see more pics in the "poised for lily explosion" thread I started. I do not remember the name of the burgundy and yellow daylilies in the first pic, but they have multiplied very well in just 2 years ! Got at Lowe's.

Really, thank you so much. So many great insights, and the best of all is to clean up the room, and live with it for a bit. My mind was stuck in the 'got to make a decision while the tape/plastic is up' track. It never occurred to me that I could remask--don't ask me why. My only excuse is I'm feeling overwhelmed. I recently moved to Germany, I don't speak the language yet, and the simplest tasks are difficult. The paint store is so foreign. There are about 20 pre-mixed colors (which look universally ugly), tons of white, and little bottles of concentrated color--you get to mix your own colors. I'm sure this is a delight to a real artist, but for those of us who flunked kindergarten art class--it's a challenge. Oh the things I've learned here (wish I would have known the primer trick on the first coat....) NHB room gave me hope that a vibrant yellow can work beautifully. I'll put up some pictures and see how I feel. I'll probably experiment to come up with a soft, universal color to eventually paint the whole house. Another amazing thing is their paint is not washable. It's more like a milk paint that washes off when scrubbed. As the owner of 3 dogs, I do wash walls, so they will be repainted one way or another. In the meantime, I'll investigate the possibility of glaze because I HATE edging so much that I was about to paint everything white. I so liked the fabric choices Les came up with, that I'm going to post my sofa and see if someone can work some magic there. You people are fabulous. I appreciate the help and all the honesty. Walkin-- kak dela? and prost from the Fatherland. I went to a gathering last week and met a number of people from the old Eastern Blok--all old enough to speak Russian and lament that the next generation was going to be divided; in the next breath, cursing the Motherland--gotta love those Slavs. I knew whom it was immediately from your greeting. I've spent the last several years helping take care of my father who had Alzheimer's--what a horrendous disease. I had no energy left to even think about any projects. But, it was all good. I have no regrets, I spent precious time with my family, and my father and I grew very close on a new level. I feel fortunate that I could spend that time with them. I have a feeling, I'll probably be asking for a lot of help. I have acquired a new look: a very contemporary house, I mostly brought things that I wouldn't regret losing, and they are more traditional in style. I guess we could call it modern rummage sale: nothing fits, most of it is a cast-off, and it all needs to be done on a budget. (We had the WORST, most expensive move possible--nightmares upon disaster). So, doesn't that seem like a good challenge for the decorating milieu? I'm glad to see you here and I'd love to see some pictures of what you've done to your place.

I planted mine in the spring. We've had some good hard rains this year, but no overage of water since we were short on moisture this past winter. The temperature outside has been in the 90's the past two days and I am noticing yellowing and oranging on the leaves. Could this be from too much sun? They get all afternoon and evening sun as they are planted on the west side of our house. There are a few brown leaves, but not many. I don't think water drainage is an issue for the bush in the picture as this side of the house slopes down towards the street. I did put a 2 inch landscape border around it and some white rock. So w ondering too if that isn't allowing the water to drain properly.

Thanks so much John. I sure appreciate all your attention. I did think about edema, but it it's supposed to present at first as a kind of blister, or at least an elevated area. These are totally flat, and shine all the way through the leaves. And I'm 100% absolutely sure that it's not spider mites. I'm not friends with spider mites but very well acquainted with them in the past. The tree looked pretty sad when I got it but I hoped with proper fertilizing, light and watering it would perk up. It's not awful looking but I know the blotches aren't normal. It's only formed two new leaves since I've had it and they look the same :-( A friend suggested that it might be a possible mild zinc deficiency? Or mild nitrogen deficiency?