Thank you so much for your warm comments. Reading them is the ideal way to wind down after all the hubbub. A2Z, the key roadside plants are 'Nearly Wild' rose, penstemon, shasta daisies, catmint, thyme, salvia, scabiosa, catanache (Cupid's Dart), 'Pawnee Buttes' sand cherry, and echinacea. There are also some oriental poppies and Siberian irises. I am adding more shrubs such as a groundcover honeysuckle, dogwoods, 'Summerwine' ninebark and 'Drift' roses. Next year I will also try some rugosa roses or something along those lines. The garden really is a mishmash collection that allows survival of the fittest. I am certainly not attached to any particular plant out there, and the whole thing just evolves over time. I would like it to be more shrubs and fewer perennials though, because deadheading it and cutting it back are daunting tasks. Next year I will sink some time into adding shrubs. (There are more photos of this garden in the first 'combination pics' thread from June). The clematis on the arch are 'Perle d'Azur' (2005) and 'Comtesse de Bouchard' (2007). I selected them for their later bloom so that things would be interesting in late summer. The arch is metal and was from one of those junky-type antique stores. Yes, I think it's 5' wide. Some day relatively soon it's going to collapse. You should see it sway in the wind. I have to cut back the clematises in order to preserve the opening in the archway. Otherwise they would join hands and seal the whole thing off! It's very pretty in the winter too - I cut about 2/3 of the clematis vines off but leave enough for some winter interest. We put sunflower heads on it so the birds have an easy place to eat (away from the cats). Mollie, the tour was organized by a local arts center. We were on the tour in 2007 and they had been asking me again for a few years now. I hope they don't ask again anytime soon. I need a enough years to pass so that I can forget about how stressful this was! I think I'd rather help out by being on the selection committee or contributing in some other way. I did learn things! The coolest thing I learned was all the types of native bees that live here. That was the highlight. I also learned that I need to use my compost, particularly in the greenhouse which is ailing this year. So yesterday I put down a 4" layer of compost throughout the whole greenhouse. Another visitor suggested I use straw as mulch in the raised beds, and I'm definitely going to do that. I hate spending money on mulch so straw is perfect and cheap. Oh, and back to the bees, I learned to use sunflower stalks as wintering habitat for them. DH did once consider making the sculptures as a profession. But the idea didn't resonate with him, I think because the sculptures don't have a function. The bicycles are a much better fit for him and use all the same skills. But thank you for the vote of confidence! Thanks again for being by my side (virtually) through the whole thing. I am still looking forward to regaining all my energy and it's great to have an 'empty' to-do list!

Oh absolutely, Melissa. For me, this was really the first year I consciously attempted to plant particular food plants for insects - a rather good wheeze since it excuses my untidy allotment, gives me a reason to grow very easy flowers, cheaply from seed and fully justifies leaving numerous weeds about the place....and I am pleased, both aesthetically and ethically with the results (apart from the tattered broccoli). Having a green manure moment too. This has actually been a desperate summer for our butterflies - an absence of many common types such as the common blue, skippers and gatekeepers - although s couple of fritillaries and hairstreaks have been brought back from the brink. Not the Wall butterfly or the Duke of Burgundy though- butterflies of my childhood, practically vanished.

It kind of looks similar to spider mite damage to me also, but I was going to wait to weigh in until someone closer to your area did so first. But they didn't, so I will. Spider mites won't go away with just one spraying now and again. It takes a timed routine to break their reproductive cycle. Depending on temps, they reproduce a whole generation in between 3 and 5 days, and the trick is to time the second spraying to get the new generation before new eggs are laid by the ones that hatched after your first spraying, so you need to spray a second and maybe a third time, right at that point. Between 3 and 5 days apart -- 5 days if it is rather cool out, 3 days if it is hot. Most easily available spider mite sprays do not kill the eggs, so this repetition is necessary. There are expensive sprays available (only by mail order) that do get the eggs, but you are talking about a major financial investment if you go that route.

Yeah this is really good - makes it much easier to use. Kudos for getting good stuff into the database, too! Sara