It is always fun to pick up where a crazy lady gardener left off! I suspect future owners of my house will refer to me as that :-) One thing you might be forgetting is that all plants are basically green most of the time, so stuff going together is really not that big an big issue. One exception is probably forsythia with pink flowering cherries, but then, I hate forsythia so I may not be seeing that correctly. But on the whole, in the type of project you have in mind, I would feel quite free to go with whatever plants you like. Another thing, a single forsythia can get pretty big so unless you like that garish yellow colour a lot, three of them might be overkill. One is permitted to throw plants in the compost even if they are still alive. Your kids will be safest if you simply teach them not to eat anything from your flower garden, although I have to admit that I have never been able to bring myself to grow monkshood, even though my kids knew the rule (my son could say Euphorbia when he could barely talk because he knew not to touch his face if he'd touched the euphorbias "dis a euphorbia?"). But the list of poisonous plants is astonishingly long and limiting, and if you also worry about what's poisonous to cats you can't grow anything at all, especially not lilies. Do try to beat your weeds before you plant. It's way easier. Karin L

Hello again, mindy ~ Yes,I do agree that losing the stamens' rusty colour made me feel very ambivalant at first (still does, truthfully) because what IS a lily without those telltale stamens! But my lilies aren't viewed closeup. They're all viewed from the road, therefore no one truly notices they've been plucked--plus, the white blooms remain pure white, and it does extend the blooming time. I just hope I'm not causing the plant some sort of distress, or trauma. Now about the delphiniums . . . I'm perplexed. Here, they are almost regarded as common. I've seen what can only be described as hedges of them along fences, 6 to 7' tall, and seemingly neglected because they aren't staked (which they really do need to be . . . we are at 2,000ft elevation and the winds are something else). My guess is that we have this stony excuse for soil. It's a gravel, really. And I do know that the great enemy of delphinium is root-rot due to poor drainage. When I lived in Quebec, our soil was quite clay, and delphinium weren't as prevelent there. But why ANY plant, let alone such a tall, classy one as delphinium would want such poor soil as we have makes me scratch my head (if indeed the ones I see aren't being augmented by compost, like I do mine). I mean, I just had one finish blooming. Before it could even begin to form seeds, I cut it back severely, and now--only about 12 days later--it is gushing out leaves profusely as though determined to send up another spike and bloom again. Here's a suggestion. . . dig a large hole, and at the bottom put about 5" (or more) of stones and plant a delphinium into not too dense a soil above this, so that drainage is absolutely guaranteed, and see if such an obvious effort at good drainage is rewarded. The great challenge is that they love being in moist soil, yet can't stand having 'wet feet'. I water mine every day, but never worry about drainage. What I DO have to worry about is ensuring they get fertilized frequently, because this stony 'soil' lacks nutrients. BTW, have you ever grown a plant called 'Meadow Rue' (thalictrum delavayi)? I'm looking for a baby's breath-type perennial that makes clouds of wee blooms to go between very tall trumpet lilies and floribunda roses. Thanks again for everything, Your friend, Lance

Doubtless much stock is planted without paying much attention to the condition of its roots. If somebody's not aware that deformed roots are a minus, of course they're going to think the plants they've bought were great, if they like the way the tops look. A common behavior when shopping is to pick out plants with big tops. These will also be the ones most likely to be rootbound. "Containerized materials, especially those in gallon sized pots, often have serious root problems as a result of poor potting-up techniques. Potbound plants exhibit circling root systems, which if not corrected become woodier and more troublesome the older they get. Eventually these circling root systems become girdling roots, which can lead to the early death of otherwise healthy trees and shrubs. At transplant time, a more aggressive approach to root preparation can discover potentially fatal root flaws. Circling roots, J-hooked roots, knotted roots, and other misshapen roots can often be corrected by careful pruning. In this manner itÂs possible to remove those root problems before they threaten the survival of your shrub or tree." Here is a link that might be useful: The Myth of Fragile Roots

From further fossicking I've found that this Callistemon is probably C. rugulosus var. rugulosus found on Kangaroo Island.