mwforbush I was hoping christinmk would respond but she has not been active here for a while. Ornamental rhubarb is one of my favorite plants. I grow Rheum palmatum 'Atrosanguineum' in partial shade and it is a gorgeous big beast. It is one of the first plants to break ground in spring with bright red growth. The foliage starts red then becomes burgundy and finally turning green. The leaf veins are prominent and remain reddish, really striking foliage. Their roots require moisture retentive soil. Mine loses some leaves in the heat of summer but I attribute that to letting it bloom. I highly recommend growing it if you can meet its requirements. I have had mine for at least 6 years.Beginning of May - we had a very wet spring End of May spedigrees my edible rhubarb takes a bit of a beating over the summer too.

Sigh -- it won't grow in NC even in the mountains. It is just too humid in this State and doesn't get or stay cold long enough or ground frozen deep enough as it does in the Northern States, which is what it needs, and it gets too warm in the summer for them. In my research, here and there are a few old plants growing in NC but they are always spindly and bitter rather than sour. Having been raised in Ohio I remember that everybody seemed to have a pass-a-long heritage rhubarb plant and I thought it would grow anywhere. Not so. Sigh -- Sure would be nice to trade some rhubarb stems from zone 4 or 5 for our native Muscadine or Scuppernog grapes zone 6, 7 (best), 8 and 9. I know those grapes can't be grown in the North! Nancy

We aren't allowed to shoot in the Municipality. Canadian, eh. Tonight there were 4 beauties in our pasture. Sigh. I love venison. I have to admit to using a pellet gun to try to kill squirrels. No success yet. And I am not planning to eat them. We used to have chickens and they were marvellous for cleaning up all the bugs. Then the mink and raccoons killed the chickens. Dogs killed our sheep. I'm quite discouraged about animals on our little farm. I'm hoping that we can deer fence with strong enough, high enough fence that will keep the dogs out and perhaps we can get a few rent-a-sheep to keep things tidy. Isn't gardening great though? It is quite an inexpensive hobby that it very healthy and has wonderful benefits. Beauty and good taste.

Ooo..russian sage! I would love some of that! I just posted in the invites thread, then noticed that little "echanges" link. Oops. I am looking for Rosa Rugosa. Not too fussy about color (red, pink, white, whatever) but prefer a repeat bloomer. Otherwise, anything with "lake" or other nautical words in the name-I am starting a theme garden (see thread linked below for list of plants I've come up with to look for so far). anything cottage garden-y or from my list on my theme garden thread I have (nothing exotic, I'm really just starting a garden back up where one was MANY years ago-we just bought the house this past fall): Japanese Quince-red (I know everyone here probably knows this but-its has thorns and spreads via root sucker, so plant with that in mind) glad bulbs I didn't get planted white wild violet rose of sharon seedlings (color unknown, these are volunteers from some very old parent plants on our property) deep purple spiderwort small green hosta with red in the stems (name unknown) possibly some large green hosta if I can split them in time day lily (colors unknown) poppy seed heads lily of the valley Here is a link that might be useful: theme garden plant list thread