Wow! Thanks for all the advice. Yes I have heard that Angel Face is susceptible to black spot, but it seems to do very well here in Perth - maybe because it is so hot and dry here? And we get many hours of warm sunshine in the day. Luckily, I picked mine up super-cheaply and they look extremely healthy (for now!) so I'll see how I go. If I have to shovel-prune them, it won't be too much money down the drain. I just love the blooms and the fragrance, so fingers crossed! I'm going to look up all the combinations everyone suggested, but they all sound great and in keeping with my theme. Thanks so much! When I get everything in, I'll have to post a couple of photos, to show you how it all worked out. I had a bad car accident 3 weeks ago, and my back is a bit sore, so I'm pacing myself - a couple of hours every two or three days. The planting is so rewarding, I'm really enjoying it. I've got a row of 9 standard Seductions, planted with John Clare. Catmint to go in front. I've got a row of Pittosporums (screenmaster) screening another low wall. In front are Windermere, Molineux, Abraham Darby (plus waiting on Leonardo Da Vinci), dwarf lavender, pink and white daisies, mauve nemesia. I've got a Pierre de Ronsard on a wall near my front gate, with a bed of small cottage plants in front (stocks, foxgloves, violets etc). I'm going to put a thornless climber up amongst my wisteria. I have an old bed with a couple of camellias, azaleas and a fuschia for a bit of winter colour. I'm getting 3 garden arches, and I will train over them Zephirine Drouhin, Kathleen Harrop and Lamarque. It's spring here now, so I'm hoping that by next spring and the one after, it will all be really established. Thanks again.

My Clerodendrum trichotomum is lovely, but I'm beginning to regret its introduction to my garden. I have one that is a single stemmed tree form, as opposed to multistemmed. Right now it is about 16' tall and in full carmine/turquoise flower. Gorgeous. BUT - this tree must drop a thousand seeds and I swear each one germinates. They are in the lawn, between the pavers, all around the ground below it. I've created a weeding nightmare. On top of that, this year the tree has started sending up suckers up to 20' away from the trunk. One day nothing is there - then it seems like the next day the sucker is a foot high. So far, I like the tree enough to put up with it. But the negative side is starting to mount.

What's in a common name?? I'd associate Flame Tree in nQ/ cQ at least, with the native Brachychiton acerifolius which lights up hillsides around Airlie Beach spectacularly. And that's not even touching on the naming confusion between true Yellow poinciana (Delonix regia var. flavida) and Peltophorum pterocarpum, which is labelled yellow poinciana *all the time*, and yellow flame much of the time. There's a large Cassia javanica at the fledgling Mackay botanic gardens which has its toes in the lagoon and looks magnificent......a couple at my husband's office suffer from car park conditions and are forever dropping limbs. But the seedlings come up in leaf litter in numbers, maybe you've succeeded in germination by now.

It makes a big difference whether you are thinking in terms of a typical yard in the city as opposed to a restoration/maintenance of an undeveloped natural landscape. I am against planting imported species that are well known offenders anywhere. Right now I'm looking into Russian Sage, for example, since that came up recently and I hadn't thought about it in regard of invasiveness in the long term. I'm disinterested or bored with sterile hybrids or exotics that are produced and marketed as bedding plants based flower size, form etc but don't believe they are a threat except in the fact that people seem to prefer these sissy plants-- the result being more and more are being added at the expense of regional natives which I would rather see more of. The result is boring, unimaginative and extremely artificial -- each part of the country looks much the same as the next in so far as gardens are concerned. It is as if they all sprang out of a Home Depot, Lowe's or Walmart which I find creepy and more than a bit ridiculous. Knockout roses come to mind. On the other hand, some named native plants have also entered the trade providing a 'this plant is acceptable as an appropriate garden choice' nudge encouraging people to plant natives so I am, currently at least, thinking of this as a good thing. Reduced size, leaf color or other attributes seen in some named 'improved' varieties of switchgrass, bluestem, native shrubs etc are examples. Some of these plants in their natural state would overwhelm an average yard, two good examples are switchgrass and lantana. On the other hand, it would be too expensive to attempt a restoration project of any size with such plants so again its a matter of choice when planting an attractive yard in the city as opposed to restoration/maintenance of a large scale acreage where seeding with native species would be desirable. A city yard is an individual thing and should look interesting, compliment the home and be at its visual best as far as plant selections are concerned but it is by definition an artificial situation and can never be otherwise so I take that into account. Does it have to be native? No, but if you are claiming to have a native pocket prairie or a native landscape I think it should be predominantly native, say at least 95%? Invasive is often used in the wrong way but the term can sometimes be used appropriately when referring to a native species. Its usually a matter of a serious imbalance such as what has been called the 'green glacier' of cedar trees taking over the prairies or deer populations left unchecked.