There should be some extreme punishment for those who still harbor privets in their yards -- like being required to come weed out every last one of the hundreds of seedlings appearing under my trees each year, deposited by birds. I cut out the 12 or so large ones growing here within 6 months of moving in and have noticed, over the past decade, that most of the neighbors have followed suit (except one right next door, whose privets are also infested with oak root fungus and as a result are not only a menace but look dreadful -- grrrr! He also has some highly mildewed specimens of Dorothy Perkins hanging over the fence. I keep hoping these two problems will cancel each other out...). On the other hand, Geranium pyrenaicum "Bill Wallis" seeds itself around with wild abandon and I do not mind -- it blooms wonderfully all winter and spring, then is easily pulled out when it starts to look ratty. It is especially good at inserting itself in vertical rock crevices. "Bowle's Black" viola is also great -- once you've had it, there it is, no effort required. I also like what I think is Freesia alba x leichtlinii which was here when we arrived and gets spread around when plants get moved -- ubiquitous but not obnoxious. As long as the guest stays small, looks reasonably nice, and doesn't bully, I usually don't mind. Free ground cover.

Fun updates all. I've got a bumper crop of weeds too, lazy. Great pics, Jon, love the Eucalyptus blooms, and the action shot with the hummingbird, great stuff. That agave is beautiful too! I've definitely got a bumper crop of lemons and oranges this year, and my first THREE grapefruit fruit, lol, on a very young tree. I do love citrus! I'm having a bumper crop of leaf lettuce (autumn planted) and cherry tomatoes too. Here's the cherry tomatoes yesterday morning. Obviously no frost at my garden yet this winter--quite a change from last winter! Jack Frost and I ripped out the parent plants of these popcorn cassias a few years ago (they were just getting too rangy), but this summer some seedlings appeared and I'm glad I let them go as they're providing a nice bright spot of yellow on the south side of the house. Being winter blooming means they're susceptible to frost damage, but so far this year they've been unbothered. Finally, this Eremophila carnosa emu bush has been absolutely covered in flowers since October, and they're ORANGE, my favorite color. I need to plant more of these! Keep the pics and updates coming all. Happy gardening! Grant

Thanks for looking/commenting Kevin and all. I love that 'Monterrey Frost' agave too, so nice and impervious to the recent cold. Yay. My 'Hercules' aloe definitely has tip damage too. It's been in the ground for six years and has grown a ton--I'm excited to see the blooms and to see that it's finally branching. I'm sure yours will do the same too. Now for something that looks (looked!) bad, and then good. I'm tired of the "dwarf" oleander around part of my covered patio, so this weekend I ripped them out (big job) and replaced them with fifteen rosemary plants, and added 1000 lbs of gravel mulch. I cleaned up the arbor too and planted honeysuckle, which is thriving on a trellis nearby, and I finally added some pavers underneath the arch too. I'm embarrassed about the "before" pic, but with the holidays, a month of houseguests, this awful weather and my work things just got nasty, hah! It took all weekend but now it looks better. Not great, but better. Happy gardening all, keep the updates coming! BEFORE: tired, sickly, abused "dwarf" oleanders and an orange that unlike my others never looked good. Not the open soil under the archway. Shame shame on me, hah! AFTER: not perfect, but better. I removed the sickly citrus, and the oleanders and replaced them with rosemary which does so well here, and has great scent and blooms and color. I also added pavers under the archway and planted two honeysuckles (Lonicera japonica) at each side. Last year I had all sorts of different vines on there--quite a mess. The recent cold snap took care of that so out they went, plus I cleaned up the remaining twigs (tsk tsk tsk).

Hello Hwy66Jan - Welcome to our world! Sounds as if you have a great garden to which you can add many of your own plantings. You are lucky to take over a house and yard that obviously had been owned by other plant lovers! When I moved into my house, all I had were some sickly shrubs, a tree or two (including 4 blue spruces that a previous owner had planted right under the power lines!!) and lots of grass. When I asked the people from whom I puchased the house/yard if they had added any sort of soil ammendments, that said - "Oh yes - RoundUp!!" Wow! The downy grey-green plant you describe sure sounds like mullein to me, too, though I am surprised you found no signs of (now dead) plants with the long flower stalks they get. I have lots of them in the back of my yard. I have some (all of them were volunteers!) that grow up amongst hollyhocks (also volunteers) every year. Mullein can get invasive, but the seedlings are easily pulled up if they grow where you don't want them. A totally care-free, and, in my opinion, worthwhile plant to grow here in Colorado, even if it is a transplant, like most of us. Bees and butterflies also like the flowers, which is another plus for me. If you find out it is some other plant, I would be more than happy to obtain some from you! I live in Westminster; you are welcome to visit my humble garden if you wish to get some ideas of what to do - and what not to do - in the attempt to have a garden sanctuary in Colorado. Holly Here is a link that might be useful: Common mullein