My established one really took a hit last winter with some top kill. It had gotten so tall that I'd planned to trim it back 1/3 so things weren't so bad but it took its time recovering and fully leafing out. All seems fine now and it finally bloomed, 1st time just last week. The small ones died back to the roots, probably all from that one dip down to +3 degrees or some such ridiculous temp. but after April or somewhere there abouts, they came around, whew! Green Cloud blooms more often and heavier than the silver leaf one but I had to take him out (sob) since it was down by the street turning into a giant. I didn't know they got THAT big. I looked at the article, the one called Silver Cloud sounds like the one I'd really want. I'm going to google to see if there's any sources. Its sold locally around here but I haven't shopped plants the whole season outside of the one sale I went to and trips to Farmer's Market. We don't have the variety like you's guys down in Texas. The woman up the street dug all hers out real early. Duh. I did a serious eyeball roll since she didn't give them a chance to see if they'd made it through or not. She replaced them with--of all things--- Stella D'oro (?) Day Lillie's or what ever the heck they are called----Gads! Like all this city needs is more Stella D. L's. like you see in nearly every formal office planting situation.

I will, every so often I see him when walking around the park. I've been out planting my #1 favorite grass, blue grama grass seed + some really narrow & stays upright bluestem seed, 'Blue Heaven' I think, I got from Santa Rosa Gardens a couple years ago. It gets very purple in fall. I took out 'The Blues' since it has a tendency to flop + it gets so big & bushy it doesn't quite have the look I'm after, you know, those nice exclamation marks among the plants. I'm living dangerously & transplanted a Giant Sacaton down by the curb up front that I dug out from my border. I have a whole row of these monsters on the property line separating me from my bermuda-herbicide-spraying neighbors to block off the monkey grass which I hate almost much as vinca major which is also along the border on their side (along with invasive privet of course which seems to be on every property around here). I don't have to look at it past the big grasses. Its just a gorgeous big grass that blooms in mid summer & really catches the light in a dramatic way. If you need to block a view choose Giant Sacaton, especially if you have late afternoon sun on the area. It never needs watering either. I think I like the idea of a sign like this, simple-wimple. This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Fri, Apr 25, 14 at 18:07

Jill, this is a cute story why I'm a Met's fan. My youngest son loved baseball since the womb. lol. When he was 7 (he's now 30) we went to the Mall to a sport's store. He asked the guy for a Met's cap, and the guy started laughing at him because back then the Met's were just awful. WHY my son loved the Mets, I have no clue. But his love never waivered. His classmates always made fun of him for liking the Mets. He didn't care! Then the Mets got really good. A neener neener moment for him. :) Know what I had to do? I called the Met's office and asked them if I could order things from them on the phone. This was before internet stores. I got him not only a cap, but lots of things! He put the Met's license plate on the front of his truck and someone stole it. I was livid.

Thanks, Ruthie. She's an impressive young woman. You can be proud of her hard work, energy and ambition.