Anyone have pics of any other Star Wars or Star Trek hostas? STAR TREK / STAR WARS GARDEN Abiqua Moonbeam Aurora Borealis Battle Star Beam Me Up, Scotty Captain Kirk Captain's Adventure Crater's Heart Dark Star Dark Vader Darkside Deep Space Nine Dilithium Crystal Dimension X El Capitan Enterprise First Mate Galaxy Galaxy Light Halley's Comet Lost World Lunar Orbit Moongate Flying Saucer Mr. Spock Northern Comet Northern Lights Northern Star Orion's Belt Outer Limits Outer Space Paradise on Fire Planet X Radiant Star Rosedale Black Hole Sky Dancer Sky Kissed Skylight Skyrocket Skywalker Skyward Solar Energy Solar Flare Space Odyssey Space Station Spacious Skies Spock's Ear Star Light Star Bright Star Ride Star Struck Star Wars Starboard Light Starburst Stardust Stargate Stargazer Starship Staying the Course Super Nova Tiffney's Darth Vader Time Tunnel Voyager Vulcan Vulcan Vibes

I am trying to understand why you want to view garden pictures on a tiny phone screen, when I can see it much larger on my PC. How can you appreciate nature on a tiny screen? I have a fast DELL PC and RoadRunner Broadband, no problems here. We happily got rid of cellphone plans many years ago, now have Tracphones only in our cars for emergencies. (In my past work life I was in high speed controls). Bernd

Three hostas have shown excellent slug resistance in my yard (I do not use any slug bait at all): Halcyon, June, and Blue Ivory. All three of them also tolerate a good amount of sun in my yard; however, when I gave some of them to a relative who had them in full sun (with almost no watering, I may add), only Halcyon still looked decent, but lost its blue color (turned green). Therefore, even though there are many slug-resistant hosta varieties available now, it is unlikely that such shade perennials would do well in full, scorching sun. (On another note, a blue scabiosa pincushion flower is doing wonderful in the relative's yard -- its flowers are kinda cute, but the foliage looks too weed-like to me.) You might have better success with astilbe--with regular watering. For a full sun location such as yours, I would suggest sedums (stone crops). They are sun perennials that can tolerate a good amount of drought, and definitely love the sun. Some of the taller ones would hide your wall. They bloom late in the season and therefore look good up until mid-fall. Autumn Joy and Autumn Fire are tried and true in most yards, and they multiply very easily from divisions (if you start out with just 4-5 stalks per spot in the first year, you will have nice-looking plants the following year). Some of the others would likely be munched on by rabbits and other furry critters. Another possibility for you might be the groundcover roses. They are short, love sun, and don't need much watering once established. Some of them are said to be disease-resistant, but that doesn't always hold true. In my experience, it's a hit or miss...some are plagued by powdery mildew or black spot, which can be treated with regular spraying, but some of us don't like that much maintenance. I think trying one would be worth seeing how they do in your yard, but give them 1-2 years before dismissing them. If you do end up liking them, you might not even have to buy a bunch since some of them seem to spread/root easily. Also, there are shorter varieties of spirea bushes that should do quite well in your yard, although their blooms aren't necessarily as showy. Gold Flame and Gold Mound are two of my favorites, and they are pretty much maintenance-free once established (although they will appreciate watering after the first year too, if you give it). Lastly, you can also try coreopsis (tickseed) and some dwarf weigela varieties such as My Monet. I don't have any personal experience with them yet. From what I've read, the tickseed is a tough plant, and there are many colors and patterns available now. I'm not sure just how sun tolerant and deer resistant the weigelas truly are, but think they do well in full sun with watering. Hope this helps. Hopefully no one here will mind me suggesting other plants. As much as some of us would love to have hostas, some of us just don't have enough shade for them. I've gone through several before finding the three that work for me. All others were sunburned and/or torn up by a combination of slugs, rabbits, and deer, which was quite frustrating so I do understand this person's reaction to them. For me, it has been worth the struggle to find the few hostas that have made it through all the abuse because in my yard everyone likes them the most. That said, I would definitely encourage people who are turned off by slug damage to try some of the resistant hostas. If you can't find the more "fancy" ones locally, try ilovehostas.net (excellent seller). You will generally only get 1-2 eyes when purchasing some of these beauties, so be prepared to wait a year or more for them to grow into nice mounds.

Answering on two fronts here: First, runktrun, hi, ladybug!....If you like a print catalog with some very upbeat writing in it, go to www.plant-delightsnursery.com and you'll find some good reading. You can order back catalogs, I love the cover art, and they go trekking around the world on plant hunts. This harkens back to the Victorian days when explorers brought home gems of the plant world and did fantastic things to the countryside. Now, I quote from this topic: "my lust for a bargain wins. I already mentioned somewhere I bought 1000 muscari from Van.E at 40 percent off. But I give myself credit for not buying the narcissi they had left because I just wasn;t crazy about them. They arrived in 24 hours!!" Was it idabean who said this? Oh wow, I love muscari and think you must too. Down here (yes, we are now back in south Alabama for the winter) I have some variety of muscari in a dark green border around much of my tropical flower beds. But I think one can never have too much muscari.