rouge21 - I like/prefer most of my perennials (other than butterfly bush & baptisia) closer to 2 ft. than 4 ft. since that enhances, rather than detracts, from my property/house aspect & general garden design. Curb appeal is secondary only to feeding the bees, butterflies & hummingbirds but it still weighs heavily in my garden design & execution plans. I especially like Caryopteris/blue mist shrub for it's fragrant foliage + shortness in addition to blooming very late in the season. The butterflies are generally very fond of it. I normally whack my platycodon/balloon flower plants back to about 12 inches this time of year so they don't flop later in the season. It hasn't bothered them over the past 8 years so I figure they'll still give me lots of flowers. I've read they have a taproot and can be very long-lived. I really don't like plants that flop so I tend to whack whatever grows too tall if they'll still bloom following said whacking. They then grow to what I consider an acceptable height of roughly 2 or 2 1/2 feet in height before blooming. This year, unfortunately, some critter is whacking things back for me--I'm guessing either rabbits, woodchucks or the giant turtle I found in my south bed last week. Though I may grit my teeth, I'm generally resolved to accept + enjoy the garden as it is each year and not regret when things don't follow the plan I had in mind. Overall I've achieved the curb appeal I envisioned while also attracting pollinators to the garden. What more could I ask for?

Annalyssa, I am so glad you like The Generous Gardener. Please make sure you look at more pictures of her since I've only captured one aspect of her personality. Before I tell you my feeding regimen, I just want you to know that I am quite ignorant when it comes to roses and I don't have children. Once or twice year I top-dress the soil with compost or manure or even sometimes left-over potting soil (moments of desperation). Once a month (usually April through September for me) I feed my roses but I try to switch things around because I "feel instinctively" this is the right thing to do. So at least one month a year, I feed with Rose-Tone, which is an organic granular product popular in the U.S. When I use this, I water the rose with a hose and count to 50. Another month I will feed with fish or seaweed emulsion. In-between-months I make my roses smoothies. I've always done the Rose-Tone and fish emulsion thing, this is my first year for smoothies. I have had much better disease resistance, rebloom, new growth, etc. this year (but smoothies are only one part of my effort to improve my rose cultivation). I get out a big bowl and add 2-3 cups of alfalfa pellets, some old bananas, that day's coffee grounds, maybe some egg shells, maybe some stuff bound for the compost heap, maybe some of the water leftover from boiling kale or steaming asparagus. I add several cups of warm water and let it soak for an hour two, then I use an immersion blender (add more water if necessary) to make a smoothie. I add a heaping cup to my watering can and fill it up with water. I usually give one gallon of the watered down smoothie to each rose, less if it's a band, more if I "think" the rose needs it. It sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it? It isn't really. I just do it in the kitchen sink while I am doing other chores. And I don't try to do all my roses at the same time. I enjoy pampering them :) Well, that's what I do. There may be problems with it because, try as I might, I cannot be scientific. I am interested in what advice others give you! I'm constantly amazed at how much knowledge the posters here have gathered and how generous they are in sharing it. In common with you, I've fallen in love with Albas this year and have Felicia and Cornelia on my must-buy this fall list. p.s. Thanks, Janet. You're wonderful.

Rosa, Darlow's Enigma is a fantastic tall shrub rose that tolerates part shade and keeps on blooming and blooming. It is a simple white with yellow stamen - Simply beautiful. It has a heady, sweet fragrance, reminiscent of old species roses, but it blooms all summer. It can be trained on a trellis against the house. I Love it! That is one. ~Annie Here is a link that might be useful: Rosa, Darlow's Enigma - photo and info

funny you should ask.... last Sat I found hanging baskets of it at HD. Lush blooming plants at a great price. Today, I went to 2 HD's the HD Landscape center and a local nursery. Not a one! deep sigh, I guess I'll try to divide the plants I have, but was hoping to get them already as thick as I hoped for. Those I bought last Sat. are going in front of some azaleas that are an orange / salmon color with light green foliage and the contrast is pure drama. se levie! c