They don't have Rain Parade any more, as I scrolled through their tulips. I've bought them 2 different years. The fringed ones usually don't come back but this one is in a bed facing south. The pretty golden color faded to off white. I'm really sorry they don't have those. They have an 800#. Maybe you could call them and ask what they have that might be comparable. These naturalize, and I would think those of similar colors and shapes would as well. I think they are Darwin and Triumph so maybe you can make your own mix. I don't see a good red there tho. I kind of like the Purple Moon or Blue Moon collection, then fill in with others. Miserable rainy cold but more bloomed and they were glorious. Good luck.

Pinus strobus is white pine. This one can stand a little bit of wet feet. Most conifers do not like wet soil, their roots will grow shallow along the surface of the soil, being a pain, and also making them susceptible to getting tipped over in a high wind storm. Exceptions for your zone are hemlock, white cedar (arborvitae) and tamarack/american larch. Cedar and larch don't make good shade trees although I think both are gorgeous. Hemlocks do eventually, if you trim the bottom branches, but they are slow growers. That's why I recommended white pine. I worked at a camp that used it extensively for reforesting, and it eventually makes a nice shade tree if grown out in the open. Doesn't like wet soil, but is tolerant and hardy of both wet and dry, and shade. There are other trees, but I'm partial to natives. You could grow cottonwood or other poplars, but a lot of folks don't like the fuzzy seeds they produce. Maybe you could get some seedless ones, but I don't see this tree often in local nurseries. Most fast growing poplars die fast too, so they might be good to plant quick until the other stuff gets going and then use as firewood. Ash is also a good fast growing tree, but they are having problems with european ash borer so I'd be a little cautious on that one. American elm was once a preferred tree for this kind of application, but dutch elm disease did it in. I've heard there are resistant varieties out there, depends on how adventurous/experimental you want to get.

Hi H/W, Yes, skeeters are literally a pain. We have a salmon stream running through our property and there's a still pond part of it where they hang out and party in between taking chunks out of me for their dinner (husband never gets bitten). I am really personally opposed to DEET etc. and that definitely curtails my evening outdoor activities. There's some times when they seem to be worse. We have fish in the constructed pond that seem to take care of them and that is also moving water. We got one of those electric wasp things you hang out on the deck and it zaps a lot of wasps and a few skeeters. Every window in this house is screened and that helps too. The expense and bother of a fence were the very LAST thing we wanted to do. Since we plan to stay here we see it as an investment; we either forget gardening and surrender to the deer or fence in a portion of the lot we want to grow vegetables and flowers, leaving the rest of it to wildlife! We get black bears around here too and while they would just break down a fence they're not after the roses (go for fruit) Deer also leave a trail behind them (literally) that looks like it came from a giant species of hamster. Something else I don't want in the garden anymore. Nervy creatures, we caught one drinking out of the pond! (counted the fish and none disappeared through her slurping) There are some forums here about deer and one very funny one I read yesterday; the poster wants to nominate his resident doe for the deer Olympiad (she jumped a high fence and used his rockery as a salad bar) - so even a fence isn't 100% deerproof. Having visited a rose centre who have a deer fence grown over with roses that add another foot or two to the height works for them. A really thick rambler rose can withstand any grazing from the other side and their livelihood depends on protecting the 700 roses they have on their property. don't know the problem with the links. I just checked them and they were okay. Here's the URL's to copy and paste: http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/ccanadensis.htm http://ca.f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/sunshinecoastgardener/album?.dir=/bde2&.src=ph http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/reference/html_cheatsheet/

Mom and I wanted more of a print for the relaxed roman shade. We don't want to spend $500 per shade at smith and noble. any other suggestions on a pretty print like the one I posted?