Hi, gardenweed. Thanks for your suggestions. Turtlehead sounds like a good possibility. I see that it likes moist soil, but do you think it could handle the drier summertime conditions that I have in that spot? I'll look into the possibility of irises too. I can get those at local nurseries, whereas it would be more difficult to get my hands on the C. obliqua seed. River_crossroads, thanks for the info about salvia. I was already considering adding Salvia patens âÂÂBlue Angelâ (Gentian Sage) or Salvia farinacea âÂÂVictoria Blueâ to my garden in a different spot, but I hadn't considered it for this problem area. Just yesterday I was looking at a blog that lists flowers that are native to the province of Buenos Aires, and I saw Salvia guaranitica, which I find really attractive. I don't have a seed/plant source for that one though. I live in a small city on the coast, and the choices available at nurseries here are quite limited. Plus, shopping online for plants and seeds isn't really an option here like it is in the US. I'm going to check in with Rolando though and see if he has any advice for me. His site is great. Thank you for the tip!

It's your choice, of course. Is there anything that you're not growing that you wish you were growing? If you don't have any sort of greens growing, you could plant Swiss Chard or New Zealand Spinach now. At this time of year, I often plant whatever I think we don't have enough of. Like Diane said, you can never have too many tomatoes because it is so easy to preserve them. If you want to move some of the small tomatoes now before they get much larger, the timing is right for that too. Or, if you are not growing any herbs, there is still plenty of time to plant some. I just now have been digging up some lemon basil and lemon balm volunteers out of my garden pathways and moving them into some empty spots left after the harvest of the broccoli. If you like to make your own pesto, you still have time to plant and harvest a lot of whichever type of basil you like to use. Often, at this time of year, I put in dill, fennel and parsley to fill "holes" in the garden, and they are more for the butterflies and to attract beneficial insects than anything else. I've linked the OSU fall planting dates below. It's a tiny bit early to plant most cool-season crops for fall since many of them cannot handle the July/August heat very well. If you want to grow a cool-season crop that's not on the linked list from OSU, let me know, and I can tell you when I plant it here. My cool-season dates are a combination of recommended dates for OK and for north-central Texas since I'm on the border between the two, but I think we could move the "north central Texas" dates forward a couple of weeks to account for your earlier first fall freeze up there and could adapt them to northern OK too. Dawn Well,I looked at the OSU fall planting guide and it is warm-season crops, so after I find the cool-season dates document from north Texas, I'll come back and link it in a separate post on this thread. It isn't any harder (for me) to grow cool-season crops here in OK than it was in Texas, and I assume those of you farther north could grow them as well, assuming we don't have a first fall freeze that is exceptionally early. Here is a link that might be useful: Fall Gardening in OK

David Austin's Boscobel, though only a year old in my garden, has a lovely bushy form and has grown to about 4X4 feet. I'm really impressed with it. Of course, Julia Child has one of the best growth habits in my garden. Others with nice growth habits are Love Song, The Prince, Tamora, Frederic Mistral (if you want big), and Royal Bonica (also large). Of course, the only one of this group that is a hybrid tea is Frederic Mistral. Diane

Evergreen shrubs and small trees/conifers, preferably native (or at least non-invasive) for shelter are a must up north, especially within a quick flight from the birdfeeder. I don't live in a climate like yours but I do think American holly should be fine up there, it's actually a tree but it's pretty slow-growing you can also ask any local nursery what evergreen shrubs do well up there and then double check online to make sure it's not invasive. Any native Wind-resistant oak is good to plant, even if slow-growing it'll help restore habitat one day. Native bunchgrasses (seeds, winter interest, great for back of flower bed): Little Bluestem, Big Blustem, Tufted Hairgrass, Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). A lot come in special cultivars too (I have 'Blue Heaven' Little Bluestem which goes great with Rudbeckia) Hummingbird plants: 'Jacob Cline' Monarda/Bee balm, wildtype Purple coneflower (avoid cultivars, they are short-lived because most are a cross between two incompatible species), 'Windwalker' Salvia, Coral trumpet honeysuckle (NOT Japanese, native kind Lonicera sempervirens), Crocosmia, Columbines like Aquilegia canadensis (shade-y), Cardinal Flower Fruiting plants: Viburnum dentatum, Winterberry holly, Black cherry, Serviceberry, Blueberry, Sumac, Apples aren't a favored fruit but they can eat them especially during a bad winter, etc Easy annuals from seed: Zinnias, tropical sage, cleome, cosmos.. all attract pollinators and many have seeds that appeal to birds.