@duluthinbloomz4 I know I have at least three types aside from my Dream Queen, because three are HUGE greens, one is small green and one is varigated. I'm going to a local hosta farm this weekend to try to locate some "different" varieties, and relocating my plain jane green and varigated ones to a different spot. I have a Dream Queen I need to plant, but I want stuff like Brave Attempt, White Feather, Blue Ivory and Stained Glass...anything but the solid greens! Although I *might* get a Niagara Falls because it looks so neat. So, on the theme garden front, so far I have: Sea Shell Cosmos Yellow Sand Coreopsis Sand Love Grass "Nautical mix" petunias Lake Currants Cottage pinks (Dianthus) Summer Breeze Hosta Beach Music Day Lily Great Lakes gold hosta Coastal Mist bearded iris Toy Boat dwarf Iris Beach Dance iris Ship Shape Iris Lake Effect day lily Lakeside Pebbles Hosta Aye Captian day lily Great Lakes Gladiola Sea Lavender Sea holly Queen O The Lakes rose Sea thrift Rosa rugosa/beach rose The area is probably only about 6' deep by 10' or so wide so I won't need a HUGE amount of plants. I plan on making a list, then researching zones, heights, sun/shade requirements and bloom times to create a garden plan. This one won't be going in until next year for sure, although I might pick up some plants here and there as I come across them.

Quite interesting they are. I seen a clump once and did some research on them. It is really a parasitic plant. It steals the sugars it needs from the roots of others since it can't produce them, why it can survive not being green :) Wish I could find more of them :) SCG

Hi It went down to 4C last night so I had to cover up the plants I have outside. Luckily we didn't get frost. It is suppose to go up to 24C Thursday. My lilacs are blooming and my irises have buds on them and I'm just waiting to see what colour they are going to be. I went to Walmart yesterday but they didn't have much in the garden center. I did see some hostas that had Hosta Virus X. I spoke to the assistant manager about this virus and that the hostas should be pulled from the shelves and destroyed but he said he'd have to talk to head office first. He was polite but I don't think he took me too seriously. Here is one of the letters I gave him, I got it from the Hosta Library. WARNING - HOSTA VIRUS X Spring 2005 Update Many plants are turning up all over the world that are infected with a virus called Hosta Virus X (HVX). The most commonly seen ones are plants of 'Gold Standard' and 'Sum and Substance', but other common varieties are also turning up in large numbers. Tests done on material from batches of these plants has shown that not only the ones showing symptoms are infected. Others from batches that included obviously symptomatic plants are also testing positive. All plants in a batch that has plants showing symptoms should be destroyed. If you are a gardener, do not buy plants from batches that show even the slightest markings on even one plant. If you have these plants from batches that show symptoms at your home, dispose of them immediately. If you are a retail grower, learn what the signs are and contact the supplier if you see them in your stock. This virus is widely spread at this time in the above plants and others and the source nurseries are still learning about the problem as of 5/05. It appears that large numbers of these infected plants are currently being sold. This virus is transmitted primarily through cutting the plants. Contact of the infected plant's sap with sap of a healthy plant will infect the new plant. This can happen whenever cuts are made and the instruments or hands are not disinfected afterwards. Dividing hostas, removing bloom scapes, removing leaves, stepping on them, even accidentally running the lawnmower over them can and will spread this virus. It survives only in living plant tissue and dies without a host. Plants in pots may be simply disposed of or burned. Plants in the ground should be dug carefully as to get as many roots as possible, and the spot should not be replanted until any remaining roots have died and rotted away. *********** Danni, I have heard that people use copper bands to stop tree roots from growing into hostas. I'm glad your ferns have come back! That is great! I haven't really tried lasagna beds. I have thrown newspapers, peatmoss, compost and dirt in the raised beds to fill them, so I guess that is sort of lasagna beds, but haven't used it to kill grass and build a bed that way. I know that people say it works well and I'm glad it is working good for you. Did u try your library to get old papers? We get newspapers from ours. Hi peatpod *waving* I know that Sudbury has acid rain, do u think that could be part of the soils problem? I would also do what Danni and Marcia suggested, doing a lasagna type of bed. I don't know if u are doing veggies or trying to fix beds around existing perennials. Is there a White Rose garden center in Sudbury? About the compost perhaps call the City of Sudbury, they might have a public compost pile that u could go and pick up wood chips or compost. I also have clay soil so most of my beds are raised beds so I can dump soil in the beds that I want. Last year I redid my rose gardens all with raised beds. Marcia, I really had forgotten it was June. *LOL* I couldn't believe it! I thought u had a ton of wave petunias and gave a lot away? Now u had to buy more? uh oh. LOL Your gardens look nice. Love those blue poppies! The colour of them is just gorgeous! Did they spread at all this year? Son is coming over tomorrow to help me with some work in the yard. I'm getting too old and my poor old back just doesn't want to bend like it use to. so I need his help. Or actually once it bends it doesn't want to straighten up and it is embarrassing to walk around the garden stuck in the bent position. Danni u think your neighbours talk about u? U should see what mine say about me. *LOL* Take care everyone Debbie :-)

Hi everyone, It has been a bit hectic around here with nursing a sick cat. We had to take him back to the vets for the day for x rays and more blood test for leukemia. Vet put him on tranquillers to see if that would get him to start eating, which it did. He was eating everything in sight, but then the next day he was throwing up, but he is doing better now. Since he has come home from the vets he has been shaking his head and scratching his ear like crazy, so I'm wondering if he caught something at the vets. So in the morning I will have to call and bring him back in to have that checked out....geezeeeee Danni, I'm lucky that Wilbur doesn't really stay ticked off after I give him the antibiotics and last night was his last night of the stuff and 30 minutes after it was given was when he started throwing up. And now he is getting upset with his ear/eye....I wondering if he has ear mites? I don't know if they can get them that fast. Geezeeee when will it end? I can't seeing me having that many animals anymore, I'm having a hard enough time with a dog, neurotic cat and fish. LOL But it sure would help if they are well behaved. Mom is in hospital, she called the ambulance 2a.m. in the morning, and yesterday we found out she has a broken hip. I guess it is a hair line fracture. She walked on it a bit yesterday but today she walked too far and her hip and knee was hurting when I called tonight, so she said she won't be doing physio tomorrow. She thinks she will be in hospital for 2 weeks. I don't think mom could do acupuncture, it is very hard for her to walk or move around on her bed, she now has a special hydrolic chair she uses too as she has a hard time getting into a standing position and that was before she broke her hip. I just hope she doesn't get pneumonia as she has trouble with her lungs already. My chat friend has passed away too which is very sad as she leaves two sons and a 3 years old granddaughter and a new baby grandson. She was a very dear person full of love and a giving heart to others. She was a very brave woman and loved her garden. It has been cooler here the past few days and I've had to keep the windows closed at night as the temps have gone down below 50F. Fall is in the air. Have picked a few more ripe tomatoes and the green ones are putting on a lot of growth. The startlings have found the nyger seed and the other bird feeders so I have had to stop feeding the birds until they go away. They are so nervy, even me waving my hands at them doesn't scare them off. I'm sure the neighbours really think I'm nuts. LOL A couple of my daylilies didn't bloom at all this year. One big one always blooms, but this year the leaves don't look as dark green as they normally are and didn't bloom at all. I don't know what is up with that. Also had a few clumps of irises that didn't do anything either, and the leaves on my peonies have looked yellowish for months now. I'm still shredding up newspapers for the garden, but I think I've errr messed up my shredder as now it won't shut off after a sheet goes thru. LOL I think I dug away at it too much when a piece of paper got jammed the other night. OOOps! *S* Take care everyone and I hope your gardens are doing well. Debbie :-)