Harmony, Don't burst! but waiting is hard, isn't it? Honeysuckle is an ongoing minor project, somewhat hampered by purchased plants all turning out to be (apparently) Japanese honeysuckle, unlike what the label said. I hate a degraded nursery trade. And honeysuckles all look so similar among themselves to my eyes. We have our native L. caprifolium, which rambles through the woods and which I've brought into the garden; and I bought an Etruscan honeysuckle a couple of years ago and it came through our February cold with no damage in spite of suggestions of possible tenderness. It hasn't bloomed yet, but the fuzzy gray-green foliage is very attractive. Then what I hope is L. periclymenum, sent as cuttings by mail from a Dutch gardener; and a brightly colored, fragrant kind (Goldflame?) my husband brought two pots of home from the local nursery. I hope one day to get a couple of the common named L. periclymenum varieties; and isn't there another Italian honeysuckle with yellow flowers? My husband doesn't like honeysuckle because the flowers are insignificant, but it does add its color and fragrance and texture to the mix in the garden. I adore lilacs, hope yours works out. Seil, I hope you have a lot of spring-flowering shrubs in your garden, to ease the pain of waiting for the roses. Kerria's in bloom now, happiness in a bush. And lilacs, of course. And everything else. Daisy, I could list my clematis for you but I don't think it would be particularly helpful because I have no idea how they're going to do. This was an experimental order; I wanted to try a wide variety of clems and not just the (deservedly) popular large-flowered climbers. Oh, well, I'll list them anyway: C. orientalis 'Bill MacKenzie', orange peel type C. orientalis 'Orange Peel'--lost to overwatering while we waited for fall to come C. orientalis x serratifolia 'Helios', a related type? C. texensis 'Gravetye Beauty', one of a small group of clematis hybridized from an American species C. texensis 'Etoile Rose' C. 'H. F. Young' large-flowered climber C. viticella 'Betty Corning', alas, this didn't come up this spring. C. viticella is native to southern Europe. C. viticella 'Negritjanka' C. 'Burma Star', large-flowered climber C. integrifolia 'Blauer Achat'. C. integrifolia is an herbaceous perennial; I've had the species in my garden for a few years and it does well. C. integrifolia 'Durandii'. I think this is a hybrid that is a sort of non-self-attaching climber; I forget the other parent. C. tubulosa (or heracleifolia) 'Cote d'Azur'. This is another herbaceous perennial, supposed to be good in hot dry places. C. tubulosa 'Wyevale' C. 'Niobe', large-flowered C. 'Rhapsody', large-flowered C. viticella 'Purpurea Plena Elegans', double form of C. viticella. I think that's all. I have no idea how these are going to do. A few may not have sprouted, but most are growing. I have a rocky record with clematis in my garden, but a few do surprisingly well in deep clay with summer drought. 'Jackmanii' looks happy, and 'Lord Neville' flowers rather handsomely every year though it doesn't get that tall, and this year is even shorter than usual, though full of buds. Generally the clematis seem to be happiest in the sunny parts of the garden, however heat-blasted in summer. C. alpina does okay in cooler shadier areas. I'll take a look at your narcissus post, thanks. NewGirl, We all have our crosses: I listen in awe to other gardeners' accounts of gophers and deer (though roe deer are beginning to show up in our area too). Happy spring!! And happy spring to you, Barbara! Suzy, That's what it's all about: growing what does well for you. Daphnes are frustrating precisely because I suspect they would grow well for me, but they're hard to find and expensive. My Daphne odora is the only variety I have, though it is a beauty. In spite of all the money I spend on the garden, I don't go overboard on individually costly plants. I've been agonizing for two years now on a lilac order. Carolina jessamine is native where I grew up. When I was a child we had a vine of it ascending a pine tree that you could climb up in. I doubt it would grow here, but it is a beautiful plant. Grow what does well for you!--here I have honeysuckle. How well do I understand that thrill! Isn't that why we garden? I hope to get one or two knowledgeable people out here this spring, too, so we can all gloat in company. Melissa

Thanks Nancy! By the way, a number of the seeds you sent me in our trade have now germinated. :) (I winter sowed them.) Achillea 'Cloth of Gold', Baptisia 'Screamin Yellow', Verbena bonariensis and Eryngium are all up. In fact I transplanted the Achillea 'Cloth of Gold' out into the ground yesterday and now we're getting a nice soft cool rain to soak the seedlings in. I think I'll plant some of the Baptisisia 'Screamin Yellow' into the pictured front bed where there is a nice clump of purple Baptisia australis already established.

Julia, I am so glad Clown Parade made it for you. It was reared in North Carolina, so it should have been exposed to some snow there. I have been putting in a lot of hours, but the weeds are "boondogglers" this year. I am so wanting to be on maintenance when the very hot weather gets here. (usually no later than early June). I have got to spread some alfalfa and spray the daylilies (thrips). For some reason I have been quite tired today, so I may and may not get to any of it today. Tamales and Red Hots could come anytime it is convenient for you. I would just pot it and wait til fall to plant it, or wait, whatever. I really appreciate that offer, since I love the hot ones! I have a start of Abileen Lilian to plant, and it is doing well in its pot for now. Digging some starts for a friend who tells me she loves daylilies. I figure to give her about 10 of them. One more time to spray with Pentathlon to kill existing black spot...I have very little, but my elderly neighbor cannot care for her roses anymore, so I am taking care of them for her, and she has a lot of black spot...it is greatly improved after the second spray. I gear up for any fungicides, so I look like a space cartoon when I spray. I bought some Clearys 336 for leaf streak, so I will be wanted to use it soon. I always try to get out super early, and haven't noticed any decrease in the very busy bees around here. Funny how you notice bloom spikes when you are spraying that you don't see just looking at the plants. I hope you get your real spring weather soon. I can't believe Colorado and the other western stated are having to deal with still more snow. I guess it is snow or extreme heat unless you live in California. kay

They can take winter rain, on clay, if there's some slope. Mine are dry in summer. Let me add, tastes differ, of course. But for me this is a beautiful shrub. I grew up in an area where there was a lot of evergreen foliage, both in the wild and in gardens, and I love it. When I came here I found that almost all the native plants were deciduous, to the point that I was starved for green in the winter, which in any case is a dreary season here. Camellias were impossible to grow; many other evergreens iffy. So sarcococcas were the answer to a prayer. Look on Google Images to get an idea of the different varieties. I like sarcococca for structure and in deciduous woods. The winter fragrance is of course a great bonus. Their chief limitation is that most are not terribly hardy. Another possibility for dry shade, if you don't need a shrub but just something to look at, on a small scale, is cyclamen. C. hederifolium is handsome through the fall and winter, first for its flowers, then for its VERY ornamental foliage. Second only to this is C. cilicium, with similar growth pattern. Mine is growing in root-netted clay and doing fine. A good low growing, slowly spreading evergreen subshrub is Ruscus hypoglossum, a non-thorny relative of butcher's broom. And then there's Danae racemosa or, for a climate with rainy summers, cast iron plant/aspidistra. This last is truly cast iron in Florida, for example, but I think it doesn't care for Mediterranean summers. Another dry shade spreader, with a grass-like character, is Liriope. And ivy and variegated vinca. These last three are goodlooking, unkillable, and INVASIVE.