blue23rose - I finally bit the bullet and got a DSLR, my point and shoot got messed up when I took it into extreme weather... so I got the Nikon D60 - with an additional zoom lens too. Love it so far - It will get a real test when I go to the Regional garden tours! Julia - I really like Sea Siren and Neusa Gergemann - guess I like those greyish eyes. They are a lot different than other eyes... I sure hope Unvanquished gets less Thrip damage later... I sprayed those little buggers... we'll see!

Sorry it has taken me a while to get back and check in. I was out of town for work and just got home. Thanks so much everyone for the compliments. It makes me feel good, I must admit. I always seem to see what needs to be done, and sometimes forget to look at what it is! I will try to answer everyone's questions. Hope I don't miss any. In no particular order... The lilies in the "big" picture are almost all daylilies. The lilies in the close-up pictures I am not sure. Just some bulbs I picked up, probably at a big box store or the local garden center? Sorry I don't have their names. The rose pictured in the 4th picture is Morden Belle. There are actually 3 bushes planted in that bed. I hope that is the rose you meant? Yes, I do have the courtyard of roses and yes they are blooming. However, many of the roses on the fence were taken down this year due to RRD. I have planted bittersweet in their place. Won't be the beautiful flowers, but will provide privacy that won't get RRD. As you can see from the picture below, the fence is now pretty bare looking on the side. I have decided that I will try to keep the roses on the fence across the end and around the corner. The need for privacy there is not so great, as the Wine and Roses weigela in the island bed does screen most of the garden from that end. Again, thank you everyone! I am so glad you enjoyed the pictures. It does help to make the aches and pains feel better! :-) Marylu

Deangreen, that is a birdhouse sold by Rock City. We had to almost rebuild it to make it stable, but I like it because of memories of barns with "see Rock city" signs painted on the roofs. Nat4b, Cast Your Crown is not a large bloom, but packs a lot into the space. Thanks, Jean. That's too bad. A couple of my daylilies took some damage, but I didn't lose any. I did lose so0me roses though. Maryl, The hot pink is Wall of fire, and the red to the right of it is a Munson called African Plum...it is red, but has some purplish hues in it as the light strikes it. I am enjoying Gus, since he likes to keep me company when I'm in the garden...especially when I pick blueberries for some reason. Ikad, it is another small bloom, but such a pretty one. Mantis, he is a pretty little cat. Much smaller than my indoor tabbies. I don't know how it is, but the path isn't as spacious as it once was. I am planning a change in the big front bed this fall. I plan to move the large lilies to another area and plant daylilies and hecheras there. Mantis is right, Chris. that is Wall of Fire...it is an eye-catching bloom and is little bothered by thrips. No, Juliana, Rocks Cry Out and Cast Your Crown are both toothy, but The colors are similar. CYC is about half the size bloom as RCO. RCO has a two color effect to the petals, but not the sepals, (bitone) and CYC had the same color on petals and sepals. CYc has is toothy on sepals and petals. See below for comparison. CYC is much smaller and is red with the golden toothy edge: Because of the color similarity and the toothiness, I'm sure they are "kin", but haven't looked them up. As for being at peak, I have a lot of plants already putting up instant rebloom so who knows how it will end up. I'm sending as many daylilies as he will take home with my brother this week. He is coming up from Shreveport and wants some daylilies. kay

Thanks Avedon! W. Homestead is probably thanking me for moving it. It was getting too much shade, so I moved it a couple of years ago. It did ok last year, maybe revving up for this year. Julia,Hint of Blue normally really blooms well, it looked pretty good today, but doesn't look like blooms will last long this year. Mantis, Heartbeat of Heaven does look like a possibility for the NOID, the stats pretty well match up. Thanks Kay , Sherry I really like the shape of the blooms on Motown Blues, they always seem photogenic. My fake Siloam will stay here, I quite like it. Debra, I'm quite thrilled with W. Homestead, rarely do I get that much bloom from a plant.