Rouge 21, I haven't been on the daylily forum for some time now, but peaked in today and saw your question. I live in z5b, Grey county, Ontario (45 min s of Georgian Bay). Chicago Apache was one of my first daylilies. It is a stunner in bloom, a much darker red than Endless Heart (aka Early Bird Cardinal).It still had a couple of blooms in early September, and this is the first time in 6 or 7 yrs that it has done this. Endless Heart I have had for 3yrs. It is one of first few to open for me (as is CA), and it is still blooming. Not the heavy show that it was in late June and first half of July, but still a couple or few blooms every few days. It will continue going like this for me for several more weeks yet. Its colouring is not as dramatic as CA, and tends to go more pink red in intense heat and sun, but blooms longer. If you have room, get one of each, and enjoy each for their own unique characteristics. On a side not, I have had Apricot Sparkles for 4 yrs. Last year it had its first blooms for me (about 6). To say I was underimpressed was an understatement. This year, it has been in bloom (sporadically) since late June or first of July, and is still blooming. Still not great, but it has earned a reprieve for now, at least, from being removed from the gardens. One that has really impressed me, however, is Palace Garden Beauty, a Jack Carpenter intro. I acquired this last year as a double fan. It started blooming in June or early July this year, and finally had its last two blooms open about a week or ten days ago. It bloomed for two to two and a half months, and I'm talking bouquet type blooming, almost every day! Performance plus! Also, Shores of Time was purchased as a single fan in May of 2012. It did not bloom that year or last year, either. This year, it started blooming in the first two weeks of June, and finished blooming yesterday, from 8 or 9 scapes. Sure didn't like such a long wait, but it was worth it!

ali, what about putting an arbor in and growing a honeysuckle up it? From the edge and in from the driveway to the tree, I'd edge out the grass from that area and curve slightly to the end of the concrete pad in front of your home, the patio area. All the way to the end. Let's give you some curb appeal ;) Put the middle of the arbor in front of the edge of the concrete pad where the car is sitting, about 3 feet in. From the middle of the arbor to the drive and then going up your house, you could create a path that would curve over to the sidewalk and to the front door. For right now, using newspapers and a 5 gallon bucket filled with water, cover up all grass with layers of newspapers you've plunged into the water. Lay them down, overlapping as you go. I typically use about 10 layers of paper. The more, the better. If you can create your path first, either using stepping stones or gravel, lay down something like visqueen and lay the stepping stones or the gravel over to create the path. Remove the grass where the path will be so that nobody trips over stepping stones or gravel. Take out a V shape where you're going into the lawn from driveway to tree and up and over to the end of your home. Remove the dirt and the grass from the V, so that you've got a drop off of sorts and lay your wet newspaper to curve down into the area where the dirt is. Cover the area up with mulch or mushroom compost if you can get your hands on some, except for the path area. By next year, the newspaper will start to decompose and the grass will be dead, but it adds to the organic matter of newspaper and the dead grass. Worm heaven. From now and thru winter, study up on various perennials and possibly a few shrubs that produce berries for our other feathered friends. Next year, push back the mulch or mushroom compost and dig holes to plant. There should be enough room to the right of the path up to your front door, to add in a shrub. Then the other shrubs could go in front of the poles, under planted and going out to the edge with perennials. I prefer natives. They're adapted to our weather, our soil, they make up our ecosystem. Find a list of native plants for your area, and research those plants as to what hummingbirds like and also which ones make seed that other birds will like to eat on. The native plants won't require dead heading, don't need pruned or cut back so they look better....I just prefer them over all. Now an iris in there isn't going to hurt anything ;)...or a peony....both left by the previous owner that I decided to leave and a friend of mine from TN also gave me a beautiful iris that is sentimental to me. But again, those 2 are easy plants. Hummingbirds will love to sit and rest a spell on shrubs you provide and give you a closer look at their beauty. Too much?? Where do you live? Zone 5, but where? lovefornature, you're doing a wonderful job! It's people like you who join GW that make it an enjoyable site to visit. If you like butterflies and are interested in attracting some of them to come to your yard, you could plant a Aristolochia tomentosa or Aristolochia durior. Another plant I love that I don't know draws anything in, but blooms in late summer, is Clematis virginiana. Another neat native clematis is Clematis glaucophylla. I also answered the e-mail you sent, I hope you got it.

Linda, I think a hawk would have gotten more than a wing. That sounds like it's possibly a cat attack. Whatever, I'm sorry. We know that the odds of a bluebird fledgling making it for a full year are slim and that's why they nest as often as 3, even 4 times in some areas, a year, but it's always sad witness one who has died. I've found baby dees buried deep in a nest when I cleaned out the box and figured that they were too large for the adults to remove when they died. Two fledged and two were buried. Needless to say I have no idea why two died and two made it.

Maximizing resale value here is putting away the plans and moving. You are planning a very expensive remodel here that you will NEVER recoup the costs from. Which is OK if you plan to live there long term or are willing to pay for the increased livability as an expense and not an "investment". But, be very very sure you completely internalize that statement before moving forward with your plans.