The top one looks like some type of Aster. They can spread pretty quickly, an asset in my book. The bottom picture looks like seedlings of Lunaria, money plant.

Wow, light yellow, pink, white and soft green are an awesome combination, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks, aardvark! And I totally agree with you, the screen door is AWFUL and is going to be replaced with a nice period door from Van Dykes Restorers ASAP. You can't really see it in the photo but the front door (the white one) is original and has some really cool stained/painted glass done in amber and yellow. Maybe those will stand out more with yellow flowers in the garden! Everyone, thanks so much for all of your suggestions. It looks like I'm going to have a bit more time to plan than I had initially anticipated, as the gas company is apparently going to be digging in front of my house this week....argg! I'm glad this is happening BEFORE I planted all sorts of things, not after, but still - what a pain!

Well, Ken said we can't talk about GE, and I have to say that I've had a couple that just won't grow. On the other hand, I have three that are great growers, probably 3 to 4 feet across and just gorgeous! LOL. By the way, I love Liberty and don't have any problem growing it. I think it's one of my top ten favorites! Anyway, I'll mention three plants that have been a nightmare. The first is petasites. Though despised by some gardeners, in my opinion this is an awesome plant when it's given plenty of room and planted in the right location. It looks best in filtered shade with afternoon shade and plenty of moisture. (Otherwise, it will wilt every afternoon when the sun hits it.) Throw some slug pellets under it a couple times throughout the summer. The leaves will get humungous- I've grown some close to 4 feet in diameter. But BEWARE!!! It send out shoots which travel in every direction and grows fast, even in clay and poor soil! You'll have these things popping up all over before you can say "boo" unless you install a fool-proof root barrier to contain it. The second plant that will run you out of house and home is phragmites australis. You won't normally find this in a garden center and there's a reason why!!! This tall grass is commonly seen growing in ditches along the freeway. There is a native specie which is supposedly okay, but I have an introduced specie which has naturalized throughout the midwest that is...well, I'll say INVASIVE!!! I thought that a clump of this would look interesting in my flower garden, so I dug a hole 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep. I lined the sides of the hole with a root barrier (3 feet deep) but neglected to put a barrier on the bottom of the hole. Then I put a clump of this in the center. Later in the summer, I began seeing sprigs of this stuff popping up 6 feet away from the original clump! Hummm...what's going on here? To make a long story short, with a shovel I hand dug 8 yards of dirt out of the center of my flower bed in the process of tracing all the roots that were growing outward in every direction at a depth of 3 to 4 feet!!! I've NEVER, NEVER, NEVER seen a plant grow like that- a nightmare! (While I was trying to dig this thing up, I swore that it was growing faster than I could dig!)Wow, like playing with fire! The last plant, which I'm still fighting a losing battle with, is crown vetch. The Transportation Dept. uses this ground cover on steep banks along the freeway to hold the dirt in place. It loves poor soil and drought conditions! (The only thing that it doesn't like is full shade.) I have it growing all over because the previous homeowner spread a bag of seed to combat soil erosion on the hillsides along my driveway. The stuff is aggressive, hard to kill, and self-seeds in the fall. It makes a continuous mat 3 to 4 feet tall that's just about impossible to walk through it, and strangles out everything in its path including small trees. I don't recommend planting it! Don

Hi everyone. Thanks for the help. Still have no clue what this is. Ah yes, important to mention that these things, whatever they are, are completely stagnant and unmoving. Otherwise I wouldn't take my sweet time to take pictures, they'd be in a few layers of plastic bags, stomped on, and promptly eradicated (sunflower included)! :P Here are the macros: These photos are in no particular order. See how they are somewhat porous?? Never have seen anything like it. As for the sunflower--I planted it in the last few days of February when we had around 3 feet of snow and I was begging for some early springtime. We've had record-breaking weather this year. I don't think it's a good time to put it outside yet--I'll do that in a week or so, or whenever I know the soil is above 60 degrees. That's why it's in such a large plastic jug that I can just cut away when it's time to plant it.