I would be very sad if I had to give up the hardy hibiscus because of pesky bugs of some sort Sue. I am concerned that a deep red one that I bought as an end-of-season bargain last year went limp just after it started blooming a week or so ago. It looked like some sort of wilt disease but I did a bunch of searching and couldnt find anything about diseases that may affect them. It wasnt insect damage and, when I cut the stems down today, the pith was white and didnt look diseased at all. Im hoping it just got too dry or something. The last picture (the best one) with the Russian Sage and Veronicastrum is actually from last year. Randy took that one all the good pictures I post are always his! The drought this year resulted in a somewhat reduced peak bloom for those hibiscuses so I didnt take a picture of that view this year. Interestingly, the hibiscus, sage and veronicastrum in the foreground are about 10-15 feet away from the hibiscuses in the background. Randy is clever at taking pictures like that.

I think that the dwarf compact evergreen azaleas you might like are called Gumpo Azaleas. Not sure if Mountain Laurel works for you, but there are several nice dwarf cultivars, including the white flowering 'Elf'. Here is a link that might be useful: a bit on gumpo azaleas

Re: the question about the Schick Hybrids in picture 629, I believe the varieties are (1) Anastasia (the white/pink), (2) Sasquatch (the orange), and (3) Edwardian Lady (the yellow/white/pink. All can be purchased from the Huntington, they have a great online catalog with pictures at www.huntington.org/BotanicalDiv/Schick/catalogintro.html, and if you're within driving distance during the week, their Curator of Desert Collections, John Trager, might be nice enough to let you pick them up in person (which got me a free entrance into the gardens there, absolutely beautiful). As to the dragon fruit cutting, I picked it up at a flower and garden show in April 2008. And yes, they grow very fast, especially when planted in ground. I'll see if I can find a picture of it earlier and post it.

Thanks for the link, GGG! I will try Muhly grass again and hope for the best (soil is not too clay-heavy). I also need some container ideas so i might use Fescue in a pot. I did a bit of browsing and came up with this list, which I'm trying to choose from - Natives - -Eragrostis elliottii and/or spectablis (blue and purple love grass) -Panicum virgatum (switch grass) - blue or reddish color -Schizachyrium scoparium "The Blues" (little bluestem) Non-natives - -Calamagrostis "Overdam" (feather reed grass) -Deschampsia "Bronze Veil" (tufted hair grass) -Miscanthus "Morning Light" -Pennisetum alopecuroides "National Arboretum" (black fountain grass) Shorties - -Carex "frosted curls" and -Carex "Lemon Zest" Of these, I can only find some suggestion of invasiveness for Miscanthus, although I'm not sure whether that would be invasive here or not. I dont know of a good supplier in town for grasses, so I will probably order online once I narrow it down (all of this list came from Lazy S's page). If anyone has any feedback on these specific plants (or other suggestions), I'd love to hear.