I'm excited about a lot of roses this Spring: I'm finally allowing myself to acquire Lady Hillingon...we'll see if there is enough heat for her here. Even if it's a failure, I'm going to try. Jenny Duval: I don't care if she has a terrible reputation for suckering- the color of the flowers is worth it, and maybe my clay soil will slow her down a little. I can't wait to see what my band of Gruss an Coburg does: it's putting out all kinds of new growth! In October, I rescued two beat up and abandoned 5-gallon pots of 'New Zealand'. The color and scent are lovely, and I think it's the kind of "Modern" hybrid tea that should make some people think twice about "no moderns" snobbery. I'm also VERY excited to see the Spring behavior of the 5-gallon plant of Zephirine Drouhin which I was given to me last summer. I've never grown her before, and I've read a lot of complaints about stingy re-bloom, but mine had flowers on it all through August, September and October. Basically, I'm just excited about all roses, all year long.

There are so called reblooming Lilacs. Daughter has one that had a few blooms on it last week. She says that after a normal flush of bloom, it will sporadically put out a few here and there over the rest of the growing season. Linlily, that Leptodermis Oblonga may not live up to Bluestone's hype. I have two of them. It is an ok shrub, probably would make a decent shrub for hedge even, but A blooming machine they are not. Late to break dormancy, they aren't fully leafed out till late May. Moderate bloom follows mid June. The rest of the growing season there are very sparse showings of tiny clusters of the lavender flowers here and there. At present each shrub, clipped in April to try to maintain a 3' x 3' bush, has maybe a 1/2 dozen of these clusters of 3 or 4 small (individual 'lilac' sized) flowers. You have to really hunt to find them. This post was edited by gazania on Sat, Aug 17, 13 at 10:11

they're a great bulb that multiplies well if happy. ask anyone who has a good patch for some next june or so & they'll probably happily give you some. let me know before the next swap & i can bring some. they go dormant from june til sept, when they bloom w/o foliage. it follows shortly after, to look like a liriope all winter til about may/june. they also come in yellow & white, but those are a lot more rare & expensive. aka hurricane lilies b/c they normally bloom in sept after a heavy rain from a storm. and, hey, imagine this- spider lilies. my pet name for them is the horton hears a who flower. nekkid ladies are normally refering to the lycoris squamigera(sp?)(the pink ones that look like a crinum flower).

How about Bridal Vail Spirea? I've been noticing them and admiring them this week. Lisa Here is a link that might be useful: Bridal Vail Spirea