Thanks, Alison. A two inch bloom is on the cusp of a "miniature". Many miniatures grow a lot larger than the two foot upper range, but might be encouraged to remain smaller because of your climate. You could be looking at landscape or ground cover or miniature, even mini flora types to get the sort of plant you seek. Perhaps the landscape and ground cover classifications would provide potentially healthier, hardier types for your situation. The other classifications have slightly different selection criteria, skewed more toward the flower than care free plant. Those selected for landscape use would tend to have less emphasis placed on the individual flower and more on the more maintenance free plant type. Good luck! Kim

hi there, i have 3 climbing hydrangeas, 2 are in their 3rd summer, and one is in it's second summer. the two older ones are on the south side of our (stucco)house, with one getting more sun and one getting a little afternoon shade. the one that gets a little more shade is taking off this year, almost 10-12 ft high. the other one is a little slower, i suspect that the additional sun and a little less water due to it's location might be why. still blooming and happy though, and filling in quite a bit from the bottom this year, but only at about 5 feet. the two year old north sider is also growing, at about 5-6 feet now. i think they are worth the wait, i've seen some big established ones around and they are beautiful. i also have a moonlight schizophragma planted next to the taller of the 3 yr old hydrangeas, and that is taking off, much higher than any of them, and is really beautiful. you may want to plant one of those too, for quicker gratification, and also to "extend" the bloom time, since they tend to bloom a couple of weeks after the hydrangea, and climbs in the same way. i think the combination is really nice too. good luck!

Day 22 Update! Peppers and lettuce: The same peppers and lettuce from the previous shot. They're in the second-worst part of the UFO grow chamber -- far from the UFO in the center. Nonetheless, the peppers are doing beautifully. I've got a whole tray of them looking just like that. The lettuce, only so-so. They're putting out leaves at a good rate, but two of them never did stand up like I was hoping they would. Next up, the monsters: Okay, these pumpkins are getting a bit scary: The larger of the two now has three tendrils on it, and leaves the size of my outstretched hand. I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to keep them in here before they decide to crush everything else in their path, but I'll keep them in as long as I can ;) I realized that last time I forgot to photograph my eggplants. They're doing just shiny: So, now for my crazy okra: If you'll recall, one germinated tall like a freak, but with a strong stem, and dark green leaves; one germinated short with dark green leaves; and two germinated short with pale, chlorotic yellow leaves. I credit this to using old seed. I'm pleased to report that all of them are doing great. The tall one is now working on its second true leaf, while the two chlorotic ones are starting to turn green. All three of the small ones have just started on their first true leaf; I expect they'll look like the tall one (minus the crazy height) next week. My Ronde de Nice squash that just germinated? I transplanted one, and surprisingly, the transplant is doing better than the non-transplant! Now for the one that was my biggest concern last time: my watermelon. If you'll recall, its first true leaves had turned crisp and stopped growing. Well, I'm glad to report that it has not one, but two sets of normal, healthy true leaves now! Here's a shot of some of my miscellaneous squash and melons. Not a complaint from me about a one of them; they're all growing very healthy. My cinnamon basil was looking healthy enough that I felt it time to thin it out into individual pots. The remaining plants in the original pot are below: So, what's my primary concern this time? I'm starting to suspect that I'm getting more growth in the UFO chamber (red, grow) than in the Christmas chamber (blue, veg). I'm not sure yet, though. Now, that is to be expected to some degree, since that chamber is higher wattage (~105W vs. ~85W), it may be more than that. It's really hard to tell, though, because I moved my most mature trays to the red chamber and kept the youngest trays in the veg chamber. However, I do have one good comparison point: basil. I have a basil pot in the veg chamber that's exactly the same as the basil pot in the grow chamber -- same soil, same size, same plants, and same planting time. So, next week I'm going to photograph and measure the two and see how they compare. But overall, another good week :) The plants pretty much take care of themselves (since the LEDs are pretty cool, the soil takes a long time to get dry, so I rarely even have to water). Hence, I've been busying myself readying my outdoors for the new plants, for once it gets warm enough. I'm going to be training my vining plants to strings suspended from guyed poles this year, via vine clips; should be neat to see how they do.

I have frequently attached a 4' trellis to the top of a fence as a line of sight sight screen. With a 4x8 you can increase the fence by 3 to 3.5' taller, and very economically cover 8'. A series of these could do your whole back fence. I attach them by predrilling to not crack trellis wood and using deck screws and electric screwdriver. A climbing hydrangea is slow growing at first. It gets quite woody, very large, and very heavy, like a Wisteria it might break a lighter to mid duty trellis. Honeysuckle 'Scentsation' or a smaller trumpet vine such as 'Indian Summer' may work better and survive in zone 5b (tbey are rated to 4). They drop their leaves, but might block quite well, except in winter. If this was my fence I'd pair Honeysuckle 'Scentsation' with Clematis 'Jackmanii' both have a long season and repeat blooming. That also gives you fragrance and hummingbird draw. The honeysuckle also has nice red berries late in the season for visual impact and the other birds. Both grow fast and together you should get enough vine growth to be a decent Winter block. Here's an internet photo of the in bloom appearance. The light colored honeysuckle really shows up in a twlight garden. And it does get woody too for that forest cottage look. I'm guessing this honeysuckle would cover about 20' linear. And one Clematis half of that? I've actually started this pair on my gazebo entrance.