Here in the clay, trees are holding their own. No real rain since around the 5th of June. South of us got rain, but you've seen some of the posts of the wind that accompanied the rain. No thank you. Although July has been over 90F every day but one, and 5 reached over 100F here, this is a year that I am glad for the heavy soils. The Oxydendrum arboreum is in bloom, such that they are. Pawpaws are filling out nicely even though the stream nearby is dry. The ground under them is actually still moist, so the fruit is doing well. Ditto the nuts on the White Walnut (J. cinerea. Hanging on and filling out. European alder is recovering from the pruning the deer gave it. Another wetland species that is still in good shape is Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), blooming for the first time this year. Once the ground down there gets wet, it takes all summer to get really dry. The down side is that years with a lot of rain, the ground stays wet on top, and the grass is squishy all summer. I don't know how anything grows down there. Once you break through the sod level (about 2 inches), it is solid clay that could be cut into bricks and used for building materials. Amending a hole here is a joke, all you do is make a waterhole. Small trees are simply planted into the slot you make with a shovel. Step on the sides to close the slot, and voila!, a tree is planted. You will find out how old you are if you try to dig a hole. The Swamp red oak from Oikos has finally grown past the browsing level of the deer and is still putting on new leaves. This tree colors up as well as any Maple. Nyssa sylvatica provides lots of browse for the deer, but they too have grown past deer mouth height. Once you get one tree started, it will make a small grove, and you can prune it to keep a bigger tree in the middle of a shorter, much browsed clump. Qurecus nigra, a Southern Oak, and Carya ovata, Shagbark Hickory both are struggling to get above deer level. Last fall, we saw where two bucks must have fought. Two sets of footprints, with the smaller pair sliding backwards. Before or after the fight, one of them attacked the Q. nigra and it went from a nice 5ft specimen to an 18" stub. Did I mention I hate deer?

pippi21 - I only cut the balloon flower down to 8"-10" the last week of May each year so at that point I'm cutting it down just about by half the height it gets by then. If I left it alone it would get about 36" tall and flop all over the place. There are purple balloon flowers growing where I work that I plan to harvest seeds from so I can grow shorter plants like bev2009. I do collect seeds from the blue as well as all the others every year and each year they produce more and more. My camera is a little point-&-shoot Nikon Coolpix S10 and it takes terrific pictures. I bought it 3 years ago and have been very satisfied with its performance from day one. Something I did a few years ago may help explain why my flowers look so healthy--I did a shade study of my little green acre to find out where it was full sun/partial sun/full shade/partial shade & how many hours of sun each area of the yard gets. June 21 is the longest day of the year so that's when it's best to do the study. Most everything growing here is planted in its optimum light conditions. I've considered a worm farm of my own but don't think I'd be able to devote as much attention to it as needed. I'm still thinking about it. There may come a time when my flowerbeds are pretty enough to show in pictures but IÂm a long way from that point. I practice "bare spot garden design" and am amazed at some of the lucky combinations that I end up with. I really love the gaura/wand flower & Russian sage combination but only planted the wand flower a couple of weeks agoÂin a bare spot! More toad lily buds are opening today so IÂll try and get more pictures of those.

Hi Joshlyn: I'm a new member so I hope my info is not to late to help you with your plant selection? In SW Florida these are the most commonly used drought tolerant plants: FLOWERING: (common name) > Dwarf Crown of Thorn (sm., thorns, color choice) > Dwarf Bougainvillea (med., sharp thorns, color choice) > Mexican Patunias (tall stem, purple flower) > Purple Queen (sm. ground cover, purpleleaf, pink flower) > Society Garlic (sm., tall stem, purple flower) > African Iris (sm., tall stem, yellow flower) > Firecracker (med., weeping, red flower) > Crape Myrtle (tall bush) NON-FLOWERING: (common name) > Dwarf Carissa (med., drk. green, sharp thorns) > Asparagus Grass (sm.-med., light green, thorns) > Asian Jasmine (sm., vine, green/blue, ground cover) > Liriope-Evergreen Giant (med., grass, drk. green) > Philodendron-Giant Split Leaf (very lg., drk. green) > Juniper-Parsonii (med., evergreen, drk. blue/green) On the web there are many sites to see these plants and find local suppliers in your area. Good Luck!

What a gorgeous home! And it appears to be in beautiful condition, well cared for, too! Lucky you! I would, at most, take off your screen door as it obscures your front door. I love how it matches your garage doors. Live with your home for a while. I would focus on refreshing the landscaping, including annuals, perennials, etc. to add color. I don’t know that a red front door will add much to your brick home. I would wait on that. I, for one, love your wrought iron posts! VERY period appropriate for your home. Appreciate what you have by looking at the RetroRenovation.com website for tips on how to enhance its intrinsic beauty.