The dianthus were just transplanted a month ago and I hope they will fill in well. The landscaping was done when we bought the house and I knew little about garden design. Of course I regret it now. The edging is brick on a cement base and will take some work to remove or change. Funny you should mention expanding the beds, I just spoke to a landscaper about expanding the beds out a little further. Decided to wait on it till spring but am open to suggestions on how best to do this, I am considering leaving the brick in place and expanding the bed out anyways............

Mine is a Wilson too. Planted bare root spring of 2013 as a 4ft or so single trunk. Died to the ground after our awesome winter in Chicago (no winter protection), but came back pretty well. Starting to color a little, but it seems like it's almost still growing with the rain and cooler temps we've been having. I seem to remember it turning yellow last year about the same time the Ginkgo did.

marric I have the Praire Sun and Indian Summer. Like them both very much. Normally collect seed and start off in March. Might try winter sowing this year to see what happens. What happened to me is that I set up a flower bed with Baptisia, Filipendula Venusta and Joe Pye Weed as backdrop. Each blooms at different times so I thought this would be great. Unfortunately there is a Shubert Chokecherry behind that and the Joe Pye disappears. Now I need some bright colors to bring the flower bed to life. I do have one thing new. There is a new Gaillardia called Gallo Red - Solid Red/Burgundy that is unreal. It's the height of Goblin, bushy in the first year and blooms like crazy. I had to cut it back recently to prevent it from blooming to death. If it survives the winter here it's a winner. The other three that are impressive are the Echinaceas Pink Double Delight, Meringue and Milkshake. They look like painted pictures, not real. The choices out there are mindboggling.

Beautiful fall colors. I like the combo of marigolds with the native asters too. Good idea. I will try to remember to do that next year. My purple native one self-seeded in two different places. It is a New England aster. I hope the sunflower seeds get to ripen for the birds before a killing frost. We may get early frost here this year. It is supposed to get down in the 40's at night in a few days. Glenda