I take time to give extra water & fert to my clematises. They are so lovely when in bloom!

I googled Thalictrum Spendide, wow, that is beautiful! It looks like a shrub! I see it's hardy to zone 3, I'll definitely look for it at my local nurseries.

Good call 'mazerolm'....I love my clematis as well.

Perhaps I shouldn't admit this on a perennials forum, but my special babies are roses and hydrangeas.

Thalictrum Spendide..... wow... that's a neat one. It looks like it would splay out badly after a heavy rain. How does it actually hold up?

Nevermore44, it is actually sturdier than it looks. But having said that I put a stake right down the middle of the plant when I first put it in the ground a few years back, and which stays in the ground all year. I try to remember to secure the plant about this time of year...just in case.

Campanula 'Prichards Variety'.

I grew it from seed, which I ordered from Australia. Almost cried when I lost a few lol.

To be honest, the new and the struggling get watered a bit extra and looked at a bit longer. Otherwise, everything gets the same treatment. The front garden is obsessively deadheaded and weeded and the back is lucky if I visit once a month. If plants need attention, they go to the front.

A Dahlia I bought over 3 years ago that has never bloomed. Did not bloom first year. Last year AT&T cut it down while installing their stupid fiber. I'm waiting to see what it looks like in bloom. The one that came with it was a light purple instead of the bright peachy-red color it was supposed to be--Dinner plate Islander. So I fertilize it with Neptune's harvest and Gardener's Supply Energy Buttons. Still no buds or blooms.

Extra care goes to my delphiniums that I started from seed from New Zealand and to my clematis collection. Hibiscus get extra time and care in bloom as I pick off the Japanese beetles that love the blossoms. I took out two hibiscus this year to cut back on some of the time and work. Still have four bushes.

Roses for me as well. Everyone else is in the supporting cast.

Diphylleia cymosa - these are my babies.

Also, my mature NOID white tree peony; she seems to have survived the move, is adapting well to her new home near the front porch -- only thing I'm worried about is she might get a bit too much exposure from the northwestern winds over the winter (she's just past the edge of the garage, which would have offered winter wind protection). I might get a shrub jacket for her this winter.

I love my main clematis, but it thrives on neglect. It grows on an arbour which leads into the garden. Everyone gushes about it, because it has these small, relatively insignificant, flowers in early spring, but then produces these massive, muppet-like, seed heads which remain as a showpiece for the remainder of the season. You do NOTHING to it and it performs consistently wonderfully each season.

This year, the arbour blew down and broke apart (rusted through) in our first major windstorm of the season, back in March, just as the thing was starting to flower. That was probably the first sign that this gardening season would be a challenging one. Anyway, it took me a good month and a half to find a replacement arbour. The poor thing was left splayed on the ground during that time, looking awful. When I got the new arbour, spent quite some time wrapping the old, gnarly vines back around the base and through the sides. Must say, I did a pretty good job of doing that. A month later, started sending new shoots up out of the old wood, wrapping around - absolutely amazing. I'm sure most people would never realize the saga that happened. I'm sure by next season, it will be business as usual, barring any more crazy storms.

That is an incredible picture 'gg'. (When did you first plant those lilies?)

It is their third summer.