I have an old time tall blue iris that I got from our janitor at the county courthouse. He was thinning and replanting them. I don't know how old they are. They are very prolific and very pretty.

In my garden they also eat goldsturm black-eyed susans, plains coreopsis (mahogany red and yellow) which seems to be the absolute favorite, and salvia - farinacea and lady in red. It is really fun to watch them on the black-eyed susans if you are close enough to tell the birds from the flowers. They perch high on the stem and rip the petals out of the flower head to get at the seed. I know I have had a lot of finches I missed seeing when I have a patch of bare black eyes with no yellow petals. We had squirrels and then mice under the feeder so the seed-producing flowers works better here.

Jean, I am in Dawsonville. I have posted to my neighborhood news, told the local bird supply store which I am sure thrills them no end and not something they want to advertise, told my HOA board. I was sort of peeved because they made a joke of it and wondered if the birds had "gotten into some of those bad peanuts". Not funny. I have found a lot of dead birds as I am in the woods often and know where they roost. In one spot where the juncos roost there were dead juncos all over the ground. I have 4 juncos out of a zillion left, 2 siskens and 1 goldfinch. I tried to tell the neighborhood as nicely as possible to keep an eye on personal pets, it's contagious, children should not pick up dead birds, and gee, we should have major bug issues this summer if our insect eating permanent resident birds get killed. They are nice people but they just don't get that everything ties together. It's a non-issue to them and I am just the crazy wildlife lady who gets a pat on the head. I'm actually fairly middle class normal. I don't know what else to do. I'm not even some ecology wildlife fanatic, just a woman who grew up in deep woods. I guess it's part of my upbringing to be aware of nature and I just don't understand the blase attitude. Then they open the door and let their cat out. I don't mean to rant, it's just sad to me.

Ingrid, I don't know about a drip system - the garden is on several levels. However, it may be not too difficult - I shall at least look into it. When I water with a hose now, I put it on for 2 or 3 hours in the early morning, to give a good deep soak. But, until recently, I hand watered, mainly because it would have been so wasteful to do otherwise, as there was so much space between plants. That walflower (erysimum) is one plant, and I don't think it has even suckered, as I've had a good rootle around hoping to find one to plant elsewhere. It does seed a little - I've found around 4 seedlings. I got it as a cutting from a friend, so you can see it's very easy to propagate, without being invasive. It's taken about 3 years to reach a size of roughly 5' by 5'. Another plant I love with roses is heliotrope 'Cherry Pie". It's a pretty, pale mauve. I have it growing between 2 D de B's, and to my eye the colour combination is lovely. I've also just planted a couple of cistus, a prostrate one, and 'Snow White'. They have very low water requirement once established. So happy for you that the drip system is giving you such good results. I look forward to lots more photos.