I just love threads like this -- the ideas are so wonderful! I have had the exact same combination in a huge bed for the last 5 years. Marigold 'Golden Guardian' -- not a patula, nor an erecta, but a single orange with ferny foliage -- combined with Salvia 'Victoria'. I have moss roses with zinnias in a different fairly large bed, and orange cosmos 'Bright Lights' in front of my white trumpet lilies. Then impatiens in the shade. Needless to say, although I love them all, I am ready for a change! Through trades, I have gotten a TON of seeds, and I am excited about each and every one of them. Buuu-uuut there are still some things I want to buy. One is Celosia cristata 'Orange Temple Bells' that JaneVx mentions above. Makes an excellent cut flower, and is "newer" looking than the other kinds of celosias I can find at the garden centers. The other things I want is an annual chyrsanthemum called 'Court Jester'. Parks has one called 'Merry Mix', but there is something fishy about the directions which tell you to direct sow after 1st frost, or two weeks ahead indoors, but then they go one to say, "Just when the summer color is fading from your annual bed, Merry Mix bursts into bloom!" Might have to rethink this one -- sounds like I would go all summer with green plants waiting for cool weather. Triple_B had a comment about Venidium, and this chrysanthemum has those dark rings, too, which I dearly love. (But it is NOT as cool as the Venidium with rings that look like like they were applied with eyeliner in some places.)In any case, I am ready for something new and different, even if it's only orange marigolds with STRIPES! LOL! Lime

OK, now THAT is intriguing. You never know what plants/shrubs will take hard pruning like that until you are told! So, I could basically "sculpt" it, like I do my elderberry to keep the general shape and size that I want. I'm sure these guys grows faster than an elderberry, but it sounds like it will respond to that to keep it in check. Now to decide on variety. I want the darkest red possible, as close to the color in the pic as possible. I am going to do some research and I'm sure I'll have more questions after I dig a little! Thanks so much!

Hi, I'm interested in 5-10 seeds of the following which are listed in order of importance to me. Hope you'll find SOMETHING in my seed list of value to you. Quite an impressive list you already have. Brugmansia Charles Grimaldi, Versicolor Peach & Moonflower Datura metal double purple & Wrightii Regal Alcea Hollyhock doubles Passiflora incarnata,quadrangularis,ligularis TY-Sandy

No they won't work. I am assumning you mean nightcrawlers. They have to have fairly undisturbed earth to burrow deep into to maintain their homes in. They also require air conditioning and they dont breed in captivity at all. Get some redwigglers. Just putting them in tubs wont work either. got to have air holes and a way to drain moisture out of the beds.