grandmama you must be in a less hot and humid zone 7 than me. The only luck I've had with silver mound is in nearly total shade here. That poor thing looks like an old roadkill after 400+ cars have run over it, only a bit of the fur is left. I bought 10 of them and lost them all except one plant that is in full shade. Its always for sale in nursery's but I never see nice clumps growing anywhere around here.......hum, I wonder why? On the other hand, I saw an entire front yard the other day that was at least 3/4's taken up with Powis Castle. The people seemed to be using it as a lawn replacement.... I dug up a wild silver one--a prairie sage in Kansas-- obviously a member of the mugwort family. We are talking serious world domination on that one, much more aggressive than Silver King underground. One I like is the annual, Sweet Annie if you cut it before it seeds. I absolutely love the smell and it makes great wreaths and a nice plant (in my eyes anyway which tends toward wild and rangy at times) I know green mugwort is a plant that originated in Gardener's Hell from everything I have read and its not even silver, makes you wonder why would anyone want to plant that? But, people have. I also read that planting Wormwood is just asking for trouble but even the ones that spread have been easily manageable for me because you can practically just pull it out of the ground after a decent rain.

You aren't the only one thinking of ordering tulips. I'm thinking of alliums and tulips to order. I find that parrots are great the first year of bloom but subsequently, I find that they don't perform as well. As for the rainbow mixes - these look fine. Although it doesn't state in the in ad, these look to be Darwins which I find perform well a couple of years after. Just so you are aware, most tulips will eventually start to diminish in performance which is why yearly replacements are adviseable. They will definitely return yearly just not as great. (The Dutch regularly replace their tulips on a yearly basis) Here's a little trick, plant them by layering. I like to mix early, mid and late blooming tulips altogether in one hole. I do so by layering them and I also add some daffodils in the mix to deter rabbits. This way you will have a long bloom time period and it would resemble a living bouquet. Once all the tulips have gone dormant and you are left with ugly dying foliage, I would interplant pansies or other annuals to disguise the ugly foliage. Good luck. Ianna

Wow! West-facing, sunny, sandy loam - sounds like heaven! Just a couple of thoughts off the top of my head... I was reading Graham Stuart-Thomas's 'Perennial Garden Plants' last night and he mentioned Gertrude Jekyll's trick of planting Gypsophila paniculata just behind oriental poppies. The poppies die back completely after flowering in early summer, and the gypsophila helps to hide the gaps. Sun and sandy loam would suit both. Gladiolus byzantinus will also flower early and then benefit from having its dying foliage masked. Maybe look at planting various lilies such as LA hybrids (but lily beetle can be a serious nuisance). Grasses such as Miscanthus sinensis can introduce height, movement and create a veil through which plants can be glimpsed. They will also give colour and form late in the season, and will look lovely lit by the evening sun. Dahlias might sound like hard work, but they are pretty tolerant plants if given a good mulch of organic matter. Not all need staking: Dahlia coccinea var. 'Palmeri' is in my experience sturdy and grows to about 3 feet. It has very dark, dissected foliage and deep red, single flowers, much more attractive in my mind than 'Bishop of Llandaff' because they don't have such prominent, clashing yellow stamens. Plant World (Devon) sell seed. Asters (but not novae belgiae which often get disfigured by mildew) will provide pinks and purples in autumn. A x frikartii 'Mönch' doesn't normally need staking. Taller varieties can be induced to flower at a reduced height by being cut back in early summer. With regard to chopping back various perennials, both to delay flowering and to avoid staking, see this URL: http://www.rhs.org.uk/Learning/publications/pubs/garden0805/perennialcuts.asp There are so many plants that would be suitable for your site, I think the problem might be knowing where to stop. Alstroemeria, for example, would provide wonderful, exotic-looking blooms. The foliage is presentable, too. Consider Sedum, such as 'Matrona' or 'Purple Emperor'. Verbena bonariensis will provide height, a long blooming season and are a great "see through" plant. If you have room, consider also Cynara cardunculus. It has huge, jagged, silvery foliage that looks good pretty much all year. It can get massive, though. I'm sure you might well have already considered, and rejected, some of these suggestions, but I hope at least some are helpful. Good luck.

...I'm tempted to say I'm astonished, but I would pay that for roses or some other rarity.... so who am I to judge..?.... I prefer Crocus's though...I have to say...flowering a little later as they do, just as I poke my head out the door for the season... ...I'm up near Wisbech...which is quite nice, they have good plant auctions and open gardens.... lots of nurseries too.... the one at West Acre east of King's Lynn is always worth a visit...it leaves me bankrupt but never mind... ... my best local I would say is this one below.... in case you're ever travelling through the area... ...Rachaels Plant Outlet at Tamar nurseries... they sell retail at wholesale prices and I'm always picking something up.... at West Walton, near Wisbech.... I think we're very luck to have this... amongst a number of others.... Rachael's... ..I also consult this page rather a lot....so much to peruse... Rare plants... ...I know you like species roses... I don't tend to grow these as they don't suit my current garden, but 'Fruhlingsmorgen', 'Complicata' and 'Stanwell Perpetual'...would be 3 of that ilk - wildish looking... that I've enjoyed so much in the past.... and would have again if I had the room.... I grew them in Cornwall... ..kind regards...