I think a perennial Geranium would be great. Geranium macrorrhizum is a wonderful plant that can tolerate a bit of dryness if given a bit of shade. G. cantabrigiense 'Biokovo Karmina' is a nice groundcover sort with pink-purple flowers. Geranium sanguineum 'Vision Light Pink' is also great. All of those bloom in spring, but the last one can sometimes rebloom if snipped back. And all of them have nice looking foliage even when not in bloom. Astrantia (Masterwort) might work if there is enough moisture. I also think a Platycondon (Balloon Flower) would work well. They bloom in late summer/ early fall so the foliage stays nice all the year until afer it blooms (and even then it turns a nice golden color in fall). I know there is a nice light pink colored one from the 'Astra Series' of balloon flowers. -Cameron, I am sure you will love the Erigeron. I don't have E. speciosus 'Pink Jewel', but I do have E. speciosus 'Azure Fairy'. I adore it! Looks a bit like an Aster but without the mildew. The only downside to it is that it flops some, so I have mine in the mid-border leaning up against other things. CMK

Hello dawiff...thanks a lot. Yes had realized that they had relaxed the water ban just this past week. Just was too little too late for some of my plants. Very annoying to see the town High School and local businesses still having their sprinklers come on while the total water ban was in effect. Thanks ego for that clear logical response. I won't have any problem cutting off completely dead leaves, but what about something like my Oakleaf Hydrangea that just has brown edges? My question is whether it will put out new leaves if I cut off some of them and if it does is that bad for the shrub at this time of year? Thanks :-)

Isn't there any way you can secure the pots so they don't fly away? The wind and rain have really picked up here and it's just getting worse. If you must move them to keep the pots from flying I'd leave at leave as much growth as possible. Good luck, stay safe and hope you don't get any damage from Sandy.

If the plant is healthy, you can prune it back to just above ground level if you like. How esthetically pleasing it looks when it starts to bounce back depends in large part on your pruning skills, but eliminating trifurcations as they appear will go a long way toward keeping the plant tidy and less congested than is their natural growth habit. Al