Elemire, I can see how gardening in cement would be difficult. :)) We all have our negatives, I suppose. At least my plants will never get waterlogged! Pam, sadly, I don't have any hostas. They mostly don't like it here and act like annuals - in other words die or get eaten. Maybe you mean the caladiums. The big green & cream leaves?? Thank you, Florence. I'm glad you like them. Denise & Kathy, I learned that different daylily cultivars bloom at different times of the year: Early Early, Early, Early Mid, Mid, Late Summer and Very Late. The first few years I always bought the big box of bulbs at Sam's Club. Well, it turned out that they were all once blooming, sometimes dormant and always earlier blooming so mine were always done by June. When I heard about a big sale last October (see link), I took a crash course in daylilies on their website which has a pretty extensive online catalog and bought lots and lots, concentrating on later blooming varieties and only evergreen or semi-evergreen. The leaves stay on the evergreen ones all winter whereas the leaves on the semi-ev can disappear. Being in Georgia, I figured this vendor was closer to my climate conditions. They turned out to be a very good vendor, and the fans were large and healthy and made large plants! My Limelight is in its third or fourth year. I bought it locally not knowing the heat zone requirement. So I put it in total shade, and it does fine, but MUCH better with daily watering. The first two years I had no leaves until the end of May!! Now I'm sure that was due to lack of water because this year it started leafing out in March. They're in a very dry bed with trees that suck up every drop of water. I also have a Winky Pinky in there that is just starting to bloom. It will be red and white, is Zone 9, and they say it will take full sun, but all my full sun is occupied with roses. This is the 3rd year for it. It was a tiny slip when I bought it online. Sherry Here is a link that might be useful: Shaw's Sunshine Gardens

gldno1 - unfortunately the tree peony blooms seem to be short lived like herbaceous peonies. This is my first tree peony, though, so I am certainly not an authority on the subject. I am looking forward to seeing the branch structure of the plant develop and to see what it looks like over the winter. trailrunner - thanks!

Thanks Inga, my swimming pool is about 30 metres long, about 28 metres wide and about 5 metres deep at the deepest point. Chas, I put a lot of effort into getting that rainforest look, but rainy days really top it off. The hottest months here are October, November and December, but tourists usually start leaving in their droves during September which they find unbearable. The climate here is equatorial savanna, which means adding a lot of extra water to keep rainforest plants happy. FW, not the worst place I've lived in for mozzies, despite having lots of swamplands and creeks around. I have a strategy for mozzies which so far works quite well. Yes Gary, that's a Typhonodorum, it's just over 3 metres tall. You can stand under the lower leaves. The predominant trees in the garden are a few species of Ficus, mostly F. benjamina and also F. racemosa, plus Black Wattle (Acacia auriculiformis), Indian Almond (Terminalia catappa), another unidentified Terminalia species, and still some very large African Mahogany (Khaya senegalensis). I won't go through all the palm species. Only have the one small Tree Fern, Cyathea cooperi, but it struggles. The climate is too harsh for many ferns here.

What a great way to spend a rainy day Jo. Your garden is looking lush and lovely! Trifecta, Dark Shadows and Jujen are getting a lot of deserved attention but they all look fabulous. Great shots of minis and monsters alike. My London Fog was hit by the late frost and has some damaged leaves. It is quite likely that is why yours seems more fragile this year(?) I have always thought it a great performer considering the percentage of white in the leaves. Your non-hostas are happy looking too. lol! Rodgersia is a favorite of mine. Very smart and nice of you to donate some hostas to your neighbors. Community beautification - love it. Thank you for the tour, the rain did not stop here until noon today.