Beautiful blooms. Well named, they are butterballs! Is that by any chance a warm grower? Sheila :)

Try to get Karen Platt's book called 'Black Magic & Purple Passion'. It is full of awesome photos and descriptions of divine black or almost black plants. Daylilies, iris and asiastic lilies are supposed to be able to withstand neglect and the daylilies and iris in particular have many gorgeous black beauties! Stay away from poison ivy - that's one really great thing about living in northern Alberta - no poison ivy and the other is no snakes! I don't have a guillotine but I am getting my husband to weld me up a gothic arbor seat out of antique harrows. Our terraced gardens, patio etc. have to be cattle and horse proof as we use those critters to 'mow what lawn' there is - I'm probably the only gardener with an electric fence neatly attached to my log home, patio and terraced gardens with horsehead shaped plastic insulators! And believe it or not even the critters are fascinated by my stainless steel gazing ball in it iron stand - just another neat 'Goth' touch in the 'Goth' or black terraced garden. I have a 'Moon' or terraced White Garden complete with feature rocks from the ranch and a mugo pine. The last terraced garden is my 'Pink Garden'. Our terraced gardens are made from recycled railway ties and we built our own home out of logs. Our north entrance is finished with recycled pebble cement and smooth river rock is being used in hilly areas to make dry stream beds. All I need is some Round-Up on those rocks placed over heavy plastic and I'm set to go. I do have some features set in or on the river rock (a huge rusty iron gravel grate and a rusty old gear from a large piece of equipment.) Smaller pebble gravel will be used for the pathways and where we park the vehicles - but no worries - along the north veranda we'll also have a horse tying rail just like in the westerns. We farm so we don't have a lot of extra cash thus we are using unique iems and/or stone found on the ranch. This is keeping our costs to a minimim. I can' wait until next year to see thos terraced gardens as I've planted tulips, iris, crocus, daylilies, asiastic lilies, and few other perennials. I've purchased poppy, hollyhock and a few other intriquing perennial seeds to start this spring for top off each garden.

Oh my, I have no chance of staying caught up on this forum! You ladies are so prolific with your TS's! OA your tables are wonderful and I ditto what others have said. Those boots were not expensive when you consider what they cost new. I know that well as I've bot a few pair. To think I've been donating all our old jeans to the thrift store! I'll think twice next time. Very useful for western themes. Love your nail punched lanterns! Faux barbed wire - who'd a thunk! :-D I knew the hook had to be for boots as I have a similar one that was made by a blacksmith for lacing ice-skates. Painted tumbleweed! How creative - I'll never look at it the same again. It grows in an area we occasionally travel to and I never thot of it being useful for anything! I may just have to paint my tacky tourist souvenir cowbell black - looks great like that. I've had the occasional problem with this site when trying to post to a thread but just go back and try again immediately and it works. I also sometimes have problems accessing any forum here but the message says it's unavailable and I thot they were doing upgrades.

Ahhh, thanks everyone! This was fun & even more fun to hear back from you all! Appreciate your "sweet" comments *blush* The cowgirl pic was in 1950 (turned 4 yrs. old) in our backyard...I was a "town girl" and a "tomboy." (like purplemoon!) MiloM...yes, it is fun to mess with photo software...I love it & then can pick & choose what ya want to print! PM...the jean legs I sewed were to be napkins placed on top of the dinnerplate & then saucer & bowl on top of it...but it didn't seem to look quite right! LOL! So I thought of dishtowels & thought, well, back in them days, one would just use it for a napkin! Unlike some of you, I did not do well with horses...usually got thrown off or fell off...on the few occassions I tried to ride at cousins' farm. Then raising our family on an acreage, my DH took care of that phase with ponies for our kids...he knew how to ride 'em! LOL! Cheeky...yes, those dishes are GALAXY...I bought a whole set several yrs. ago at a consignment shop & have loved them...cause they are so heavy-duty...no chips in those babies! Bet your's have held up the same! ValleyMP...that pic of your GM in 1908 (with gun) sounds like a winner!...use it! Great conversation pc! I'm leaving the tablescape up a few days as I'm going to get DH to have a meal at the table with me...we are "recliner diners!" So, thanks for the inspiration on this forum...I am learning so much! Jeanne S.