Nothing growing... Except the neighbor's discontent. I'd have to agree, though; there are likely neighbors of mine that wonder just what the heck my wide assortment of plastic trash I keep peeking into might be! I live in an area where xeriscaping is popular, and there is a house on the corner that is our "landmark" when giving people directions: "Go until you see the yard that isn't a yard, yes the one with the headboard and neon-painted adirondack chairs in the middle of a bunch of weedy-looking things, turn right..." I frequently have to remind myself that it takes all kinds to make the world go round. For the record, if this yard were in my town, the yard-police would be out and the offending "trash" would have to be removed. There was a big stink in the paper last year about people with three or more offenses to the town's code (weeds, peeling paint, falling fence, trash, dead trees, etc.), would be fined. I guess someone got sick of the neighbors dandelions seeding their yard! I guess there IS an advantage to stuffed animals!?!

I remember writing a rant in 1998 when Paul's Glory was selected hosta of the year for 1999... to all and sundry... how in the heck could PG be hosta of the year when June is so obviously the better plant. Then Sagae got HOTY 2000 and I continued to be upset. The hosta growers finally caught up... June was HOTY in 2001. It didn't take long for June to race up to the top of the popularity poll... trading 1st and 2nd placed back and forth with Sagae. Interesting that with the many thousands of releases since, that those two "oldies" continue to be at the top of the popularity list. I've grown pretty much all the older members of the Halcyon family... so including the siblings and cousins, there is one... only one... that I've had no luck with... Silver Scrolls... dark green, thin white margin... should be as vigorous as Devon Green... just doesn't grow for me... like its permanently dwarfed. Quite the disappointment.

Anna-Lyssa -- It is a small plant, and not at all China-Like. The blooms range from darkish red to purple. Petals are a bit delicate. It will ball in depressing, gray drizzly weather. It is very fragrant. Continuous-blooming. I grew this rose 20-Plus years ago, and loved it. But when we quit spraying, it turned out that it had a real weakness for rust. Brand new foliage rusted here as it opened for the first time! So, I gave up! Later, a friend suggested that this rose might not rust, if budded to a powerful rootstock -- budded it to Fortuniana, and gave me the plant. And you know what? NOT A SPECK OF RUST! Budded, this plant is reliably disease-free. Probably still going to be a short plant, but attractive.

I have sort of a "natural experiment" (aka "by accident") going on with restricting the size of Fortuniana by not irrigating it in summer. Late last winter I moved a 'Fabvier' up to a spot at the very edge of the cared-for part of my garden and grabbed the water line of the Fortuniana I also have growing up there (wild-and-crazy and regularly pruned) and gave it to 'Fabvier', figuring I would get around to fixing something up for Fortuniana later. Well, the summer went along and then it was fall without me getting around to it and I'm realizing that the Fortuniana still looked fine, though not putting on lots of new growth. Never did give it irrigation, and rains started in early November. Looked at it this morning -- lots of new leaves and flower buds, but no wild-and-crazy octopus canes yet, which it used to produce all the time when it got summer irrigation. I know of at least a few banksia roses at old houses around town that don't get any summer water but have persisted for a long, long time, and I am curious now to see how Fortuniana fares under that regime. Imagine this strategy wouldn't work in Florida, though, jin...