Okay, now you've gone and done it! I'm drooling over your peonies, and the purple salvia and yellow sedum. Gave me an idea for another look for one of my flowerbeds next year. That sedum is so easy to root, you can almost stick it in water for a few days or rootone and stick it right in the ground. Give it a few weeks and you'll see new growth. Ice Plant is another nice ground cover. When did you first start your flower gardens? Do you set a goal of how much to add each year? Or do you have it so everything multiplies by reseed and division? I bet those peonies would look good in my gardens. What are their names? One looks like Sarah Bernhardt(pink)and could that burgundy one be Kansas or Karl Rosenfeld? I love the purple salvia/burgundy peony combination. Thanks for the morning walk. What kind of camera do you have? Sure takes good clear pictures. Wide angle lens attached? That viburnum bush is breathtakingly beautiful!

Thanks, everyone! The "schmutz" was a big fingerprint on the lens that I didn't notice until after I'd taken all the photos. That would be a great name for the cat, Maryl, but her name is Squid. The flowers in the background are three different types of phlox (which tend to overtake the garden if I don't pull the ones that have reseeded), balloon flowers, pink monarda and lilies. Twix, I've had Rev It Up since 2011. It's probably my favorite bloom from that hybridizer, but has only increased from two to three fans, and only one fan bloomed (8 buds). I can live with that bud count since I'm so far north, but I wish all the fans would scape.

Armenian Haberdashery is gorgeous! And I just love Little Rainbow. It's nice to see what's still blooming in August. These will be added to my wish list for next year. That might be a fairly loooong list by next spring:) Vickie

bump for Dougald. Thank you for introducing me to this book, Dougald. There is no email address on your GWeb profile page, so I hope you see this add-on to the thread. I'm in process of reading the book. It is not one you read quickly, so I read a chapter and think about it. The addition of rocks and mountains is something I'll have to think about for a long time. It is the way they also incorporate water into the garden. Since things are always symbolic of other things, I trust it will be in line with the Chinese style to find a suitable work-around in my garden. It won't be classical, but it will be as close a substitute as my location (and budget and capabilities) allow. I'm at that chapter about Chinese landscape art--paintings or scrolls, not actually in the garden--and that is where I'm lingering for a while. It must look natural even though contrived. What for me to do! I get the ideas of "borrowing views" and creating long views, multiple changing vantage points with openings in the shrubs and trees, always framing a lovely prospect. Some architecture....provided by my Teahouse wall, the new latticed screen going in to break up the western sunlight and block the glare of two noxious street lights uninvited to the scene. Of course there are no large expanses of land here. Mine would be no imperial site since it forms a personal and private garden on a city lot. By Friday afternoon, the tall latticed 40 foot wide screen will be installed, and I can proceed to prettying up the last section of my walled garden. I am adding no gates....that is mentioned in this book too...but instead I am locating objects or features which will be framed in the two gateways and serve to invite one into the garden. Of the two views through the openings in the latticed screen, one is of a crape myrtle (now in bloom) beside a pole with a bluebird nestbox on it. I will be able to see the comings and goings of the bluebirds building their nests and feeding their young, from the low deck off our bedroom. The other opening serves to reveal the darker territory beneath a sasanqua (camellia) where I recently located a white (plastic) tiered fountain. This fountain will not have water but will have ferns and tall spraying liriope planted, with pots of small hosta nestled in their midst. A Limelight hydrangea will provide more greenish white flower balls in that vicinity as well. This ungated opening near the door to the Teahouse is also visible from the deck off the back of our house, be it from the spot off our bedroom, or the area behind my kitchen. The entire back of our house--when the remodel is done--will be a wall of glass. It gives me an uncompromised view of the garden through the latticed screen....and privacy from all outside eyes. Except maybe for the small aircraft which pass overhead. So thank you Dougald. I hope you see this. The book is delightful.