I think your best substitute for stachys might be a hardy geranium. Many to choose from, but the bigfoot geranium, Geranium macrorrhizum, and its cultivars might be best because of its thick weed suppressing foliage. One downside is that you may have to buy more of these than you would of a more spreading groundcover. Fun plant. Leaves have a lime soda or some say apple scent when crushed. You will get some decent fall color. One variety is variegated. I love these cranesbills. Truly these are great plants. Your only problem will be whether you like the flower color with your scheme. I find mine finish blooming before my coreopsis gets started, so that may not be a problem. You might also consider Heliopsis 'Helhan' a.k.a. Loraine Sunshine. Yellow bloom. Mine receives compliments for its leaf varigation, which is what made me think of this one I also think that the Hosta plantaginea idea would work. I pretty much limit myself to collecting fragrant hosta. All fragrant types trace their lineage to plantaginea. All rank very high for sun tolerance and really need sun for best fragrance. Many fragrant hostas have been Hosta of the Year--'Stained Glass', 'Guacamole', 'So Sweet', 'Fragrant Bouquet'. Hummingbirds love them, too! And my plain green ones get nearly full sun without missing a beat. And for something sort of opposite to hosta, have you given any thought to sedem? I'm just beginning to explore these guys, and am sort of lusting for a dark purple foliage variety--either 'Black Jack' or 'Postman's Pride'. As with most perennials, I'm sure they'd work best in a mass planting. Could really pick up on purple flowers and make any gold or yellows really stand out Hope that helps Wellspring

Rebecca, I've had Felix LeClerc for about 9 years and I echo the fantastic comments of everyone about him. He's among the first roses to bloom in late May here in zone 5, and he's totally cane hardy and pretty indestructible. It took about 4-5 years before he rebloomed very well, but now I get blooms pretty steadily into July, and scattered blooms off and on even into November. As for height, I think we'd be in the same boat being in close zones. Felix is hardy to zone 3 at least so I think you're still looking at cane hardiness. Mine is about 8' tall and he puts out laterals pretty well, so if you pull the main canes horizontally along your 8X4' trellis you should be able to get it fairly well covered after a while. Like all climbers, he takes a good 4 years to come into his own so be patient. Also, I find his canes to be pretty stiff so I wouldn't expect to do the zigzag canes you can do with more flexible climbers like Crown Princess Margaretha. You also want to make sure your trellis is pretty strong, given that those sturdy canes can pull down an average wood trellis in the wind. You didn't ask for pictures, but here's one of Felix trying (and not succeeding) to pull down a 6' fake iron (aluminum) fence. You can see that even 4' or so away from the fence he can easily reach the top. For years I didn't realize he was supposed to be a climber so I kept pruning him lower to keep him in line. Fortunately it made him bush out and he's forgiven me since. Mine was from HCR too and he's absolutely fine on his own roots. Have fun Cynthia

I love doing jigsaw puzzles and never thought of taking a picture of the finished project. LOL My friends and I do puzzles all the time. I like the Springbok puzzles from Hallmark the best but have done others. My favourite puzzles are "mystery" puzzles, the ones you don't have a picture of. LOL I never look at the box when I am doing a puzzle either - takes the fun away. I just got a 1000 piece puzzle on sale at Hallmark for half price and it is sitting on the kitchen table waiting for me to start. When I have lost a puzzle piece and I know I am going to do the puzzle in the future or lend it out I take the the small section of the puzzle where the piece is missing and lay it in the lid of the box and then I outline the missing piece so I know what to look for when doing it again and know that a piece is missing. I do the edge pieces first and then I start from the bottom and try to work from left to right half way up the puzzle then I do the upper half when the bottom half is finished. Anne

foggyj, I have an association with an area antique/steam tractor club. At their annual show, one of the members sells framed puzzles as a fund raiser. The put together puzzles are donated, and that member does the framing. There is always some very nice pictures to be bought at the shows. I put my puzzles together on a foam board, then turn them over onto another foam board to glue them. I am not sure that this would be a good one to frame. The picture, in it's puzzle form, leaves something to be desired.