I'll venture some guesses. 1 Maybe daylily 2 I think is a weed, not sure which 3 Definitely Ranunculus ficaria 4 Maybe an azalea 6 Definitely Crocus 7 Definitely Hosta and maybe Campanula persicifolia in the corner of the pic. 8 Maybe Solomon's Seal and sedum 9 Definitely Sedum 10 Guessing a butterfly bush 11 Maybe Lilies 12 Definitely Chives or similar Allium 13 Definitely Peony 14 Definitely Ground Ivy and maybe lily seedlings 15 " 16 Definitely Bearded Iris 8 and 11 look similar, but it's hard to tell. They could be separate or maybe both Solomon's Seal or Lilies.

Hello, Bart! I'm always pleased to talk about my garden, and glad to hear about yours. There are several different ligustrums common in Italy. The two I like are the common, small-leafed hedging privet, I think the botanical name is Ligustrum obtusifolium, and California privet, L. ovalifolium, with slightly larger leaves of a fresher green, and needing a bit more water. There are other privets around, including a large-leafed one that reaches tree size; there's a yellow-variegated form I often see: this variety doesn't do anything for me, it's rigid for my taste. And L. japonicum, with very glossy dark green leaves like a camellia, common as grass in Florida, not as well adapted as others to my garden, though I have three chlorotic plants due to DH's activities while my back was turned. Two other common evergreen hedging shrubs are photinia or red-top, another old friend from Florida, and, chief of all evergreen hedging shrubs, English laurel, lauroceraso, Prunus laurocerasus. The photinia wandered into our garden by accident and at least in shade is more drought tolerant and all-resistant than I would have given it credit for. It has rather pleasant foliage. English laurel is horribly over- and misused. It doesn't like full sun or being kept too low, but I've seen a hedge 10' x 6', under a big old oak, that was honestly handsome. I had to battle a hedge of English laurel at my old house in Washington and I'm not fond of the plant. I could say more about my experiences with evergreen shrubs and hedging shrubs, but I don't know what you would be interested in hearing, and also am not in the best of health at the moment. Is your blue salvia the native S. pratensis? We have that, and I agree you have to watch it, but it's handsome and tough. It grows by the side of the road and in neglected fields here. The red one I'm familiar with but am not sure of the name, but I dislike masses of bright color in bedding schemes. Culinary sage is good-looking, except in winter when it gets shabby; it flowers handsomely and has good foliage and fine drought tolerance. Mine self-seeds. The cultivar 'Ictarina' can take just about anything and is the prettiest yellow-variegated plant I know. I have the highest opinion of S. greggii for a dry garden, for beauty and for toughness. There are a lot of fabulous sages out there. What I have have all been passed on to me by various gardening friends. The Petrovic roses were entirely satisfactory and I recommend the nursery, however you have to make a big order to justify the shipping and import charges. It's worth it. The selection of varieties of wonderful. I wasn't able to organize myself this year for another large order, but am hoping to be able to do so in a year's time. I adore all those once-blooming old roses, even though we need a cool spring for them to bloom well. I'd put them all down in the shade garden if I could, but there's just not enough room for them. Gean, we had wax myrtles in Florida, too, but they're not even listed in Dirr's Manual. I'm always suspicious of plants from the eastern U.S. for my garden here, as rainfall patterns are so different in the two places. The Pacific Northwest is climatically much closer, of course. I've been working clearing and even planting a couple of things down in the woods below the shade garden, and getting excited about the potential for a whole different flora than what grows out in the sunny garden. It's already pretty there, and I've hardly even begun planting yet. Melissa

Hi Stephania Nothing on fcbs that looks like your plant,but you likely looked there and at others too. I tried one of my fav sites,and there may be one there that has the general appearence of your Dyckia.Go to www.cactos.com/br ,the Paridise site with many photos in the wilds of Brazil,taken by Eddie Esteves.The one I'm refering to is the species E-344,which has two photos,one a green plant and the other a bronze plant like yours,and the leaves look pretty close to the ones on your specimen,very vicious spines,almost Bromelia-like.But it does'nt have a bloom spike to compare with yours.However,many Dyckia spikes have the color and shape of yours,so we might take that for normal on most Dyckias. How E-344 would end up in California is a mystery,but I suppose it could.As an example,look how many end up in Thailand !! Lol ;-) Hope this helps,but perhaps some CA.resident might have one like yours,and can ID it for us. Bob

Thanks so much for all the info and opinions. GingerBlue, would geum be growing wild in my woods? although I did plant a Mrs. Bradshaw last summer that died out on me rather quickly, but it is possible that it seeded first, but that was 12 feet or more from this one. And was downhill, seems unlikely? Is there a native variety I am not aware of? So at this point we would say #3 is a candidate for Round up? #1 I don't think is Indian Mock Strawberry since I see no evidence of that type of growth habit on any of them, and wouldn't they have flowers on them by now? So maybe it is a geum? Any other opinions on #1? The alder shrub (I think that is what it is, thanks esh) I assume should stay right? As long as it is not an aggressive I will keep it as it is behind my planting beds in a section where the runoff has channeled a ditch.