I'm in hot dry SW18, zone 9-10. alkaline clay. I have a variety of rose types in my yard.... I would say Archduke Charles and Valencia (a ht) bloom almost all the time. They're both taking a winter break right now, but I had blooms in Dec and Jan on both. I'm confident they'll be blooming again soon. Duftendes Weisskirchen, The Faun also bloom a ton. I remember remarking several times over the last year that "Wow, the Faun is in FULL BLOOM again!" Bermuda's Kathleen blooms a fair amount, too. Though it does take a break to set beautiful hips in the winter. Though I am looking forward to my few old teas becoming larger in hopes that they will bloom more. I have Anna Jung which is supposedly "rapid rebloom" just planted. and also have Madame Lambard (Lombard)... and Maman Chocet cl finally went in the ground this past fall so I'm looking forward to seeing if it will start wowing me this year. Also from Paul Barden I have October Moon and Oshun in the ground now... both listed as "strong rebloom" so we'll see!

I would like to know what this plant is named and more about it. It is growing in a shallow ditch alongside the county road. I have lived here for 64 years and have never noticed this plant before. My brother is not familiar with it either. The ditch is well drained with grass and other weeds growing. It has a tiny flower on a short stalk. The leaves are purplish-red and covered with short hairs. There is no noticeable odor to the plants.

I am SORE - spent 2-1/2 hours bent over, yanking the dreaded oxalis pes-caprae (Bermuda Buttercup) weed out wherever I could reach. It's times like this I can't imagine having to take care of something bigger than our 1/6 of an acre. How do people do it? Maybe they hire help, I can't imagine being able to do it all by oneself (as I do). The weeds will come back, of course, so I'll need to do another round in a month or so. Yes, definitely time to bait again with Sluggo, too! The bearded iris have been blooming for over a month, and the white callas are finally starting to bloom too. They are one of my favorite pairings. And the freesias and ranunculus are putting up buds, all ready to bloom soon. I can hardly wait - I love those two bulbs. I never used to like ranunculus, but the new Bloomingdale hybrids totally won me over. And who can resist the sweet perfume of freesias? This was a bouquet from last spring - I meant to cut some callas and iris today, but was just too tired after all that work!

Yes, the Tropicana is the one I've fallen for! I know canna spread &/or multiply--do you over what period of time? (Trying to decide how many bulbs will make a healthy cluster w/out creating a future monster like my dahlias evolved into :). I'll check Sunset. I *adore* the Echium gentianoides and it would look stunning in front of the canna. It's the same color as the trim of the house (see link below--a old incarnation of one relevant bed, and the white is now repainted blue). The Tropicana canna would be beautiful with the echium in front of it, and something smaller to contrast with the echium at the stones. I also like the agapanthus Elaine--there are others in the garden which bloom normal lavender. The Verbena bonariensis would mix nicely in a center bed which has many variegated iris there for the beauty of their foliage; but their fairly inconsequential yellow flowers fade quickly, and the Verbena could incorporate and make a nice textural contrast which echos the canna/echium combo. Here is a link that might be useful: French blue house trim and bed...