I have a cl.Sky's the Limit in the 'point' of a quarter circle bed, fronted with orange lilies, a pink 'Joseph's coat', shasta daisies, and a calla lily, and the bed is bordered with lavender. (Odd pairings water wise, but in that location it works pretty well). Gives a good foliage contrast, and the lavender and joseph's coat set off the warmer colors pretty nicely. In front I have a pink miniature climbing rose next to a blushing bride hydrangea, in front of a black lace elderberry, with white snow-on-the-mountain and Massachusetts kinnikinnick.

Mary4b, I can't imagine anyone confusing swedish ivy and strawberry begonias - the telling feature for strawberry begonias and where they get their name from is from the strawberry-like runners with the little plantlets on the end that root and grow a new plant. I have also had some seeds volunteer to sprout on the rocks of a rough stone wall, so they do reseed (not invasively for me) I have never actually tried to find the seeds themselves, they must be really tiny with such a small bloom. So if you really do have strawberry begonias, you certainly don't have to treat them like an annual outdoors. Good luck - I hope you love them in the garden as much as I do! BettyLu

That reminds me of the Hibiscus that I just discovered this year. Mahogany Splendor. I used two to shade some of my hostas this year b/c the loss of half of a tree that had been shading them. It's worked well and the growth was unbelievable! It was only a couple of feet tall when I got it. Check it out now. Looks kind of dumb sticking in the air all by itself from that angle, but it looks good viewed from the street b/c it blends into the house, visually and frankly, I needed it for the shade for my hostas, no matter what.

Dinie, you're amazing, I do believe you're right. I've now looked at many pictures of 'Sour Grapes' on Google, and seen many different color variations of this type, which fits my specimen perfectly. I've never before seen the color that it is right now, with it being sometimes more bluish-purple and sometimes a warmer cerise-blue. I've also read that penstemons can be fairly short-lived and yet this old faithful has persisted for 13+ years. erasmus, you have some truly exquisite plants. It's eye-opening to see how many of you not only love roses but also appreciate so many other plants, and grow them so beautifully. Were it not for my bunny and squirrel problem I'd be tempted to grow so many of the beautiful plants I'm seeing here.