These are some of the plants/trees I have planted in my garden for Fall and Winter interest, which are my favorite times of the year in the garden. - Sedum "Autumn Joy" - Red twig dogwoods - Mexican bush sage - Osteospermums - Pieris - Nandina donestica + Firepower cultivar - New Zealand tea tree - Smoke bush - Beautyberry - Strawberry tree - Serviceberry - Viburnum opulus - Viburnum nudum "Pink Beauty" (new addition this year, the jury is still out on this one) - Dwarf pomegranate (ditto) - Viburnum tinus (laurustinus) - Abelia - Camelia - Datura - Naked ladies - Nerine - Hollies, including variegated ones - Ruscus aculeatus (a.k.a. danae racemosa) - Firethorn hedge, an absolute favorite with the birds - Crape myrtle - Sweetgum tree - my favorite tree in the garden, by far, excellent Fall color in a climate where Fall color is never guaranteed I usually add a couple of pots with coleus and mums which last until it gets cold. The fuschias I grow in hanging baskets in the porch usually keep going until December as well. I also have a small birch which I grew from seed, but it's not yet big enough to make much of an impression. Eduarda

Neat. Always fun to watch the little trees change right along with their bigger counterparts in the landscape, though I doubt you have tridents in the landscape there. Still, I know you have many other species in the surrounding landscape. Wanna talk about your over-wintering strategy, D? If so, how about defining your intent. Al

I appreciate the kudos, but the recipes I posted in that linked thread are no longer what I use. Also, "Peters top soil" was really "Scotts top soil" -- I remembered the name wrong. While I did get great growth from that recipe, all those roses were planted in the ground just a few months later. Keeping roses in pots longer required a "fluffier" mix. I came to find that I get more growth from a modified "Mel's Mix" from Square Foot Gardening. My formula for potting up bands now is: 3 gallons peat moss 1 gallon perlite 1 gallon vermiculite 1 gallon Bovung dehydrated manure 3 cups Espoma Garden Tone (or any other similar organic dry fertilizer) This year, I couldn't find Bovung and substituted Black Kow composted manure. But since that has half the N-P-K as Bovung, I doubled the quantity of it, and reduced the peat moss component to 2 gallons. The goal was maintaining a 1/3 inorganic "fluffy yet moisture-retentive" base, made up by the perlite and vermiculite, respectively. This is all mixed in a wheelbarrow. Before adding to a container, I line the bottom with a used coffee filter or two from my Starbucks coffee grounds hauls. This slows the drainage for a while, until the filters break down. And that allows for the containers to stay a bit extra moist in the beginning as the bands grow more roots. I pot the bands in 1- or 2-gal nursery liners, about an inch or two deeper than they were in their original containers. I finish with a 1/2" or so of used coffee grounds, still leaving an inch of space from the rim to allow room for watering and rainfall. The coffee grounds were the most recent addition. If anything, I think they help to keep the earthworms happy -- they always seem to find their way into my pots sitting on the ground. And I happily recommend hitting up your local Starbucks for coffee grounds. While I've been on hiatus from my pickups since I started a different job and have been working a lot, I had a regular system going for quite a while. I bought two heavy duty indoor garbage cans, left one there, and returned the next day to swap them out. I'd dump the cans into a leaky wheelbarrow, which allowed any liquid to drain out. Coffee filters were in there as well, so I started by pulling them out as I found them, reserving them for composting or whatever else I could do with them. The grounds I'd scoop into a bucket, then carry to where I wanted a fresh layer. Even if you go once or twice a week, you'll still get a lot for your garden. Start out spreading it thinly and see what happens as you gradually increase the depth. Or just fling it by the trowel-full into your beds. It's free nutrient-rich organic matter that would otherwise end up in a landfill -- and it already looks rather like soil, so it blends in. :-) ~Christopher P.S. I found some links mentioning my "magic mix". http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/3426379/keep-weak-roses-potted-longer?n=21 http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4005123/salet-is-in-bud http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3533090/bands-doing-great-irish-cream-has-a-bud

Bella, you have many great varieties! I love coral charm and do tell. Well I pretty well love them all to be honest! I planted a number of itoh peonies, for some reason, as lovely as they are, they just aren’t the same as herbaceous peonies. I planted three tree peonies this year but it’s way too soon to tell what those will be like How did you find the zinnias to grow? I have several varieties I want to try! And sunflowers as well! To be honest there’s a very extensive list of ‘trials’ I am planning to conduct in the spring with seeds .. lol. Luckily I have no squirrels around here , or if they are around they certainly don’t go into my beds. I tend to plant the double type tulips, which resemble peonies. Drop dead gorgeous blooms. My faves from last year were sensual touch which is a double-fringe I think, my gosh are they ever beautiful. la belle epoque was gorgeous too! I love bringing in cut flowers into the house. I can’t wait for spring