Thank you, thank you for the "beautiful home" comments. When it was new eight years ago, I was enthused about keeping it clean and orderly. That mindset went by the wayside with the advent of gardening. Now the new decor has revitalized my domestic instincts. I hope it lasts, but I'm really getting less gardening done. I have planting to do now and I've wasted the cooler weather being inside. Oh, well, such is life. Cath, one could argue that I was doing the wrong thing by seemingly buying every blue & white fabric in sight, but in the end it turned out well. The original pillow covers were a very odd abstract design, very not me, so it worked out well with some work on my part. And DH loves it, too. He asked me to make a cover for the recliner to preclude stains even though it is stain-protected. Do you believe he picked a blue & white toile from the stash! Campanula is right. They are larkspur. Delphiniums don't work here - too hot, I guess. The larkspurs reseed and start coming back every January. I'm starting to pull them out now. They have lived their life beautifully. I don't know if the heat is doing them in or they are just this short-lived and are running their natural course. They make a spectacular splash in the garden during the time when stuff is frozen back and roses aren't ready yet. Freezes don't bother them. Without them the late winter/early spring would be so barren. I love that they come back on their own. I'm not disciplined enough to be doing seeds in August for planting in Sept/Oct to make a winter season garden. Did it once and don't think I'll ever do it again. That's all hot-time here and doing the tedious work of distributing tiny seeds in tiny pots while sweating on the screened porch is not my idea of fun. I suppose I could do it in the evening. I'll have to think about that. They'll have to be reseeders though. More research. So, Suzy, I think we have the apparel language straight at least for now. I would dearly love to visit the UK and France but it is highly unlikely since I don't buy lottery tickets. But if I do, I will be up to speed on the language. And thank you for the "Sherry's famous larkspur" comment. It made me smile. Sherry Here is a link that might be useful: If only sweat were irrigation...

My hosta on the north side of the house have poked through the mulch I put down last month. I've got seedlings popping up all over the place where I had cleome last summer. I hope they're coming back. I spread seeds all over in a much larger circle than where I had planted the three I bought on clearance. They might be weeds though. My poppies are starting to put out a lot of new growth too. I can see individual plants now and not just hunks of seedlings from my poor scattering methods. I think I'm going to be very happy with them in the end. I should thin them some I guess since most are growing very tight against each other. The thundercloud plum is blooming. The daffs are pretty much done with only a few left. The tulips came up, but there won't be any blooms this year. I guess like Nell, they just don't return here year after year without replanting. Oh well. Wintersown seedlings are putting out growth too. Some plants are already the size of my fist. I've got stargazers popping up. Asiatic dayflower is sprouting all over the place. A few pieces of purple queen are returning. And the wigela is leafing out. Another week and my Japanese Maple will be covered with real leaves. If we get another frost, I'm going to hate myself when I forget to cover it.

Cameron, that is just beautiful! Thanks for sharing. I also like that garden look - the graveled paths with evergreens and short hedges. Tres Monet! The gravel holding moisture makes very good sense. I am sure that is one reason why the gardeners of old used gravel in their gardens. Many of the woody-type Herbs, like sage, lavender, rosemary, and etc., love pea gravel as mulch. They like moisture, but good drainage. Growing up in Southern California, gravel and accent rocks were used a lot in the family gardens. Besides the woody herbs, Aloes, Agave and Succulents of all types grew splendidly in it. It is very dry there in the summer. After May, it seldom rains until late August. The native soil there has a lot of volcanic ash and pulverized granite in it, so it dries to a powder in the hot summer months. I remember watching it 'poof" up as I walked barefooted in it. My little feet would be covered in a grayish or yellowish dust all summer. (LOL) I graveled the spaces between my pavers by the patio and everything grows best in that gravel. All the flowers drop their seeds and they grow readily and best in the gravel paths. I have to dig them up and move them off into the flowerbeds. It does seem to hold the moisture really well. I bought some of that cloth to lay down in my path from the patio up to the arch by the greenhouse. I thought I would set the pavers on top of that and then fill in between with chipped wood mulch for now. I eventually plan to cover that with pea gravel. I like the way it looks. It prevents erosion too. I am setting bricks along either side of the path. It looks so good already. Can't wait to get it all finished. The bricks are from the property of an old house that we are in the process of tearing down. (awful work in this heat). There are literally tons of bricks set in paths on the property, so I am digging them up and hauling them here to use for paving and edging my flowerbeds. I want to eventually gravel all the paths between paver-stepping stones. I am slowly adding boxwood and other evergreen edging plants. I like the neat and tidy look and it's so nice to look out and see green in the winter. One new plant I bought last year that I really like is the Bluebeard, Blue Mist Spirea (Caryopteris × clandonensis (Blue beard, Blue-spirea, Blue-mist shrub) . It freezes to the ground in winter (here) but comes back up in spring and grows really well and fast. The plant has silvery foliage and I just adore the beautiful fluffy blue flowers it produces in late summer. Looks more like an herbaceous flower rather than a shrub. It reseeds itself, and that is good as it needs to be replaced about three to five years. That is a real plus for me. It gives me more plants! They are easy to pull if you don't want them. So far, I haven't gotten to the point. ;) Bluebeard is a VERY drought tolerant plant. They are deer-proof and the flowers attract bees and butterflies. Me like! Cameron, I LOVE your seat and container plants on the side there. That is so charming! Are those small trees Crepe Myrtles? I have one Blue Spire Juniper and it has done really well in our drought. Of course I do water it, but only once a week. It has grown a good 2 ft since planting last September. I planted some Native Carolina Sedge grass by it and it is doing really well too. They mutually benefit one another. The chickens don't eat the Sedge grass and the voles seem to leave it alone too. (fingers & toes crossed so far) I am going to transplant some of the native Prairie grasses growing up in our meadow, down into my garden. Their roots grow way down and can take any kind of weather Oklahoma gets plagued with. The Little Blue Stem and Love Grass in particular are on my list of favorite grasses, but there are others too. They will go out in the North Garden where I am planting junipers and other drought tolerant evergreens that don't require much if any watering. I planted a silvery blue juniper (forget the name just now) that is a bit shorter and has a more slender spire than the Blue Spire, but has the same columnar growth. The Loblolly and Virginia pines are both doing well, and the newly planted Taylor Juniper. Gravel and pavers out there would be awesome! It's a matter of cost for me. I can only do a little at a time. Anyway, love what you have done, as I love all your beautiful garden areas and home. Thanks for all the suggestions. I have most of those same plants...hmmmm. It has caused me to rethink on it. Noted! ~Annie Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Mist Spirea

Wildflower and Snoogie, bad news. The Dutchman's Pipe Vine seeds I had saved do not seem to be viable. I had thought the pods were a bit small when the first frost hit them but I left them a little longer to see if they would develope further. All the seeds I have started have failed to sprout and the remaining seeds grew some kind of fungus or mold. I will try my hand at cuttings this year to see if I can propagate them. GottaHosta, my Spider Lillies have yet to show their faces. Amaryllis are mixed with them and they have come up only in the past week or so and I have the uncanny ability to shear bulbs in half when digging them up unless I know right where they are. I will happily dig you a couple when they show themselves. I travel all around Metro Atlanta in my work so I can deliver to a wide range of areas. See me at the trade. For everyone else I have your trades ready to go........... I think!