Not sure what happened to first photo...here it is again.

I've given up on the varieties you mentioned, and anything closely related. The best substitute i've had for delph's is the larkspur previously mentioned. you can buy varieties with double flowers, and thru judicious thinning of singles, each year, can enjoy really beautiful delph-like displays in purple, pink, mauve, lavender, white and picotees. Zero maintenence, reseeds nicely. I have a delph. cardinalis from annies annuals i'm trying, so far it's looking good, and is putting up a flower stalk. the next test will be if it survives to next year. The only lupines i've had flower succussfully are lupinus succulentus, l. palaestinus and l.hirsutissimus. They are all very modest flowers, but the native bees love them, and the honey bees, and i don't have to go thru the pain anymore of watching something die slowly before my eyes, as i did with the showy hybrids. they all reliably reseed and require less water. Mo

I absolutely do intend to buy a sump pump. I tried to buy one today, in fact, but the store was out of the model I wanted. I will probably buy one this weekend at a different store. Dicot, unfortunately gravity doesn't work in my favor. Everything in the whole neighborhood is located higher than my drainage ditch, which is why I've never been able to get the drainage ditch to actually drain. The sump pump should take care of that, though! Al, could you recommend a website with instructions for installing a more permanent drainage solution? I would be more than happy to spend $50 on it; I'm just not confident of my ability to install it successfully. Flora, my spreadsheet also shows which plants have died in my garden, so that I can stop planting them. I have been adding more and more clustered field sedge, because it seems to do well and I like it. I also added a second golden currant earlier this year, for the same reasons. But I also like to experiment with new plants when my research suggests they should work. Even if the plants die, I'll probably learn something about them that I can use when we eventually buy a place and I start a whole new garden. Kris, I have been adding coarse woodchip mulch, steer manure, and homemade compost about 8 to 12 times per year since August 2008. The soil just swallows it right up at the next rainstorm. It does have some lasting effect - when I dig down in the lowest-lying areas of the yard (along the fence shown in the left 2/3 of my photos), the top four or five inches of soil have large woodchips all through them, even though the top surface just looks like mud. The foreground of my photos shows the slightly higher portion of the yard, though, and nothing I've added has seemed to have much effect there. I think a lot of the mulch and compost just washes down to the lower spots. I probably should dig more of it in. Thank you, everyone, for your suggestions - especially the suggestion of a sump pump!

Thanks to all for the feedback and advice. Larner seems like the most promising source because they seem to sell in bulk. I'm very much into the idea of guerrilla gardening. I've spent the last year or so trying to transform the barren hillside behind my apartment into a succulent garden. Besides the poppies, I'm hoping to establish some plants that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. They won't be getting any water aside from rainfall. I'll do my best to make sure I throw my seeds where they won't invade any one's garden. With any luck, my neighborhood will look better this spring. Thanks again.