I'm a newbie & I need help with Asiatic and Oriental Lilies!

Hi Everyone! I'm pretty new to gardening and this forum and I'm trying to get the longest blooming Lillium season I can get. I already have some midsummer blooming lilies, but I really need some help picking an early blooming Asiatic Lily and a late season blooming Oriental. I've had no luck looking on line & I would love to hear from other gardeners what (and when) is your FIRST blooming Asiatic lily and your LAST Oriental Lily to flower in your garden. My garden is located in NH, Zone 4. I know December is probably not the busiest month is DG but I'm really looking forward to hearing from you. Happy New Year Everyone & Happy Gardening to all!

OK!
I am also in zone 5a.

I am going to ignore the last two years because a lot of lilies bloomed early. So I am going back in time and viewing pictures over several years to make my suggestions. I am also restricting this to lilies in commerce:

Late June, consistently, as early as June, picture 1, Ariadne on June 25 (source, The Lily Garden); asiatic

Brushstoke, June 25 (The Lily Garden); asiatic

Hiawatha, June 20, asiatic hybrid, B&D Lilies (colorfast in bright sunlight, by the way)

Red Alert, June 26 scented longiflorum asiatic, B&D Lilies, also colorfast in bright sunlight

Rosepoint Lace has always been available from The lily Garden, but, for the first time in many years, is not in their catalog. It has L. lankongense in its history, and I intend upon reordering it. This is it on June 24.

These are all wonderful, healthy lilies that I have grown for many years, and again, they all bloom in June.

Donna

For late blooming lilies (again, this zone 5) I actually grew some from seed to get September blooms. This is a longiflorum/formosanum hybrid, and I had to bring it in each year because it is tender in our zone. This is on September 17, and was one of several blooms I obtained. But it is not an Oriental. In our zone, I do not know of any. Lilium specisoum blooms in September (sometimes August for me) as well but again it is not an oriental.

I chose my lilies for the longest possible bloom times for the ones I like. Even martagons bloom for me around June 20. My latest blooming lilies are Casa Blanca and Crystal Blanca (the second highly recommended as a shorter Casa that needs no staking and is bulletproof, from B&D Lilies). If I am fortunate, these last until early August.

Hi Donna, I hope you had a wonderful New Year. Your lilies are just gorgeous! Thank you so much for taking the time for your very helpful and detailed response & I will most certainly print this & place it in my list of plants for next Spring. I already have the Casablanca Lily, which I love and the scent is heavenly, but it does get a bit too tall for me. I think I might end up getting Crystal Blanca and Hiawatha. Thank you! By the way, the purple flowers on your fifth picture are just breathtaking! Are those Balloon Flowers?
Does anyone else have any experiences with earliest blooming lily and latest bloomers that they would like to share? It would be greatly appreciated.

It's a pleasure to help, and I very much appreciate your getting back to me.

I think that you will love Crystal Blanca. It is one of my favorites, and it definitely does not need staking. Here is my favorite picture of it, taken at night. I still have my original ones from many years ago. I have transplanted them twice. For whatever reason, I had 12 Casa Blancas that slowly died out

I do love balloon flowers, and grow them with lilies. Smashing with Anastasia, the orienpet.

But the plant that you are seeing in the picture is one of my absolute favorites, Campanula trachelium Bernice. Indestructible in my yard. It is gorgeous alone, but I really like to combine it with lilies amd allium christophii. It blooms repeatedly during the year if deadheaded. I've had them for years, and transplanted them to my new house. Most campanulas do not work for me, so this was a wonderful surprise.

Oh Boy!.... & I thought they were balloon flowers! I started my garden this past summer and my gardening skills are still very primitive. I still have lots of learning to do. I totally love this Campanula Bernice plant. It's such a delicate & gracious looking thing and my best friend's name is Bernice so I will probably get one for her as well. Thank you so much again for your reply. Now I can't wait for Spring to try some of your recommendations! Thanks!

It's really a pleasure. I bought a house with a fair amount of gardening space and my learning curve was vertical! It's a lot of fun. Do enjoy the process. There are lots of us here to help.

Here is real tease for you. Balloon flowers come in more than one color. The blue (grandiflorus) was installed in my yard. I went and got seeds for perlemutter (mother of Pearl) and Alba. The white is particularly vigorous. When I find a plant I love, especially ones as tough as platycodons, I get the seeds and grow it in different colors.

Every plant in the foreground of this picture was grown from seed. But first, find what you love, and see if it grows in your soil and climate. It's a lovely journey, but I warn you, it never ends! And you wouldn't want it to!

Donna

You know it is interesting. I can grow campanula, short and tall) but for the life of my cannot keep baloon flowers alive. What do they want. Really dry, damp, sun and hot?

That is interesting! I must have purchased, and then seeded, 50 campanula persificolia. And oddly, the supposedly invasive glomerata disappeared from my garden - all three colors. Frankly, I pretty much ignored my balloon flowers, other than deadheading them. There is an immediate "dropoff", then they persist. Three platycodon grandiflorous were installed for me. I lost one, but had the others fromm 1998 to two years ago when I moved. They were near a viburnum dentatum that was rarely watered. All of mine, I realize, were on the south side of my yard (HOT!) They got occasional watering, and I think thta they are not fussy - my soil was quite alkaline.

The stuff in the bed in the picture that grew successfully was rose Marchesa Bocchella, Rose Morden Blush, Salvia Rose Queen (much tougher grown from seed!), miscanthus sinensis gracillimus, salvia coccinea coral and white, parsley, and allium christophii.

I germinated a bunch of them and got 11 white and 7 pink years ago. There was a dropoff, after a year, of 50%, and the rest thrived. One thing about them is that I germinated them over and over again.

Here are my seedlings from last October of 2012. They are surface seeders, so it's easy. The tough part is transplanting them and bringing them up to size. I got them into pots by digging deeply below them, and out them in the ground, but lost them all to curious squirrels and chipmunks. Since I grow them from seed what the heck. Last October I saved four from ravaging beasties and put them near Gruss an Aachen in the front of my yard, marked the location, and kept treating them. We'll see.

One thing I have noticed is that there are a whole bunch of plants that do much better if you grow them from seed. Heuchera for one. Salvia Rose Queen is another. I must have planted 20 that I purchased before I started growing them from seed. I had ten in my previous yard, and brought several with me. I threw one in a pot for months and rarely watered it. I thought that putting it in the ground was a waste of time.

April 7, 2012 after a winter in the garage not being watered. Picture 2

The same plant on May 1, in the ground. Picture 3. It's a zone 3 plant, by the way. And even if they heaved, I built the soil up around them with compost and they all lived.

By the way, the source of every seed mentioned here is JL Hudson. Whenever I find a plant that I like, and want to grow a lot of, I go with his seed (I love surface seeders because I'm lazy). I bought one bergenia winterglut and loved it. I grew half a dozen more, and they are with me here at the new house. The same with fragaria vesca reugen. I had enough to use them as edging plants (with the help of bunnies and bird that ate the berries and, well, spread around the seeds.)

Another campanula that looks delicate but has persisted for years is Campanula trachelium Bernice. I grew it with lilies at my former home and have it in two lactions here. I had to purchase it but it is really tough. I "lost" one amongst a bunch of other plants. It was a tiny scrap of basal foliage. A little water, a little compost, and it was rocking out two weeks later.

Then I would guess that I am over watering. Also my ground seems to be ascetic. Maybe this is the year to just dump seed on the ground and hope for the best. The only ones I usually do that with are the poppies.I wonder if you can winter sow campanula. I have been saving my plastic salad containers from the deli places and drilling holes for drainage. Figured I would plant the usual poppies. I want to spread Preen this year to try to keep down the weeds so broadcasting seeds wouldn't do so well.

Analen, you could not get better advice than from Donna and Mary. They have and share wonderful experience.

The one thing I can add has to do with lilies as you are in the northeast like I am. If you do not protect your lilies, you will find that they are being eaten by the red lily beetle. After lots of damage and trying lots of products, I have found the best solution is spinosad. It can be purchased as a spray or a concentrate that can be sprayed. In my experience it is best used by spraying the soil before the bulbs even sprout. The larvae do no die during the winter. As soon as the soil warms, so do they. This spray is specifically for beetles bacteriologically, and I consider it environmentally safe for living things, both animal and vegetable.

I use Captain Jack's Dead Bug, but you may be able to find it under another name at most garden centers. If you do not spray the soil, but the plant itself, you may get some discoloration, and the larvae will continue to hatch and go after lilies and fritillary but not nonliliums like day lilies and others with lily in their name that are not true lilies. Their appetite is insatiable, and they continue to produce larvae all summer long by laying eggs on the underside of leaves and covering the larvae with tarry black excrement. Many growers control the beetles with toxic chemicals, but I find spinosad to be safe and amazingly effective when sprayed on the soil.

Luckily, there must be enough lilies to eat in the northeast as they have not migrated to Alaska or Illinois or too far from the New England, New Yorkand adjacent areas.

Beetles have chewed on the petals in the first photo and on the foliage in the second in the summer of 2011 Photos 3 and 4 are from 2013 after diligent applications on the soil. By the way, I don't think we had lily beetles before 2009.
Marcia

First Cathy, thank you. And secondly, I would like to agree with you about the effectiveness of spinosad.

I had been using the Bayer product with the systemic to control japanese beetles, and a variety of other creatures that were chomping my plants to bits.. We do not have the lily beetle here, I suspect for the simple sad reason that people here do not grow lilies. In my previous community of 375 homes, perhaps three people grew lilium of any kind. In my new city, I have not seen a single lily of any kind, whereas in my travels on the east coat I had the joy of seeing many of them.

But in any case there is a question as to whether the systemic harms bees. I became a Master Gardener last year to get more information on this topic. I won't go into the arguments on both sides - I just wanted an alternative, so I went to my Platt Hill Nursery and asked what I could safely use.

The answer was - yes!- spinosad, which is actually organic. They instructed me to use it very early in the morning, or better yet, toward the end of the day, and noted that it takes a couple of days to work, but work it did. Some plants that were being chewed and were at the brink recovered and bloomed later in the season.

Captain Jack's was one of the product choices. Funny name, but not funny to the bugs. I used Monterey. Cathy, I am so pleased that something seems to work. Thank you so much for sharing this - and get those bugs!

Thanks Cathy. But I am pretty much a plant 'em and they will grow sort of gardener. Mostly. Lilies take so little if any, care here that the most I can add are my early and late ones. And after last spring's debacle, I have quite a few less of those.

Early: Crimson Pixie, Razzle Dazzle, White Butterflies, Brushstroke, Bright Diamond, Black Bird and Pink Dream all bloom in July in that order. I used to have Blackout, Reinesse in this category. My major sin is over watering in the spring

Latest: Star Fighter, BonBini, Salmon Star, Scheherazade all bloom in mid to late September.

Mine are all oriental, orienpet, or asiatic. The species need a longer summer for me here.

Luckily the red lily beetle hasn't migrated to the midwest yet. I think it may have gotten to Pennsylvania, but I don't read the northeast chat too much. Connecticut and Massachusetts are plagued, and I really couldn't do the containment until I went to the flower and garden show last February and took the advice to spray the soil. What a difference!

By the way, Mary, platycodon doesn't bloom too early here (mid-July). Perhaps your growing season is too short. I looked through the photos for a balloon flower picture with a date to check the timing, but alas, I haven't had good luck. They are planted among the echinacea (purple coneflower) plants and were here when we moved in.

Yeah. Echinacea is another that I just love but don't seem able to grow. Weird.

I'm sorry I disappeared for a few days. I have been terribly sick with the flu & have had no energy to do anything but sleep (took a week off work). I've never had the flu shot since I'm pretty healthy and never get sick, but from now on I swear I'll get whatever flu shot they've got available. This is just horrible.
Anyways, I'm happy to finally check back on your very informative replies and as I'm reading I just realized one HUGE tasks has just been made so much easier for me (love DG!). Let me explain: Like I said, I don't really know much about gardening. The small garden I've had for years only consists of a few very easy and reliable perennials: daylilies, some orange lilies, and one plant of liatris spicata. Last summer I finally got the gardening itch and I'm trying to take more risks & expand my garden and plant more varieties. It's so exciting & I can't wait for Spring! I do love lilies so I will be planting more varieties but I know from experience Japanese beetles can eat my lilies to the ground. I don't like to use any chemicals on my plants, so my granddaughter and I just pick them up by hand and dispose of them. Now that I'm thinking of finally expanding my lily collection, I was worried that just handpicking these bugs is going to be too big of a task. And here it is...Spinosad... The perfect solution to my dilema! Thanks Kathy and Donna!!!!! I'm so happy my task has been suddenly simplified! It's awesome to be able to come here and learn from other more experienced gardeners. Thank you for your generous advice, I truly appreciate it. You've got my attention... I'm all ears (or all eyes in this case)! I know I'm going to be learning a lot here and I also know I'm going to make lots of gardening mistakes but that's fine. It's all part of learning. I just hope I don't go bankrupt with my addiction hehehe. And Mary, got luck with your balloon flowers!

Hi Sweetie - glad you are feeling better.

You know, I am wondering whether we have you confused about the japanese beetle vs. the red lily beetle. Japanese beetles go after my roses, not my lilies. Since you are in New Hampshire, I suspect that you have the red lily beetle. Happily, spinosad works on both.

This is the japanese beetle, the rose grower's nemesis:

https://www.google.com/search?q=japanese+beetle&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=ExPQUpmcNaHayAGLvYHYCQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=710#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=P8bKJWE-Yfj0JM%253A%3BawClBB9e31cPDM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.stpaul.gov%252Fimages%252Fpages%252FN2827%252Fjapanesebeetle.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.stpaul.gov%252Findex.aspx%253FNID%253D2827%3B500%3B332

Here is the red lily beetle, the lily grower's nemesis:

https://www.google.com/search?q=red+lily+beetle&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=lBPQUtnjN8KCyAGZmoHgDg&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=710#facrc=_&imgrc=Q5p7qAHqpXudoM%253A%3B2YwYwkuliQcC7M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffaq.gardenweb.com%252Ffaq%252Flists%252Fneweng%252F2002040522017914.im.jpeg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffaq.gardenweb.com%252Ffaq%252Flists%252Fneweng%252F2002040522017914.html%3B339%3B353

Here is an article on the red lily beetle in New Hampshire.

Hope you fully recover from the dreaded flu very soon. Sounds like you had a horrible case of it. Like you I don't do the shot so I will keep my fingers crossed. Sounds like you are all charged up and ready to go out there and turn your yard into a botanical garden. As much as I would say try everything it can be really expensive. You are doing it the right way. Having the benefit of all of our rather expensive mistakes. lol. With our blessings.

I'm chiming in to agree about Spinosad. I use Captain Jack's. 3 years ago I had a lovely stand of tiger lilies eaten to the ground for the first time. Once those little Red Devils found me, that was it, Captain Jack to the rescue. I think Cathy in Stamford has the right idea, and I'll follow her advice this year. But up to now I've had them under control by spraying every few days as soon as I see damage. That has protected my blooms and kept foliage damage to a minimum.

As for Platycodons: I have a purchased Hakone White (double) that has been indestructible, and a slew of others from seed. My pro friend says the Perlmutterschale (light pink) are the weakest, but mine are good so far. I also have acidic New England soil, and they are fine. I've read that they are heavy feeders, so on larger plantings I've been sprinkling dried manure granules. Once and a while I sprinkle wood ash on those, the roses and clematis. But the white one has gotten nothing extra, and I've been far from consistent. They don't seem all that fussy to me.

They do emerge and bloom later in the season, maybe the shorter season is the problem in Alaska.

I think it is not so much the season as where I plant them and how I water them. It isn't that they don't bloom, they just pop us, hand around then die. Sounds like operator error to me. I will maybe try seeds this spring. Do they need a cold snap to help them along, so like would winter sowing benefit them at all. I have to get my poppies sown and out the door soon. Also bring up a pot of spring bulbs to put in a snow bank for that nice little winter snap. lol.

Thanks for the ideas. I really love those little guys. Campanulas seems rather indestructible here. Tall ones, shorties, blue/white hued ones.

I was going to order this one but OUCH it's expensive! Campanula 'Summertime Blues':

http://www.romencegardens.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/plants.plantDetail/plant_id/3123/index.htm

I planted three Campanula takesimana 'Bellringers' last year and they were fantastic, blooming and blooming. I got them a half price last year and they were offered again so I bit. That and Campanula Bernice do really well in my yard. After ll those years of trying and failing to grow them, it is such a treat.

I think platycodons need 70 degrees and light to germinate. The real trick is transplantation. Too soon, and they are too weak. Too lat, and they resent the disturbance. So I germinate a whole bunch. Last time the blues and whites came through but not the pinks. And, you know, the perlemutter is more likely to die out. I have never lost a blue and I've retained 90% of the white ones, but the perles are more fragile.

New heat mat came today. Yes! The cats can't have this one

Yes the Platys like it warm, that's why they are slow to emerge in the spring. I get faster germination with a 24 hour soak starting in hand hot water, then Deno, then put the planted sprouts under a some with heat until they pop up. I keep the seedlings warm, too, on a heat mat.

Donna. I guess I'd better start more pink, just to be sure I always have them.

Seeds are on their way!!

Pam, I like your germination instruction. I never soaked them. Good idea.

Going to make more trouble here. I got some of the best and cheapest lily bulbs from Hallson's Gardens, a Watchdog 30 company that states that it is a hosta specialist. I had always ignored them, because honestly I hate hostas, but their lily bulbs are unbelievable, and incredibly cheap. I ordered some Crystal Blanca bulbs (an Oriental) from them last year for about $2.50 each that produced multiple flowers. They are offering 10% off through February, but the really fantastic thing about them is that they have the cheapest grade A lilies that I have ever seen. B&D/The Lily Garden quality. If they have what you want (I'm going for Acapulco, amongst others,) do have a look.

Garden Watchdog review:

http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/155/

Hallson web site:

http://www.perennialnursery.com/

Hallson Website

OMG Donna, you're sooo right! I've been calling the critters Japanese beetles for years but what I've been handpicking right off my lilies are actually red lily beetles. Thank you for clarifying my confusion. Live & learn! It's never too late to learn! I so not like hostas either, I can't figure out why since I love plants but hostas just don't cut it for me. Maybe as my gardening skills mature I'll learn to appreciate them more. BTW, your cats are so adorable I just want to hug them! I used to have cats all my life but my youngest daughter is highly allergic to them so now I just enjoy them in pictures.

Cathy, I just realized I spelled your name with a K. Sorry! My granddaughter's name is Kathy (Katherine) and I just typed away without checking. Beautiful name, isn't it?

Mary, I've never, ever done the flu shot but after this, I will make sure to be first in line every year to get it. It's really debilitating & soooo not worth it. I've been in bed for days. Thank God I'm finally getting better. I just realized you are all the way in Alaska...ALASKA!!!! OMG it's sooo cold up there! Stay warm!

Pam, you sprinkle wood ash on your flowers? Is that used as a fertilizer? If so, I've got plenty of free wood ash from my woodstove I could be sprinkling on my garden! Ohhhh I'm learning!!!!

Bad dog! Bad dog! LOL. I looked but resisted. I would have gone for Conc d'Or but already ordered it from B&D. It was one of those I lost this year and just loved it. Have a bunch of others coming also. But thanks for the recommendation. Maybe next year.

Mary: woof! Woof!

My cats get daily hugs and rubs and massages. They just had their 2:00 p.m. snack.

Part of my problem is that I am on everyone's mailing list. And how do I end up there? Because I sign up for them!

Seriously, I have never seen so many discounts and sales as I have in the past year. I wasn't aware that Old House Garden had ever done that 10% off a day thing. I think it was the first time. I am concerned that some of it is the reflection of the fact that fewer people are buying houses and those that do don't garden much. And I certainly wasn't gardening in my 20's.

I have a quirk in that my eye rejects the familiar and overplanted. I have never planted an evergreen, hosta or daylily. If I see lots of it, I'm turned off. There are three houses in the neighborhood that have the entire front of their property planted with autumn joy sedum - 20-30 of them. Or all Knockouts. Or all identical evergreens. There are so many wonderful and unique plants out there. Why not search out something you really love? I know I do (and get very carried away doing it!)

For some reason I keep looking for different plants (mostly flowers) also. I have to really struggle to get some symmetry by at least attempting to place things that pull the garden together. I guess that is a result of looking at the micro. Walking along inspecting every plant and flower closeup and personal. I keep forgetting to step back and look at the overall effect. Others seem impressed but I think that is because our house is so plain from the front yard (except for the three flower beds) that the huge back yard, pond, and trees are such a surprise. And now the three raised vegie beds. Getting really crowded. I guess it's a good thing that I kill off so much unintentionally. Gives me a chance to try something new.

How funny that you say that about killing off things!

I had five viburnum plicatum tomentosum 'Lanarths' that I ordered as 5 gallon shrubs from Forest Farm. They were zone 5a hardy, and I had them for years, and they got quite large, and then in one unusually severe winter all five of them were killed. Gorgeous in flower and fruit, they also gave me great privacy and kept people from cutting through my yard. The only problem was that nasty neighborhood kids would hide behind them and move the rocks around. Here are three of them in the first picture.

I got a brainstorm about replacing them. Rose Sea Foam, which I had always wanted. I bought two. There was nothing for kids to hide behind, and they were so thorny that I never had a problem with trespassers again. Second picture. You can faintly see the granite boulders in the background that are along the property line. I'm a great fan of using the neighbor's garden as a backdrop, even if she does have knockouts (YUK!)

Then I replaced the other two viburnums with the biggest rose I could find. Constance Spry - which cost me $15 bucks and replaced two $49 shrubs (not counting shipping on either!) It also obscures the knock outs - ha ha!

I can't say that I was happy about losing five large shrubs, but these inexpensive purchases (all three roses cost less than ONE of the shrubs) definitely took the sting out of it!

In my situation, a very old, very large, very neglected garden, I'm grateful for any non-weed that holds its own with no help from me. Ergo, pre-existing Hostas, Daylilies, Evergreens, Azaleas, Sedums, Vinca, and a slew of more fun things like a few tall grasses, Phlox gone wild, Peonies, Baptisia, Siberian Iris, Alchemilla, Heuchera, Saponaria, Geraniums, Campanula... And I'm adding as much as I can to the latter list: Penstemons, Veronicas, Salvias, Stachys, Astilbes. I'm also expanding the roster of the long term plants for more colors and extended bloom season. Luckily there's enough room to play in!

Sadly, as much as I love lilies, I'm not adding any because of the red devil. I'm certainly keeping the ones I have and protecting them, but I need low maintenance.

Wood ash adds potash and raises PH, good for certain plants in East Coast acidic soil. Lately I've been reading that some people dump all their fireplace ashes in the garden, I've been afraid to overdo.

You have a BUNCH of stuff in your garden that I ADDED to mine: baptisia, peonies, alchemilla, geraniums, heuchera, campanula. There was almost nothing in my new garden other than an azalea that I fell in love with (it just needed care), burning bush three (why?), white mulberries (pulled out), neglected crimson pygmy barberries (also pulled out) a big maple of an undesirable variety, and a peach and sour cherry tree. There were also lots of non identified shrubs that were basically seedlings that had just landed there, and I pulled those out too (one was an ash!) So I brought lots of things from my old house and started putting in oakleaf hydrangeas and doublefile viburnums, tons of roses and peonies and lilies, and pulled out a damaged pear and put in a paperbark maple. I am accustomed to starting from scratch because my former home was built on former farmland, and because I built small I had light on all sides of the house.

I think your garden is GORGEOUS!!!!! Truly sumptuous. I am rather envious, and I don't say that often. You have done a beautiful job.

Guilty here, too. More than once I've brought home a plant that is the same as what's home. You cannot have too many lilies or peonies or a few others, but when it comes to Heuchera, Rex Begonia, Caladium and Coleus, I could probably do better.

The email discounts and new catalogs are coming in by the droves. Unfortunately the lovelier the catalog (in many instances) is the inverse of their reliability according to the Garden Watchdog. I have ordered from companies that don't always have the best reviews, but so far I've had pretty good luck. I try to patronize our locally owned garden centers for many annuals. For many of the zone 8-10 plants that winter indoors, it is easy to see where the garden centers get their stock which is limited unless you purchase REALLY early.

This house with its small yard actually came to us landscaped with a shade garden, many mature plantings including a large weeping cherry tree, a weeping pine, japanese maple trees and a japanese maple "bush" that grows to about 3 feet high. There were about 6 peonies and 3 tree peonies. Now there are about 40 peonies, 4 tree peonies and an intersectional. Over the years I have removed / shared hosta, azalea, houttuynia, mugwort, day lilies and siberian iris. Plants that used to do well on the back deck no longer like it so much, probably due the additional shade of old trees (a real frustration).

It is important to learn which plants like which locations. Echinacea and platycodon grow in an area that gets long hours of sunlight. Tomatoes, lilies and callas like it too, but for some of the others, the summer sun is too strong for more than a couple of hours. In other words, don't assume you cannot grow a plant until you've tried it under other conditions. The one reason containers give flexibility. Often we move the containers in bloom to the front garden by the sidewalk where they get foot traffic and oohs and ahs. When the blooms are done, they take a back seat to their friends. Everyone knows our yard: it's the one with the flowers.

Thanks Donna, I've always greatly admired your gardens, both the old and the new. There's a lot to be said for starting with a clean slate, and you've embellished yours beautifully. However much I would have liked a free rein, I feel incredibly lucky to have come to such a special place where. I have the privilege to adjust, adapt and adorn to my heart's delight.

Cathy, it sounds like you've created a little Paradise for yourself. I love the idea of moving potted plants in and out as they bloom.

I guess the bottom line for all of us is, whether we start with established plants or nothing at all, the fun and reward for the hard work of gardening is making the pictures in our imagination come alive for all to see.

I stand in awe of all your gardens. Donna, is that white lattice thing in your picture your neighbor's. Is it a free standing sort of mondo divider? Looks like windows almost.

Analen

Not to preach but its very important to get your flu shot early. People just don't realize how deadly it can be. We put so much emphasis on the elderly getting their shots but its often forgotten the with some strains the younger adults are more at risk because they have stronger immune systems that go into overdrive and that's what causes the high death rates with it. Another thing that gets forgotten is the flu is infectious well before you have symptoms and at least a week after you are up and feeling well. That means you can infect anyone you come near well before the first sneeze.

As a healthcare professional I have very little patience with many of my coworkers who refuse to get immunized. Its gotten to the point that agencies and hospitals are terminating people who don't because it can be so deadly.

No you don't get the flu from the shot. Its made with a dead virus.

Off my soap box and back to gloating over my scales with tons of baby bulbs attached. Where am I going to put all these plants next summer?

That mondo thing is a gigantic arbor that my neighbor never really put anything onto (can you imagine the potential - roses, wisteria). They built what was at the time the biggest house in my community, complete with a four car garage. They had tons of landscaping put in (two eight year old redbuds, one of which was the most beautiful I had ever seen) and 5 20 foot white pines (magnificent) but she never watered so one of the redbuds and four of the white pines died. She put in four 30 foot kentucky coffee trees that didn't grow an inch in 10 years. If you don't want to care for your plants, fine, but since they were rolling in dough I couldn't see why they didn't pay someone to do it. Twice a year a hoard of guys would show up, haul out the dead stuff and start again, but no composting, just lots of removal, some mulch and plant replacements. Once I started growing roses, she put in Ko's. I didn't get it. On her side of the yard I had Constance Spry, Zephirine Droughin, Madame Hardy.

But that grey house was the perfect backdrop. My house was red. And that white arbor? I just worked it into my planning. I would design with it in mind, since it wasn't going anywhere.

Here the challenge is different. Chain linked fence all down one side on two properties that face another street. I have a bunch of sweet autumn clematis put in by the previous owners that disguises some of it, and the viburnums I am putting in this coming April, along with a newly installed Tess of the D'Urbervilles on a trellis, will disguise the rest.

That is just criminal. And so totally unfair. To have the money to place trees of that maturity and then not at least observe they are dying and taking some action like hiring a landscape crew to analyze, correct and maintain?? Hard not to develop a real dislike there....It's like having a dog and letting it starve to death.

A good analogy. And yes, VERY hard not to develop a dislike. I didn't mind her snide remarks about my "cute little house" but when she showed me around hers (kept insisting) I got the real picture. Their house was so big she had "a bunny room". Are you ready for this? It was a full room dedicated to stuffed toy bunny rabbits, from miniature to human sized - dozens of them.

And then there was the "Alice in Wonderland Tea Room". A full room, with a complete dining table, chairs, china, silver and linen, and in the chairs were the characters from Alice in Wonderland.

Then there was the 300 piece earring collection I "had" to see.

One thing I didn't get. She and her husband shared the master bedroom. In my "cute little house" my husband and I had separate bathrooms and a guest bath. Weird.

The stuff in the yard was just one more acquisition.

But don't worry about pets. She had two yappy snappy Yorkies that barked their brains out and that she walked at least six times a day because, clearly, it gave her the ability to walk around my house several times a day and look into my yard. She got really enthusiastic about it when, blessed by a gift from my mother's estate, we were able to put in hardscaping with 20 feet of wall seating, retaining walls, and a trellis, on which I put a huge red rose (hint! hint!). A marvelous young man, all of 26! who became like a son to me, who was working in the business but wanted to set out on his own, got his first commission from me and put tons of love into his first project, quoting me a price perhaps 60% of what I would have paid. I was so lucky.

But wow, she wore out a circle around my lot while it was being built!

It's s shame I can probably never build anything like that again. Better yet, since he went over time, he gave me a huge Endless Summer hydrangea.

Well, obviously what she had didn't give her much joy if she needed to constantly assure herself that what she had was grander than what you had. Sad - I guess the expression is "more to be pitied than censured." But still irritates the crap out of you I am sure. Would me too. I guess I am just not that charitable.