Click of the PlantFile link Lynn, it's very hardy!

Seems you can grow the creeping jenny in any zone, so I'm sure I will have to have some.

I do have some Kylon paints, got to get them out and start creating. Love the idea of the hanging food cans

My metal chairs were black but started peeling so guess I have to clean them up and give them a coat of paint. Going to measure and see what size pot I need, I may even have some laying around here. We are supposed to have drought resistant plants so guess that is what I will go for, maybe for my hen & chicks in one. I'll save my water for my brugs and plumeria.

Sue I will have to see if I can find some in the nurseries in my area.

Good plan Pegi on using drought resistant plants, but even the more water loving ones will do well with much less watering if you use the moisture control beads. Kin taught me about them.
I actually kept a hanging basket of fuschias alive and beautiful all growing season last year. Kin brought it to me. First time ever. I gave up years ago trying to grow them. I just killed them within weeks.

I don't have any luck with fuschias either. I'm trying to push DH in getting some of his junk out of my way so I have more room. Even getting a new shed hasn't given him a push. He thinks it is his work shop now.

Samigal said: I'm trying to push DH in getting some of his junk out of my way so I have more room. Even getting a new shed hasn't given him a push. He thinks it is his work shop now.

I can see you have a sense of humor. : )

Since I am using potting mix with the moisture control beads I now longer kill the fuschias. It really works and you don't have to water every day. When the really hot part of our summer arrives I move them into more shade also.

Everyone down here just treats them as annuals.

They can't handle our heat.

I wish they could, though. They are beautiful!

We lived in eastern WA when I tried growing them. I just killed them. That was many years ago and they didn't have those moisture beads then. Wonder if I could have kept them alive with the beds. Probably not, it was so hot and dry in the summer, with wind most of the time. : (

Fuchsias grow well here in Northern California, but we have to plant them in the shade and keep them there forever. Most of them die back in winter, but they come right back the next spring.

Ahhh- we it's the worst of the worlds for them here, then.

I'm trying not to be jealous of zuzu!

We can't overwinter them, but they also die in the summer. No fair!

But you can grow things we can't. Things that will not survive our very wet/long winter/spring season. I guess it all evens out.

Thanks for all the compliments on the chair everyone! That year it was planted with, White Nicotiana, Petunia, Ivy Geranium, Annual Candytuft and Persian Carpet Zinnia. I'll take a look and see if I can find a later pic after its grown a bit more.

Sue, that blue pot in the golden creeping jenny is brilliant! Just stunning!

Heres a later picture, the Nicotiana got quite large! I enjoy trying many different combinations, you never know just how it will turn out!

It really filled out nicely Steven. I bet the scent on a warms summer evening was wonderful.

I guess I could give fuchsias another chance to live at my house. Now that we put an aluminum awning over the patio area I have shade so maybe I can have some other shade loving plants.

I love bleeding hearts, but alas not here unless they have come up with some that don't have to have freezing weather. Never appreciated all the lovely flowers you can grow in the midwest.

I periodically dump ice cubes into the containers or beds with plants that require more frost than my zone provides. I do it regularly in winter for some alpine plants and for the peonies.

Pegi you should be able to grow beautiful fuschias in your area, especially with a shaded area to place them. There is plenty of moisture in the air in Norwalk. Plant them with the moisture beads, some time released fertilizer, give them so shade and stand back and watch them grow. : )

Zuzu do you grow semps? What a great idea about the ice cubes. What are your winter low temps like?

I grow some semps, Lynn. Doesn't everyone?

I'm in zone 9, so I usually get only a few mornings of frost a year. Enough to kill Hibiscus, but not enough to make Peonies bloom.

Do you do the ice cube treatment for semps? How long do your semps last? One year, two? Just curious as they are an alpine plant that usually required a cold period.
The few cold snaps must be enough.

The semps go on forever without any special care. This must be the perfect weather for them. In summer we have hot days, but really low humidity, and the nights here are cold year-round, never rising above the 50s. Even when the daytime temperature occasionally climbs into 3-digit territory, the temp goes back down to the 40s or 50s at night. Roses especially love the weather here: No matter how much they bake during the day, they get to cool down every night. Needless to say, it's great weather for people too.

That is perfect. : )