Some of the more fortunate perennial combos in my gardens....

Acropolis rose and a first year sedum from a cutting...



Queen Victoria rose and miscanthus...


Chives and smoketree...



There are several varieties of peony, iris and daylily; as well as Dame's Rocket, Japanese maple, pieris, delphiniums, crocosmia, carnations, coneflowers, asters, zebra grass and spring-blooming bulbs in this area - most of which is sheltered by magnolias and a weeping cherry. Understory shrubs of dwarf golden evergreens, spiral-shaped evergreens and large-flowered hydrangeas are scattered here and there.......
.....I really appreciate those evergreens this time of year!


....the roses and sedum in the first shot I posted are in there too...

Gorgeous, Chelle. I love Miscanthus. Tell us about that garden structure. Very interesting.

YES tell its really unusual

This was my Mothers Day gift for 2010. My fella likes to build me something special on that day every year.

We collaborated on the design, both of us agreeing that it needed to curve along with the course of the pathway. Neither of us was all that confident that those long narrow slats would remain straight and unbowed under the weight of winter snow and ice, but we're midway through its second winter and so far, so good.
It has, right now, 4 coats of primer and paint; two of which he did for me. I might add one more coat before the roses leaf out this year.



Here it is with morning glories and cardinal climber. I've been using these annuals here until the perennials grow up a bit.

OMG, Chelle, just wonderful. Love your creativity as much as your execution!

Oh, Susan, you are too funny. That's me that's Bob or maybe Tee. I literally laughed out loud on that one. Tee is right, you're a great sport, too!

That's beautiful, Chelle.

Karen

super structure there chelle, displays spontaneous originality in concept and use
Lot of nice gardens here.
..
Here's a few from mine:

What beautiful photos. Everything looks so green!

Karen

Chelle & Jmorth what wonderful pictures , they help brighten up a rainy day like today.

I think my name is still Bob

I wouldn't be so sure about that.

jmorth, very nice. You are a bit further north of me. Tell me, do you have Bermuda grass??

Both photos are wonderful.

Tee,
I don;t think so; I think its supposed to be blue grass but I have to admit I don't know much about grasses.
J

I know my name's not jmorth but I'm gonna answer anyway.

Tee, we had our first ever experience with bermuda about a year ago. It's pernicious stuff, we're never going to be able to rid our yard of this stuff.

Karen

Sad, but true, Karen.

Thanks!

jmorth said:spontaneous originality

Oh, I love this! Sounds much better than *off-the-cuff*, which is really about 95% of how we build things around here! .....figure it out as we go....

Beautiful hostas there, J; and no slug holes.

Really like your goldenrod/aster area too; it's no wonder you get so many butterflies! Nice!


> I don't know yard grasses either.

http://www.plantsnouveau.com/2......

Another good article about growing Echinacea.

It is a good article, but it raises a question for me. Perhaps what I've been calling a tap-root is not a tap-root (I picture something like a carrot) because the many Echinaceas (mostly Double Decker with the occasional White Swan) didn't have a tap-root. When I dug them up, most of the roots went out to the sides.

Of course, I did this in October, so they're probably all dead anyway, but maybe the mild winter has saved them, who knows.

I thought the same thing, Sheryl. I think of taproot as a carrot, parsnip, or beet. Butterfly weed hass a taproot. Poppies have taproots. Dandelions have taproots. My coneflowers don't have anything that I think resembles a tap root.

Kind of an accusatory tone in the article, too. If a plant doesn't survive in my yard, I see it as not hardy. Whether it meets it's demise as a result of cold temps or winter wet doesn't matter to me. If it doesn't survive my 73" of rain, it's not hardy to me. I can't make the rain stop. Speaking of which, we're having another monsoon.

Karen

SongofJoy You all are a lot of fun, I enjoy you and laugh a lot.

Chelle and jmorth Great pictures! I love my miscanthus also, summer and winter. Looks good all year.


Karen I have Bermuda grass, I hate it. I have been throwing out clover seeds hoping to choke it out but I don't know if its possible.

Bob The real Bob, nice article!

sheryl I wonder how many of mine are dead. I have ordered extra, Its important to have back-up plan.

I know the article is not written in the nicest way , but things I have read from other sources say the same thing. And since I have been following these suggestion I have had better results.