Everything you ordered sounds purrrrfect (for cats!). The Aster carolinius grows like a house-a-fire! My neighbor bought his form Plant Delights in a tiny pot, and it reached the top of his fenceline by fall. It blooms in fall, too, and is just covered. Very nice vine. I just bought regular old liatris spicata purple flowering tubers at Wal-mart. I would love to have some of the other native species, but was afraid that they'd be grown in small pots and would take awhile to get going. Do you think that's true? I could get 25 tubers for $4 at Wal-mart, so thought I'd have a pretty nice stand of it. I also bought a couple of the Blue Stars (Amsonia) from them, and a couple from Woodlanders, too. I like to see the variation in what nursery's provide. I did a comparison between PD and Heronswood on my thalictrum flavum 'Illuminator', and the Heronswood plant was much nicer. I also bought a honeysuckle (L. sempervirens 'Leo') which has the red-orange blooms on it. I have a yellow-blooming one that is very old, and grows like a tree up a post in the front yard, that is connected to a V-shaped lath extending out from the porch. The trunk is a good 8" on it, and there are lots of tangled dead wood that the birds just love to nest and play around in. This is the plant that I get the hummingbird clearwing cats from. But, I'm also trying to attract hummingbirds, too, so I thought maybe the brighter color would help. I'm going to grow it in partial shade, but from what I've read, it should do fine there. Also got an anise shrub, too, but not the yellow and purchased the bottlebrush buckeye as well. Had to replace the spicebushes I got last year because they apparently have died. I broke off part of the limbs on them and the cambium layer was deader than a doornail. I just couldn't keep them watered enough last year in our 100+ temps we had for 2 months. So, I am going to grow them in pots this year in front. I pay more attention to them that way. I also got the Sweetbay Magnolia, too. I hope we have good luck with our plants. In Alabama, you are probably in zone 7b, aren't you? I'm in 7a in OKC. Happy planting and glad you're getting settled in now. Susan

Hi leafwatcher, and welcome to the forum. Warning: it's as addictive as the hostas! I live about 100 miles due east of you with similar conditions, and Great Expectations is my favorite of the 800 or so varieties I grow. This is a hosta that, unlike most, has some very specific requirements to grow well. And if grown well, it will be truly spectacular--my largest measures 32 inches tall, 5 1/2 feet across, and looks good all season. First and most importantly, GE must be planted shallowly. Too many people plant this one too deep, since it's going to be a large plant at maturity. When planted this way, GE will, over the course of a few years, dwindle in size and then simply disappear. You want the crown of the plant right at the top of the soil, with only a very thin layer of dirt covering it. Secondly, GE need plenty of sun in order to thrive. If planted in heavy shade, it will grow at a glacially slow pace, taking years to throw a new division. It needs at least half sun to do really well, and it will take absolutely full sun. Most of mine are planted in half to three quarter sun. The third requirement is lots of water, which this year just isn't a problem! But in a dry summer, make sure you water GE quite deeply and regularly. If give these three things, GE will be the most beautiful hosta in your garden. The same growing conditions apply to Thunderbolt, Dream Weaver, and Dream Queen, as these are all selections from GE. Your hosta list looks very nice indeed, not a bum plant in the lot. You do, however, need to add a Montana Aureomarginata to your garden as soon as possible, unless the one you have listed as Aureo Marginata is a montana rather than a fortunei or a ventricosa. If you can't find MA at a good price locally, email me privately--I have about 20 of these that I'm growing out. And then of course, you will want to get a few minis and small hostas--everything you currently have is medium to large. And then you will want to start digging up your lawn to plant more hostas, and raiding the kid's college fund to buy more hostas, and, well, you get the idea--these plants are majorly addictive. Enjoy!

You may want to search your local library and used book stores for the "original" (old edition) Square Foot Gardening book. A much thicker book with, I believe, a white cover. Mel goes into all sorts of detail about working with, amending, fertilizing, etc. your native soil. If it's good soil there's not many reasons not to use it, although I sure haven't missed all those weeds. If the soil doesn't look good then the new method, with the raised boxes and "Mel's Mix" will be much better and easier (I used and loved Mel's original book for many years, but when it disappeared in the moving around surrounding my divorce, I ended up getting the new edition and building a new style SFG at my new home, and then at my parents' house. It was MUCH easier. It sounds like you are well started with a good supply of compost. If you are going to work "in the ground" I would recommend not just adding compost and other amendments (vermiculite was the best thing I ever did for/to my original in-ground SFG) and mashing them in there, but actually removing some (when I say "some" here think closer to "half" than any smaller number) of the volume of soil and replace it with compost, vermiculite, etc. don't try to "mash it in." The goal is to create a light, friable, soil that is easy to work in and for plants to grow in, not stuff a more dense mixture into the same amount of space. That brings me to the second important thing, which is to plan some kind of walkways, of boards, concrete pavers, etc if you want any paths into your beds. As long as there is room to move on both sides of the bed this shouldn't be a problem with a 4 foot width, but if it is going to be right against a wall or fence you will need to plan some way to get to your back squares without walking on the soil. That's the other big thing to the SFG method, never walk on the soil. That way you can work on it regularly, with light tools (trowels, a spade at very most) mixing in fresh compost every time you pull old plants out, and never have use heavy equipment on the soil again. Typically the tall plants go along the northern edge of the garden, so that they don't shade the shorter plants.

I've been a member for years. I mostly just read. I'm a mom of three, work part time, and I'm a musician on the side for fun. I'm quiet in a large crowd, fairly anxious in general, my friends call me chop chop, and I have a very healthy sense of humor. I'm also quite opinionated. I like coming here because sometimes I just want my own personal water cooler - I'm quite entertained at times here! :P