Hi Doris, I am very interested in the Kentucky Coffee Tree. I have known for three years exactly where I wanted to put them. And this is my year to start trees! I'm just coming off a Hoover incident myself. I'll check your list in the morning. Thanks, Seedmama

I too am from the north, transplanted 3 years ago to KY - the hybrid musks do very well for me here, and my experiments with bourbons and chinas have done well also. I just started with teas and have had some success although the late spring frost this year spelled death to my climing teas and tea noisettes. Since the teas take a while to build their structure I'm growing quite a few of them in large pots until I can evaluate their survival potential. I don't winter protect them and so far I've done fine with them. I do grow some of my old northern favorites, rugosas in particular because they are so undemanding, smell wonderful, and can take some of our less than favorable soils. I don't have many roses yet - maybe two dozen varieties with some repeats in the ground and almost that many in pots that I'm watching - but I'm beginning to develop favorites. I can identify certain varieties but, like Ann, I think seeing first hand at a public garden is invaluable. You can really separate the good "doers" from the weak in those situations simply because maintenance in a public garden can be less than in a home garden situation. Being a lazy gardener I tend to choose the easiest to maintain. I mix the no smell, "will grow in pavement" types with the divas, and yet I never spray. So it's fun to experiment and discover what you like and how you like to garden. Have fun.

There is no 'Kentucky Wonder'. Please do a google search for Ty TY, or go to gardenwatchdog.com to read more about this very disreputable nursery. I know someone in Bowling Green, KY that ordered one and it grew just fine, but never came back this year despite heavy mulching. Sorry to see you already ordered one. Next time, do some research on the company you are ordering from.

Welcome, Cottage Fairy! I'm relatively new here, myself, and my garden is definitely in the progress stage! (Moved last fall...) We planted morning glories for the first time last year, and the kids loved them, so I planted some under our new cherry tree. No seedlings yet, but I only did it recently. What I'm now wondering is, are morning glories and moonflowers ever both open at the same time, or do you get one and then the other? That was the thing I didn't like about the morning glories - by the time I got home from work, they were closed! I really only got to appreciate them on the weekend, alas. (Same with my blue flax, which is part of why I'm not planting it at the new house, btw.) So, I like the idea of evening blooming flowers... (This is also part of why I planted so many white flowers in my new border, which is pretty far from the house - I'm hoping I'll be able to see them from inside in the evening!)