Lol - I'd been thinking about how everyone here keeps saying that plant selection should come closer to the end of the design process, but for a lot of people, a large part of the design process is how to find places for the plants we want to include! IMO, for a lot of gardeners, when putting together the initial list of things that are wanted in a garden, it is entirely fair to include specific plants to design around, as well as more purely functional things like "a place to eat with shade in the evening hours". When I was working on my wish list for the new house, I actually wrote down 5 or 6 different color schemes/garden feels that I wanted to include somewhere on the site. I also included lists of plant ideas for each area. Iirc, they were: - blues/whites/purples with a romantic feel - Rose garden with peonies and other romantic plants in pink/red/white - bright cheerful colors, with hollyhocks along a fence - prairie feel with purples and yellows - white and lavender in the front, to set off and coordinate with the Norway Maple and red brick / siding. And in fact, I think I have places for all of them. The first bit is the border I planted this year, which will border the back corner secluded area. It will extend toward the house, transitioning to the pink/red/white rose garden. That border will also enclose the veggie garden area. The veggie garden will also be the transition area for colors, as well - the fence side is where I want my hollyhocks, and I will probably put my daffodils there, too. (My dd was born when daffodils bloom, and I have a picture of her coming home from the hospital in front of our old house, with daffodils and grape hyacinths in full bloom. I decided they were her flower, so I must have daffodils forevermore!) The yellow/purple prairie feel will probably go to the front on the side of the house, opposite the side with the Norway maple. (I think there was another color scheme that I didn't manage to fit in - maybe yellow & red?) Otoh, we are still sorting out what else we want to do with the whole site! We've been talking about adding onto the house, but as the summer progresses, I'm finding I really like eating out on the existing patio, which would turn into enclosed space in our current addition scheme. But, we are consciously trying to include both interior and exterior spaces as we continue the design... Irene

I usually don't have a problem with DH, because he is a plant nut also. He doesn't mind having some common plants around, but he goes for those weird ones. The more difficult they are to grow and the stranger they appear, the better he likes them! He has an old friend, that is a Botanist(PhD) and when I go along on visits to his garden, it's like being in a foriegn country, where no English is spoken! We went to a Big Box store(the Orange one) early Sun AM to obtain some potting mix to finish? my Spring ritual, "Divide-the-Plants", for my Garden Club fund raising sale. DH went along to load.(They don't provide that service, anymore). Found some Hydrangeas that I had been wanting for a year or more. His only comments were; Do you really need that many and where on earth are you going to plant them? I only purchased the best 2 of the 5 in stock, even though they were extremely reasonably priced. Looked at the JM's, but selection was VERY limited and price was astronomical! Very likely, the vendor will be taking those home, after the planting season is over. I have grown and sold those in the past and would have been very embarrassed to quote a price that high, even to a stranger!

Judith, there are quite a few new people here, you should post the link to your album here again so the newbies can go see all your great bunnies and how you use them in arrangements. You really have some nice big ones and cute little ones, I always enjoy seeing them. And I still remember all the "escapades" of "Stud" or was that "Spud"? He's Kathleen's cute bunny and was quite a naughty boy until he went through rehabilitation! LOL For the newbies here, you can probably still find the posts about him in our archives from last year around Easter time. I have to say that bunnies always catch my eye too. They are just so cute and just add that element of fun to a tabletop, mantle, or even on the floor. Luvs

Oh my gosh, I love it!!