First let me say I love your house. My dream is to someday own a little bungalow!! I almost bought one once but it needed more work that I was willing to do at the time. I know I am late to the party, and I am no landscape expert, but I'm going to chime in my .02 anyway. One of the biggest problems I think you have, in more ways than one, are those huge everygreen shrubs against the foundation. They will dwarf anything else you are doing and it will all look kind of washed out. It seems to me your vision is for a wonderful little perrenial flower garden in front of your house, and in the meantime you have behemouth shrubs to deal with. I would seriously consider taking them out and plant something more open, airy and smaller. There are excellent selections of small, open evergreens at high quality nurseries now days, many of them bred to grow small because your situation is pretty typical of what modern home owners are looking for. At the very least, I would take out the big shrub next to the steps. I had a similar shrub next to the porch stairs in a house I lived in once, and it was a major pain to maintain. An evergreen such as that will trap moisture (especially melting snow) up by the house and the railing and the stairs, all contributing to their faster decline--rust, corrosion and weathering of concrete. There is nothing ugly about your foundation that you need to particularly hide. Rip out that big shrub, and put in something light and airy and flowery. Or at the very least, extend the smaller shrub border all the way to the steps. But honestly, I'd bite the bullet and tear it all out, then you will have a clean slate to design YOUR garden the way YOU want it, not have to work around those ponderous shrubs that someone long gone planted because they just filled a spot. They have overgrown their welcome, IMHO.

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum, but on my third year of plumerias. We went to the show last year and this year. Since we are kinda new, we aren't to picky about which one/type yet so we went on Sunday at 2:00, so there was only two hours left of the show. Let me tell you last year there was plenty to pick from, this year, there was almost nothing left! JJ was the only one who had quite a few left. So that being said a couple vendors were offering to make a deal with the couple that they had left. My husband and I each went with $50.00 to spend, of course we brought the checkbook just in case!! Right away my husband struck a pretty good deal with two of the larger plants that were outside on the patio. The seller marked them both down right away for a total of 45.00 for both, one white and yellow, one yellow and white, both with current inflows and both having an inflow about to open! So then it's my turn, we have plenty that are one to two years old, I kinda wanted one larger one and no more white and yellow. I already have three JJ's... but they do seem to be my strongest plants so why not another one, again a lot of small ones, a couple larger ones for $100, but that over my budget.. so I was going to settle for one for $40.00, I don't even remember what is was, and John saw me and said, no don't get that one, take this one, it was a Rio, with an inflow about to bloom, it was marked $55.00, but he marked it down to $40.00. Still white, but has colored edges, he showed me in the catalog. So I was happy. Then I came across the Aztec Gold, I loved the smell, but they only had a little one left, but the vendor automatically took $5.00 off for me. So for going at the last minute we are very happy with our afternoon at the sale. We left at exactly 100 with a good group of plants. The two on the left are the ones my husband got for a total of 45.00, the one in the back is a JJ Divine for my mother in law, she loves mine, the little one in the front is the Aztec Gold, and the one on the right is the JJ Rio!

I live in Panama City Florida and the locals do not go to the beach! There is no parking for the locals. If you are not staying in a condo or motel there is NO parking for the beach. I drive over to Mexico Beach, about 30 minutes away just before Port St. Joe Florida. It is a nicer beach, not a lot of people and the beach is litter free, drunk college student free and just a nicer beach. Oh...and it is free to park there on side the road in areas marked and they have a big parking lot just for beach goers. Deb

Robo, I hope the rest of your LA visit was great and hopefully not too hot for you. Did you see some of the LA Marathon runners? I had looked at the route and noticed it went right by your friend's neighborhood! Mtn, it was great meeting you today! Mtn and I had breakfast at a cafe right on Venice beach. Perfect weather to sit and chat. Enjoy your stay in LA and the rest of your vacation. Let us know how much you "loved" Disney!