Thanks for the input so far. Brent - interestingly, nothing is "invasive" in Indiana - but I wouldn't have known that without your post prompting me to check. It was a good though. bhrost - We're the last house in a subdivision that was made out of farmland - so there is unfortunately NOTHING that's native. A surprising number of people have used grasses that I associate with the sea/great lakes - which are hundreds of miles away. saypoint - While our cart isn't before the horse, it's probably next to it more than it should be (?). We do have a complete landscape design, including where the walks are, the driveway, etc. We've also planned for landscape lighting, although the final lighting won't be decided until all the landscaping is planned. I only included the front yard in my message, as I thought the message was too long as it was. As far as your other comments - one of my initial thoughts in looking at the plan was that the shade trees aren't in the right place in the back yard, and I'll work with the designer on that. In addition, from what I can tell/know, the back isn't unified with the front as much as I'd like - so thanks for confirming that it should be. Other thougths always welcome! Emily

HERITAGE (English) - shell pink; two trained as climbers. THE PILGRIM (English) - blush yellow; two trained as climbers. These four roses are trained as climbers up a west facing trellis attached to my house. The roses are fronted by a raised flower bed, constructed from native stone, containing reblooming bearded irises in shades of blue-white-lilac-pink, dwarf shasta daisies, dwarf purple coneflower and lavender. Central stone path planted with creeping thyme, johny-jump-up violets and creeping Roman chamomile. New flower border: SHARIFA ASMA (English) - light warm pink Lavender AMBRIDGE ROSE (English) - apricot pink Lavender HAPPY CHILD (English) - canary yellow Stone steps leading up to potting shed. Right side of steps planted with sunflowers and lavender. Left side of steps planted with 2 MOLINEUX (English, yellow blend), annual blue cornflowers, and violets (var. Etain; LOVELY fragrance!). Just to the right, at the top of the steps, against a trellis attached to east facing fence wall: EVELYN (English) - apricot pink ABRAHAM DARBY (English) - smoky pink blushed coppery apricot More Lavender Front of potting shed (facing north) planted with Prince Charles Clematis, foxgloves, native bleeding hearts, monkshood and perennial forget-me-nots (var. Looking Glass and Jack Frost). BTW, the F-R-A-G-R-A-N-C-E!!! Between the irises, then the roses, followed by the chamomile, lavender, coneflower, thyme and sweet violets. It is positively orgasmic. Just make sure to watch out for the bumble bees - their EVERYWHERE. Hope this helps, Patrick

Cat, 42 to 92??? Drats! I'm not ready for that. Show us pics of your cute Guava skipper cats, PLEASE!!! Susan, that will be fine. I will need you to help guide me, as I am not comfortable, or familiar driving in Norman. Remember, we decided not to do it Thurs. We were short at work, and I picked up some hours. Is Lantana- Miss Huff the one that Miss Sherry always RAVES about? Where did you find it? Is it hardy here? I may want a cutting of it, if it does well for you. :) My Mexican flame vine has overwintered SEVERAL winters here. Each year, I am shocked and pleased that it keeps coming back. Mike C. has had trouble with his coming back zone 7. Did you find you some? I had planned to dig you up a start. Glad that you had the cynanchum for extra food! That makes sense about your milkweed in the ditches being up sooner, Randy. Do you mow your own ditches, or does the highway dept. wack it off at the wrong time??? I need to find out just when is the correct time to mow the milkweeds. I was thinking June, but it may be July, to have tender young growth for the Monarchs coming back in Aug. PAINTBRUSH in your pastures!!!! Only in my dreams!!! My hope is to have a prairie area full of paintbrush, milkweeds, and other wildflowers. Ohhhh, someday.... You know that Paintbrush is another host plant for the Buckeyes in Okla. I would love to scatter Paintbrush seeds all over my county. I just love it. Of course they would mow it at the wrong time, before it set seed. Our most common weed in the ditches are Johnson grass. I have only seen it in a few places here. Do you have any Dogbane growing? Looks kinda like milkweed, has a reddish stem, loves wet places, and bleeds a milky substance when cut? The butterflies all flock to it when blooming in May. Have you noticed any native Purple coneflowers in your pasture? Another great nectar source. Wonder if you have any Amorpha fruiticosa- False indigo? Wonderful small tree with lacy leaves and purple s=flowers in the spring? Host plant for the Silver Spotted skippers. Really cute caterpillars. You have such a treasure, Randy. Hope that you will consider having the Native Plant Society come out this summer to help Id some of your treasures. :)

Herbalbetty, do you have pics of your garden? It sounds wonderful. I grow herbs for decoration, food, and medicine. I buy at least 6 every spring as many don't winter over here. I especially like variegated and purple foliage plants. Oregano, purple sage, rosemary, marjoram, most thymes, Dusty Miller are only grown as annuals. Even lemon balm is not winter hardy here. I plant many at the edge of the patio so they are easy to get to and enjoy. In my main perennial garden I also have lavender, chives, flax, lovage, Johnny-Jump-Ups, feverfew, rue, mallow, horseradish, lamb's ears, Lady's Mantle, as well as red/pink/yellow yarrow that return, some self-seed. Some are only decorative in my garden altho historically have been used medicinally. We removed 3 stones in our patio and planted creeping thyme which returns. I didn't plant it this year but had a welcome parsley volunteer in a part of my garden where parsley has never been. I've seeded various herbs over the years. One year I even seeded rosemary, which can be difficult, and had lots of little plants by the end of the summer. They don't overwinter outdoors and are not easy to keep as houseplants I've found. We have red clover growing wild and I may plant more as a ground cover in my new garden. One year I had 10 different kinds of mint and kept them all in large pots. We buried the pots to overwinter, left them in place and they started to escape. So all but 2 were moved next to the barn where I think the deer ate them and they disappeared. Historically gardens were grown primarily for food and medicine so herbals were part of this. The fact gardens are decorative was a secondary function, now of course frequently the primary function. I like a combination.