I was at Rich's on Wed. May 23, & the big leaf magnolia was starting to bloom. Did you see it? I'd never seen 1 in person b4 in bloom. It was amazing. It didn't matter that I didn't bring my camera; photos could never do it justice. I was also ogling the tree peonies.

aokat: it is some hand woven rug from a local store, I don't know if it is a "brand" or something, sorry. phyl: it is Rosemary Sprig from BM. The tiles are from Pewabic Pottery in Detroit. They are from the "stratton collection" and come in that size which is 3x3 and they are just fixed regularly with grout. I custom ordered the tiles from them, they have a choice of about 10 or 12 standard colors to pick from.

Don, nice! If this one gets any bigger, she's going to bust out of the barrel. If that happens, I'll be hacking through tree roots for a big enough hole to put her in the ground. I just hope it doesn't happen till next year, lol! Thank you, everyone. You're so kind with your comments. It's both encouraging and enabling - I'm looking for places to add a couple more.

Is First Blush fast growing !?! What good news! The one I got only had four leaves, and I broke one in the car on the way home.