Janie,

Don't bother enter the bad writin' contest 'cause I've allready done so so 2nd is the best you can hope for...

Ahhh, the crocosmia! Our's didn't even bother to come back this year but it bloomed vibrant red goose neck shaped blooms last year. I think the culrivar is called "Lucifer" and we got it from the Dutch Bulb company, though I believe it is officially a "corm" rather than a "bulb"... I know there is also a yellow hybrid but I'm not keen on yellow flowers, except the yellow dicidious azaleas that I've scrounged from thre Carolina mountains...

The crocosmias are supposed to be hard in Zone 6 so I guess somethin' else may have gotten them... Voles, perhaps... I hate voles...

Also, just starting to bloom are the sasanquas which is a everygreen camillia looking plant that blooms in the fall. the flower, pink or white, resemble camillias as well except much smaller... about 2 1/2 inches across...

We have just cleaned up a lot of cleomi and cardinal flowers which gewt messy this time a year. We left several cleomi that are still in bloom to add a little color to the bed right behind the deck off our master bedroom...

SRS,

The placement of yer birdbath sounds perfect... Actually, birdbaths have that vertical sculptural quality which is needed for composition in any well planned garden. It also made me think of some of the plants that the P-Vine and I use to provide those vertical qualities and the green spire uranamous is a great one. And relatively cheap. Is evergreen and grows to 6 feet but oly about a foot wide. Its a little like sky pencil but wider and more intersting... Just thought I've throw that plant in in case anyone is looking for some verticle feature fir cheap... And if a branch gets broken of, stick it in root tone and, way..lay.... new plant.

Bobert