A pic

[ruffian]

Baptisia looks nice.  Thought I would share.

[Aimee]

Ruff,
OOOOOOOOOOO! Pretty! Where did you find such a lovely plant?
I want one! How tall does it get?
Aimee

[Boris]

We just completed our backyard...a 400 sq. ft. brick patio with a 5-foot-wide garden border on 3 sides (mostly full sun). My wife's aunt is a landscape architect, and her mom is a floral designer...so we called in a family favor, and put together a garden that I think goes very nicely with the architecture of the house. Here's a few of the border plantings:

trumpetvine (to climb the side of the garage).
boltonia
rose ("knockout")
solidago ("goldcloth")
queen-of-the-prairie
peonies
day lily ("stella de oro")
rudbeckia
echinacea
"red-trumpet" honeysuckle
joe-pyeweed
alchemilla

...and lots more. When things "grow up" a bit, I'll post some pics.

[ruffian]

Aimee, I saw them at Hidden Gardens over the Holiday, if you want to give them a try.

Mine are about 8 years old.  The bullet pointed heads start coming up out of the ground in May, and keep growing to then bloom thru the first half of June.  Then they grow pods (with lil peas inside, which taste just like peas), then the peas/pods dry and turn into what I call "shakers".  They can be cut and painted into a floral arrangement if you like.  The plant itself after all this remains a nice 4ft high oriental looking type bush, but delicate.  Closer to fall, you can cut them at various lengths from the ground ... 4 / 6 / 8 inch - mix it up .... and they look like bamboo coming up from the ground.  The bamboo looking type stalk then becomes brittle, and you leave them that way till spring ... when the process starts all over again.

[Aimee]

Thanks Ruff! I will have to get some.  I am going to hidden gardens tommorow, my credit card is melting! Oh well good for the yard!
Aimee