Let's see, in no particular order, I would have to say....

1. My roses, best year ever, probably because of all the nice soaking rains this year.

2. My pride and joy every year are my Wave/Tidal Petunias, my garden would not be the same without them ;)

3. For sure the Lilacs, what a beautiful show they put out this year and the fragrance will linger in my memory till next season.

4. Can't forget the Lilies, different ones blooming each week.

5. I was really pleased to see for the first time my Crambe cordifolia bloom this year.

I could go on and on, but those are my top 5 ;)

Sharon

My top five would be:

1) My gloriosa daisy. It's sitting in the middle of my new front garden like a beacon.
2) Two of my dahlia's look like sunshine out there even in the middle of the rain.
3) After a good renewal pruning in late winter my Pink Beauty potentilla are full and lush and blooming beautifully.
4) The new Jacob's Ladder - not sure if its the Bressingham Purple someone was asking about. Foliage and bloom is spectacular. I'll never throw name tags away again, thinking "oh, I'll remember that one."
5)Weigelia 'Red Prince'. Just fell in love with weigelia when I was doing my Master Gardener Plant I.D. Now I have two different ones.
Please don't check my spelling on any of these plants
And then there's - oh only five. I am loving my whole new yard and can hardly wait to see how it matures.
Kate

Seeing as my garden is very new and I'm still a "rookie" there are things that are "first times" for me that I'm totally thrilled with. Don't chuckle too hard, OK? I know lots of these plants are "normal" stuff that always grows well here! LOL

1. Columbines being the #1 delight this spring -- I had at least 4 varieties that I had winter-sown the previous spring so seeing these bloom was a huge treat!

2. Shasta Daisies -- again, they were winter-sown the year before and bloomed for the first time this spring. They put on a major show for weeks and I was really surprised (in a good way!) with how large it had gotten in just one year.

3. Moonshadow Sunflowers -- first time trying them this year and I just LOVE them!

4. Lavatera -- both the "Mont Blanc" and the "Silver Cup" varieties!

5. Lupines -- any and all!

Only 5? OK, OK, I'll obey the rules! LOL

Ang

Well, there are a lot of things that make me happy in my garden. Top 5, eh? Let's see.

1. Lilies, any and all, but especially "Stones", "Centrefold" and "Renoir". "Stones" grew almost 5' high this year. The other two are new to me and i really liked them.
2. Meconopsis grandis - i can never get over how pretty that thing is and can't believe it's actually blooming for me!
3. Kate mentioned her dahlias looking like sunshine. For me, there are two containers of begonias in the back of one garden. One is orange and the other is yellow. Both are just brilliant!
4. I was really happy that my Clematis Jackmanii bloomed this year (its first). It's still blooming, and makes me look forward to when it's more mature and covered with flowers!
5. It's really hard to pick one more. I was going to say my Simon Fraser rose, but i guess it would be tied with many of the new tulips i planted last fall - Spring Green, Sweetheart, Zurel - they were all lovely, and so welcome after the long winter.

Oh I love these type of 'surveys'. In no particular order...

1. Wave petunias. Up until a couple of years ago, my petunias started the season okay, but quickly turned yellow and scraggly. I then was told to fertilize like crazy, which I have done every two weeks or even more often. What a difference. It's almost September and they still look great.

2. My Lamium. I have a small pond in the backyard, right beside the deck. There is a one foot strip of soil, then the pond edge with rocks. I planted a mixture of White Nancy Lamium and the golden Lamium (Aurea?). They have now completely filled in the area and there's no soil visible, so you have a section of White nancy, a bit of golden lamium, then more white nancy, Then a bit more gold lamium it's quite striking, especially since I bought grocery store taro root and started plants that I placed inbetween the lamium. The location helps, however, a part shady spot that's overall been very moist this summer and last.

3. My yellow ribbon cedar. It's more yellow on the ends of the branches, more green/yellow in the center, hence the name. It just makes me happy to admire it, especially with other green cedars close by and contrast plants such as weigela midnight, euonymus, and cherry barberry nearby. I wrap yellow ribbon for winter, but well worth it.

4. My pinkish hibiscus. I bought it on clearance in spring 2004 and planted it in a pot. Brought it inside for winter. This summer, it's back outside and blooming it's head off with pinkish yellow blooms. And it only gets 3 hours of morning sun.

5. My Walker Weeping caragana. I bought it a year ago, on sale. It had only one branch with leaves. I planted it, and it sat in soggy soil for the rest of the summer. Then it developed aphids which defoliated it more. In the end, I wasn't sure it even had the energy to survive winter so I made 'contingency' plans for that spot. This spring, however, it surprised me. Branches that had no leaves last summer, suddenly developed leaves. The plant is still pretty scraggly, basically one branch going to the right, one smaller branch to the left, but I do find it interesting to look at. Then again, whenever I see a misshaped plant, I always think of it as having "character".

Great to read everyone's input.

Glen

Glen, see if you can find the Lamium called "Golden Anniversary". Here it is behind the Stella D'Oro - i love it!

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1. Casablanca oriental lilies
2. shrubs that bloomed for the first time this year: lilacs from cutting, a forsythia, and a viburnum
3.rocket larkspur
4. wintersown foxglove
5. wintersown aruncus

1) My first foxglove flowers ever
2) My first lupine flowers ever
3) the corn is fantastic this year
4) All my lilies and daylilies bloomed - and lots! Three daylilies started in mid-July and are still blooming.
5) All my roses, but most impressed with the four new ones planted this spring - they have grown like crazy and bloomed a LOT.

1. Helenium Mardis Gras - a new mail order purchase this year, and its really outstanding.
2. Phalaris Feesey's Form - another mail order purchase that exceeded my expectations in its first year.
3. Siloam Tiny Tee Daylily - purchased a couple years ago, forgot where I planted it and gave it up for dead. This year it bloomed its silly little head off.
4. Nasturtiums - they just keep growing and blooming. I think they have their eye on my husband's vegetable garden.
5. American Dream Coreopsis - really took off in its 2nd year.

Hmmmmm this is tough with only 5..lets see...

1. Glads...three had two large flowering stens on them and several of the others had side shoots on the single stem that produced another short stem that flowered.

2. ice plants..annual....have never had them get so big and produce so many flowers.

3. LA hybrid lilies...Yellow....were huge and put on an exceptional show.

4. Delphs.....was worried cause I divided them last fall........they put on the biggest show yet...this year.

5. Peonies.....some flowered for the first time.

Nice picture Marcia, and the stella d'oro even has blooms as well (I removed mine after four years because it barely bloomed).

Re Lamium, I will have to look for "golden anniversary".

Actually, I bought a new type from the garden centre this year called "Red Nancy". It's suppose to have dark pink flowers (not red). One thing I noticed when I brought the plant home and compared it to "White Nancy" was that the leaves don't seem to have as brilliant white/silver markings.

Maybe that will change as it gets older, but so far I prefer the "White Nancy" to "Red Nancy" for leaf color as well as the white flowers.

Glen

I have "White Nancy" in my shady white garden. It kind of travels around, unlike "Golden Anniversary" and "Aureum", which stay in a nice moundy clump. I do like it, though, with or without the flowers.

"Red Nancy" would be interesting to see - i'll google it right now! Well, the pictures show silver leaves, but pictures can be deceiving, right? I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for it, though - thanks, Glen!

1. Purple & white coneflower put in last year (they didn't amount to anything) - this year, they're huge with lots of flowers
2. Globeflower - had this at our campsite where it didn't do anything in the sand, took it home this spring and it grew 3 1/2 feet - love the "weird" spikey yellow flowers on it
3. My semp and cactus garden, just started in August
4. My succulent garden new this year
5. I always love my hostas

I don't have a whole lot for perennials yet, so most of my delights are annuals (in no particular order):
1. Godetia that I started indoors from seed. They looked so gangly and terrible when I planted them out, but faster than anything else they filled in and covered with buds. When they flowered they were amazing and covered the whole plant so you couldn't even see the leaves!
2. Sweetpeas. A beautiful pink/red/purple/white mix that smells sooooo good and drifts in through the kitchen window!
3. Cerise Queen Yarrow. I started this indoors from seed this year and it's blooming now! The ferny leaves are very beautiful and the colour is great - a nice dark pink.
4. Amaranthus. The seed package showed dark green leaves and drooping deep red flowers, but it ended up being deep purple leaves and upright blooms that are really amazing. I love the colour!
5. Iceland Poppies. I just discovered the Winter Sowing forum early this spring and was inspired so I started these outside in April in a big foil roaster. They were really tiny when I planted them out (hunk-o-seedling style) and now they are flowering!

Sweetpea, interesting about the godetia. Shauna started some this spring and sent me seeds as well. Both of ours grew so gangly and matted that we ended up tossing them. Maybe we should have hung on! I think we started them way too early, though. I had a godetia self-seed, though, and was pretty nice this year. I'm hoping it does again - it just might because it's in a crowded spot and never got deadheaded.

I have "Cerise Queen" as well. This is its third or fourth summer, but it didn't do as well as other years. Maybe it's just petering out, but it may also have been crowded by "Love Parade" and "Summer Pastels". I'm going to divide both of those this fall to give away, and see if "Cerise Queen" comes back next year. (I have emergency back-up seed just in case!) If you like a nice deep red, "Angelique" is lovely. I bought one from Patrick Studio and it bloomed for ages this summer.

I was impressed with so many plants but here are my 5 best.

1. My cannas, they started blooming in mid July and are still going strong.

2. Nemesia, one of my favorite annuals, always brightens up an area no matter where you plant it.

3 Annual phlox, I have one of the best displays of phlox that I have ever had. Lots of blooms with many different colors.

4. Bittersweet vine, this thing grew like crazy. I bought it in June as a 2 foot plant, and now it is about 9-10 feet tall with lots of side shoots.

5. My Morden roses, they have boomed non stop all summer long and are still going strong.

Cheers Al

My roses did fantastic this year, the mordens have bloomed and bloomed

The cone flowers put on a good show as did the new shaggy daisy I bought

Delphiniums put on a good show and did not flop over

And best of all I have very much enjoyed the pond I put in

As usual my 1.Purple clematis one is jackmani & don't know the other one I have with it. But still looks great.

Was really impressed with the purple 2.Allium this spring.

3.Agastache aurantiaca love this one & so does the hummer, too bad its zone 6..

4.Easy wave red petunia most of them did great..

5.Pink common mallow.. have it growing under a bird cage under my bird feeding ladder.. Its looks great. But having trouble capturing a pic..

And yes there were a lot of disappointments too..

Love to see others favorites.

Marcia. Love the look of your lamium Golden Anniversay. Did you buy it as a plant or grow from seeds. and if seeds, where to get them please.

Bloom, i bought it as a plant, possibly at Vanderwees Greenhouse in Thunder Bay. I'll have a look and see if i can find some seeds on it - i've never collected from lamium before, though. There might be a seedpod left on it -i'll check tomorrow.

I've tried sending cuttings of lamiums to someone (was it you, Sharon?) through the mail, but they said they didn't think they would make it. I'm sure they root, though, so if all else fails, i could take a cutting next spring and root it for you.

No it wasn't me Marcia, but you'd be better off dividing or taking cuttings of your 'Anniversary' to make more plants, even if you did get seeds, I'm sure it wouldn't come true.

Kat, just love everything in your garden!!!!!

Sharon

Primulas: Maybe I am selecting these because they were one of the few things that wasn't flattened and demolished by our early June storm with high winds. They all did very well with P. saxatalis, the star performer, blooming abundantly for a 6 week period.

Huechera 'Raspberry Regal'. This is one of the few Heucheras that has been in my garden for years. It always performs very well. The foliage is not 'fancy'....mostly green with a bit of silvering. It is the flowers on this cultivar that are so great. Long blooming in a color that matches its name, the stalks reach a height of at least 36 inches and last most of the season.

Eupatorium 'Gateway'. I moved this in the spring and thought it would be set back. It wasn't. A spectacular, very tall plant. Many flower heads measuring, from side-to-side over the dome, 27-30 inches.

Phlox paniculata. The late blooming varieties are the main contributors of non-yellow colors in my late summer garden....most blooming vigourously all the way into late September. The late bloomers in my garden are 'David', Eva Cullen', 'Franz Shubert', 'Robert Poore' and 'Orange Perfection'. With the exception of the last listed, all are very tall....rivaling the height of 'Gateway'. None have ever had mildew problems.

Hostas. How could someone addicted to Hostas not list them? However, if I wasn't a Hosta person, I would say all the Ligularias were delights this year.
Jan

Jan, do you think your heuchera would come true from seed? I've never tried them from seed, though i did collect some last year. I have two sanguiniums that usually bloom most of the summer but i guess they didn't like the heat this year and petered out early. I love heucheras - the greens and silvers more than the ambers and browns. This year i bought "Silver Scrolls" from Patrick Studio. It wasn't happy for a long time but has settled in nicely now. :)

No, I don't think 'Raspberry Regal' would come true from seed. It is a cultivar... a cross that occurred naturally.

I would like to get my grubby hands on H. 'Champagne Bubbles'. Supposedly a prolific bloomer with 30 inch flower stalks. Also, said to be a rebloomer. Anybody growing this one?

Seems like the Heucheras known for their flower production generally do not have the fancy colored foliage. Would much prefer a great blooming Huechera with rather ordinary foliage than the fancy foliaged ones with 'blah' for flowers. Besides, most of the fancy foliage cultivars have a poor survival rate in my garden.
Jan

I have "Dale's Strain". The foliage is not very fancy, but the flowers are even less so! I do prefer the nicer flowers, though i'll put up with not-so-nice ones for fancy foliage.

Hi Marcia - I'll try and remember to post a photo of my godetia in full bloom when I'm at home, you would never believe how bad they looked when I planted them out if you saw that! I almost didn't bother planting them either because they were that bad. They were probably 6-8" tall (but not straight up - they were more horizontal with a couple bends in them) and had only a few sets of leaves with massive gaps in between. They filled in amazingly fast once I planted them outside though (it blew me away!), so I might try direct seeding or even winter sowing them next year. Or maybe I'll luck out and have some re-seed like yours did! I would definitely encourage you to try them again and don't give up no matter how bad they look!

Thanks for the feedback on the "Cerise Queen". I've been a bit worried that it will become really invasive, but it doesn't sound like it from what you've said.

"Angelique" also sounds really nice. I'm just starting out with perennials so I'm still deciding on colours. So far I've been leaning towards dark pinks and yellows (coreopsis "early morning sunrise" and "rudbeckia goldsturm") so a dark red might look pretty good with that. The "Raspberry Regal" Heuchera sounds interesting too!