The places that I order from are: Michiganbulb.com They have beautiful plants. Including Sedum, a very popular succulant. Look at the Mixed Ice Plants.. They may be a low water color option. There are also Hostas. There is a set, Hosta Superbag mix, 9 plants for $19. Watch out though some Hostas don't tolerate sun or hot weather. I needed something to cover an electric box in my front yard I bought Elephant Ears. They were on sale near the pharmacy, $2 a bulb. Gurney.com They are the old stand by and have everything. Gilbert H. Wild and Son, gilbertwild.com I buy anchor pieces there.. they can get expensive. van Bourgondien, duchbulbs.com Jung Seeds and Plants, jungseed.com Look at the Coral Sunset Peony. They are BEAUTIFUL. Brecks, brecks.com Another standby. van Engelen Wholesale Dutch Flower Bulbs, http://www.vanengelen.com Dutch Mills, Dutchmills.com Amazon.com Seriously... I have bought a lot of plants from them. http://www.vermontwildflowerfarm.com/flore-pleno.html http://www.colorblends.com/tulips/ It takes time to look thru all of the websites. It is not a one nite job. Like them on FB, get on their mailing lists. You get coupons. Order their catalogues. That makes it a ton easier! This is a REALLY great time to put plants in! There are a TON of sales!!! Specifically for succulents I would start at Gurney's and Michigan Bulbs. I would check out English Lavender or Russian Sage too. They smell wonderful!! They bloom for months and don't require a lot of care or water. It didn't rain in WI for a month and a half and my Russian Sage grew like mad. If you take the blooms off you can put them in sache's or sprinkle them over the carpet... have the kids run over it a few times before you vaccume. Great cut too! Rosemary, the herb is a great smelling plant for the house or yard...great on chicken! Hope theses helped!!

I like the potential of such a space. Many great ideas have been presented already. I definitely would look at drainage and soil condition first. A good design goes hand in hand with that to be sure standing water has a place to go. First questions to ask is ways you plan to use it. You mentioned relaxing. If that is the main purpose, a Japanese type garden or English garden approach is perhaps your direction. Maybe a water feature for the sound. If its family oriented, small seating areas for both relaxing and eating out doors. Place for a grill perhaps. If its entertaining then more open, more hard scaping with accent plantings, seating, perhaps a fire pit.

Hey Galleria, are you still there? Relax about the flooding, that is Mother Nature telling you that all is well and the lake is being regenerated for another year. Your trouble is that you are surrounded by too much beauty - you are spoiled - face it. My serious suggestion is to limit your view of the lake and make it more interesting when it is not wide open. Envision this. At each corner of your property and inward for a ways, you build two raised beds say 4-5' high. They are built to look just like seawalls. You know, vertical railroad tie-like 8x8s with a horizontal 2x12 just below the top, all a bleached gray - you know the look. One bed at each side but not symmetrical or equal. The same height and construction, but one at one side with one large tree and a small tree in it and one at the other side with two or three trees in it, deep-rooted trees, that will thrive in the raised bed. You then view the ground-level activity at the lake from the house, only through the gap in between, and the trees add a filter to all the activity on the lake and beyond. Much more interesting. Adds a little more interest or mystery to the view that is otherwise wide open. Too much beauty. control the view. cascio.offsite@gmail.com

I enjoyed reading this thread interesting how these plants adapt … even in my own home from one season to the next i have learned to change my routine air conditioning in summer and direct south sun and glazed ceramic pots and bad soil was a bad recipe for me (powdery mildew) soil didnt dry fast enough i lost my most beautiful AV, and i am still mad about it lol i went back to nursery pots, use the pretty glazed pots as cache pots only, i water less in summer due to my home being air conditioned and then wood stove heated in Wisconsin winters (dry and toasty in here) means i water more in winter but i fertilize year round with Optimara or with dynagro ”grow” formula i move them off to the side of the south window so they get some early morning direct sun or late afternoon direct sun and bright indirect sun all day one thing to add: pot size should be 1/3 the size of the total width of the plant they are also shallow rooted so if your plant leaf edge to leaf edge spans 6 inches, you should be potting it in a 2 inch pot the roots grow out to the side more than they grow downward so shallow pots are ideal provided you have proper soil and drainage i also make sure their stem sits a little higher in the pot so that their leaves arent sitting on top of the soil and there is more room for air circulation (the crown sits just above the soil surface) Each row of leaves produce a set of flowers only once according to what i read i pinch older lower leaves periodically one girl said she pinches the leaves in the center of the crown if it gets too crowded and when she does she gets profuse blooms i havent tried it yet… I’m just too scared lol i use al taplas 5:1:1 mix and they are happy in it and growing well, i had terrible luck with miracle grow soil (even their african violet soil but i also had glazed ceramic pots) or anything homemade with vermiculite - it was far too dense mine bloom regulary, i top water rain or distilledwith a medical grade squirt bottle on the soil only but if a leaf gets wet i dab it with paper towel the only time its been an issue for me is in the summer if my home is too humid or too cool for the leaves to dry up …. i think the key is how fast are those leaves going to dry in your climate? i have one AV in a closed terrarium and her leaves get wet all the time shes happy she is the one i successfully propogated with a leaf cutting placed directly into straight chicken grit and then positioned her in an east window… took a few months but then to my surprise i saw the growth … from there i transferred her to a closed terrarium so dont tell me their leaves cant get wet lol i didn‘t let the leaf harden off before propogating but i made sure it was a healthy leaf and not a ratty one in decline another that i repotted sent me an offshoot i just discivered so now i have another plant they are finicky but once you understand their needs they are very rewarding and i welcome their beautiful blooms in these dreary wisconsin winters … they are my winter blues antidote my late mother grew beautiful african violets and i inherited all of her beautiful plants years back and unfortunately i killed every last one of them (overwatering and bad soil and inexperience at a younger age) i’m still recovering lol theres something about nurturing plants that is very rewarding, especially in these crazy times we are living in