I think you should take a picture of your front flower bed and post it here. I thought it looked awesome.

Thank you sooner. It is in transition right now! The poppies are getting cleaned up but not cut back yet as I have request for seeds for the coral color mop head!! Maybe later!!!

Sorie, I'm sorry to hear you have whiteflies. My best guess about the reason they are so bad in so many parts of Oklahoma this year is because the winter was so very mild that they were able to overwinter in larger numbers than usual. I haven't seen any in my garden yet, but other people near me have them, so I imagine it is just a matter of time.

I'm glad to hear how well your plants are doing this year. I have been cutting back Laura Bush petunias regularly too. I love them, but they will do their best to outgrow any and every area in which they are growing. It is so refreshing to have petunias that are so determined to grow and bloom no matter what the weather is doing. They do just as well for me in the excessively rainy years as in the hot, drought type years.

Oklahoma is a great place to garden since we can grow somethings almost year-round. I usually have flowers of some sort in bloom even in December, January and February, and of course, the veggie and herb season is almost as long. Actually, you can grow some winter veggies throughout the winter too, but I don't always do that. Often, by the time autumn rolls around, I'm exhausted from garden maintenance and food preservation and don't want to grow winter vegetables. Sometimes even an avid gardener needs a break from the work involved in gardening.

Dawn