Need area specific plant ideas

Even the good ones? What about bees?

Nope I just don't like them...they can do their good deeds in my gardens but it doesn't mean I have to like them!!!

Most flowers attract bees though.

Yup true but I stay away when they are buzzing around! I just have a fear of bees....I guess it has to do with being stung as a kid....

Then forget about clethra - they attract a lot. But the fragrance is wonderful.

Well that won't stop me if I like it.....I tolerate bugs I just don't like them...how many times do I have to tell you hehehe.....

I'm afraid of bees too. Not so much for myself but for my Boston Terrier, Mickey. Last summer he got stung by one and his little face swelled up so badly that he seriously looked like a Shar-Pei. I've heard the "next" reaction can be even worse, which scares me a lot. I probably won't have any potted flowers this year in the areas where the dogs hang out. I guess bees are a necessary evil in my world, now.

Yes, each successive one gets worse, in general. I am allergic myself.

I hear ya Noreaster!

Well I think I have made some decisions on the replacement of my DL. I think I might go with a few options and that is only if I can find them....16 candles....geranium.....Heuchera
and possibly Dicentra 'King of Hearts' ---- so thanks very much everyone for your help!!!!

I am still undecided on that dogwood though....sigh!!

Victor, I would think bees and peanuts would be the worst and scariest allergies to have. Do you keep an epi-pen on hand? I've heard some people keep one for their pets, but my vet told me that at his size, it would be too dangerous. So yeah, I wish we didn't HAVE to have bees. The worst bee magnet of all that we have is a yard full of clover. No idea how to get rid of that.

Yes I do - actually a twin-pack. If the clover is in the lawn, just make sure you mow the flowers off. I have rabbits that help with that too! They love it.

You know Victor, I have never, ever seen a rabbit here in Maine.....don't know why. Yes, our lawn is more clover than grass at this point. I nag my husband to mow it whenever the flowers get out of hand, but it's a pain. I do all the other outdoor maitenance..all I ask is that he handle the mowing. Our lawn is in terrible shape in general - the people who lived here before us never did any landscaping and the yard was full of rocks. We tried to put down new dirt and grass seed, but it hasn't worked out very well. I'm afraid to put anything on the lawn because of the dogs, so that's probably a big part of why it looks so bad, too. I'd love to have the kind of lush, grassy lawn my dad always prided himself on when I was growing up!

That's funny. Celeste has them. I think corn gluten meal is fine for dogs but I've been using it for a few years now and it seems to have helped a bit (it stops germination), but nothing dramatic. Does nothing for perennial weeds.