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One line of an old nursery rhyme asks, "How does your garden grow?" Since I only remember bits of the fractured version that includes something about a big onion I guess I will need to rephrase the question.

Lets try how long does your garden grow? I frequently get asked what to do about a mature or old landscape. The initial tendency is to rip everything out and start over. Don't. The wiser approach might be to decide what you can save and work from there. With age, I have learned to appreciate that a chainsaw can take down in a few minutes what it took nature decades to create.

A family member recently moved to a house dating to the 1950ies. It has lots of wonderful trees but a few of them are starting to show their age. Trees are the starting point of most landscapes so their first problem is to decide what stays and what goes. That's better than starting with a blank lot and waiting years for shade.

To answer my question you can find trees that will live for a decade or two, or ones that live for 100 or more years. The tradeoff is that the long-lived ones grow slowly and vice-versa.

After trees, the next component of the landscape is shrubs. I've often heard that the acceptable lifespan of most shrubs is 15 or so years. A chief contributor to that number is the tendency to select shrubs that are too big for the space we give them. Over time our shears get tired of constantly trying to beat the shrub back into its space.When I built a new house 18 years ago I planted four azaleas, two low juniper, several large grasses, two small leaf evergreen hollies and a rhododendron in front of my house. At about year five the grasses were getting gigantic so they were replaced by two crape myrtles.

Then the junipers began to eat the crape myrtles and one of the hollies started to claim the walk. They left. Next I discovered that the crape myrtles were not getting enough light to bloom so they left.

Two slow growing upright Japanese maples came to take center stage. One last problem remains. The second small leaf holly is about halfway across the walk. The question is whether to wack again or remove. I'm running out of fingers to count the wacks.

Once I solve that question I plan to get a lawn chair and watch my creation because I finally think that I have gotten it right. I think that is the story of many landscapes.

Picking the right shrub for the space will go a long way toward determining how long it contributes to your landscape.

After trees and shrubs most of us focus on perennials. The expected lifespan of what we call perennials is all over the board. A few, like peonies and those with taproots, seem invincible. Most should be divided every three to five years to keep them at top performance.

It's important to recognize that some perennials are more difficult to grow than others. Also, success and lifespan will improve as we figure out a plant's needs either by study or observation.

Finally, in every landscape there is room for the color one gets from annuals.

How long does your garden grow? That's a tough one to pin down. The several hundred-year-old hickory at the edge of my yard is growing out nicely after being whipped by near tornado-like winds a decade ago, while a pricy perennial planted carefully and correctly last year is ready for last rites.

It's only the last ten or fifteen years that I have become aware of the vast array of shrubs that are available for our gardens. Perhaps it's only been the last ten or fifteen years that so many possibilities have been available.

Shrubs in grandmother's garden consisted of pussy willows, forsythia, wisteria, Annabelle hydrangea, several different spireas and an ugly weigelia near the farm gas tank.

Following last week's lead I will identify my five favorite deciduous shrubs. That's the ones that lose their leaves in the winter. One of the considerations today is whether the shrub has multiple season interest.

I'll start with winterberries, which are the native deciduous Ilex or holly. Its highlight is rather persistent red or yellow berries on the female plants during the winter. You need a male in the neighborhood. If your neighbor is successful in getting berries you most likely don't need to plant a male.

In today's nursery you should find a number of good selections or cultivars, which gives you some choice of plant size, berry color, berry size and how heavy they fruit. If you are a native purist you may find the species, which is a fairly large plant that yields slightly less and smaller berries.

Winterberries will handle any soil conditions, full sun to significant shade and will show no hardiness problems even in our severest winters.

Crape myrtles are my next choice. This is a southern plant that is being adapted to our climate. In light of the last sentence I would seek a site out of our winter winds.

That said I offer a word of warning. They need a lot of light. Plants on the protected side of my house that are 15 feet away from the house bloom better than those 10 feet away. I got rid of the ones within five feet because they never bloomed.

They are picked for their long summer bloom and their interesting bark in the winter. One thing to remember is that they leaf out very late in the spring. Depending on variety you should expect a bit of dieback most winters. Combining the last two sentences I wait until mid to late May to seek the shears and usually have very little cutting to do.

Next on my list are oak leaf hydrangeas. Here we have flower, interesting bark, irregular branching and a large number of cultivars to pick from. Planted where it has a bit of protection is wonderful. In wicked wind, plants the same age are less than half as tall and lose their flower buds some winters.

Fothergilla or bottlebrush plant is another native on my list. It has a host of unique bottlebrush-like flowers in the spring, reasonably good fall color and is completely hardy here. Cultivars offer size and leaf shade possibilities.

Ninebarks present an interesting story. Our native one is green. The Europeans love the US natives and took this plant to Germany. With selection and breeding it has returned as a plant that offers purple leaf color, a bloom that is a good cut flower, and interesting winter bark.This is another plant that is tough and will easily tolerate the worst that you can throw at it.

I was tempted to add Itea, another native with bark, flower and excellent fall color to see if you were counting but I won't; or maybe I did.

Photos: Upper Left Ilex verticilata 'Winter Red'; middle right Hydrangea quercifolia; lower left Physocarpus opulifolius.

Over the last 60 years I have planted a lot of perennials. Most have thrived. Others have died. Most have lived up to expectations. A few were big disappointments. That temps me to list my five favorite perennials.

I'll start with amsonia. I like the thread leaf species better than the wider leaf one. It is one of the few perennials that have fall color. Height goes above the knee but seldom reaches your waist. Somewhat willowy, it produces clusters of blue star-shaped flowers in the spring.

I have a 10 or 12-year-old clump in full sun that seems extremely happy. A similar clump planted in the shade was happy until the shade became so dense that you needed a flashlight to see it in broad daylight.

My last effort put amsonia between a low wall and a viburnum with reddish fall foliage. That will improve as soon as the viburnum realizes that it is taller than the amsonia.

Next is the low growing perennial geraniums. There are a huge number of cultivars that I like. Perhaps the best is 'Rozanne', a blue purple form that is quite vigorous.

In my garden I have 'Jolly Bee', which appears to be identical to 'Rozanne'. It's a blooming machine that weaves around other plants without overrunning them. Mine are in near full sun but light shade also works well.

Pulmonarias or lungworts rank high on my list. They generally have spotted leaves and blue flowers that fade pink with time. I wouldn't put them in full sun, but the eastern side is great as well as is light shade.

About ten years ago I planted three cultivars along the walk leading to my kitchen door. Today I have a nice well-behaved patch of lungworts. The patch is probably the great-great grand children of the originals and are a jumble of cross-pollinated plants, but I love them.

Number four has a long name. It's Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, or plumbago or leadwort, for short. Leadwort is a ground cover with glossy green leaves that turn bright red in the fall. It also produces one of the bluest flowers I have seen.

It's virtue (or fault) is that it is very slow to wake up in the spring. I have this great urge to plant about a mile of spring bulbs interspersed with leadwort.

I promised five and now the hard part has come. Quite honestly, the first four came about as fast as I could type. Number five is a difficult process of elimination.

The decision is to pick a blue form of the native grass, little bluestem. As I implied, the green forms are fine but the bluer ones are preferred to my thinking.

It is a willowy grass that might reach your waist. Mine are smaller. It has reddish brown fall color and an unusual seed-head that looks like the feet of a crow. It grows best in full sun away from the water hose and fertilizer bucket. Overly loved grasses tend to flop.

I am sure that I cannot find a perennial in the garden that can match my sixty plus years, but some are proving surprisingly long-lived, well behaved and beautiful. That recipe fits my gardening cookbook well.

Top photo is Amsonia hubrechtii lower photo is Pulmonaria longifolia.

For ten years my husband and I lived out of state. Every year at this time, I'd start to get homesick. I didn't mind so much being away for Easter and Thanksgiving, no, I missed the Solanco Fair.

There is something wonderful about local agricultural fairs. Daily attendance usually surpasses local population, bringing everyone home to the fair.

When I was little, my brother and I would enter produce grown on our family farm. We didn't always get ribbons to take home, but it was fun to visit our plums, apples, green beans, pumpkins or gourds.

The parade Wednesday night always kicked off the fair for me. I loved getting candy from the floats, listening to the marching bands, seeing the cute little baton twirlers, and of course fire trucks and horses. Son Liam was transfixed last year by the old-fashioned steam calliope that ends the parade.

A trip to the fair isn't complete without gorging yourself on the local offerings. The Lion's Club French fries that my dad makes, elephant ears and milkshakes from the farm women, and chicken corn soup from the Fair Association that my mom helps with are all good places to start.

While there aren't any rides, the tug-of-war, Strongest Man contest, baby parade and the barns full of animals raised by 4-H kids will keep you entertained. Don't miss the sewing and art buildings either. You'll be amazed what your friends and neighbors have made.

Many of you have tried vegetable gardens this year. I want to encourage you to enter something. Nice green beans or tomatoes? Did you can for the first time? Flower gardens looking especially good? Cut a boquet. Enter it in the fair. Entries are accepted on Tuesday September 16th in a wide variety of categories.

A few of Liam's pumpkins that he planted with pop-pop will find their way to the fair this year. They may not win any ribbons, but participating in local fair is fun and the best way to keep a great small-town tradition alive. The Solanco Fair runs September 17-19 on the Quarryville Fair Grounds.

Going green, sustainability or just green are three ways to describe current gardening or lifestyle trends. In fact, they are so common that almost everyone has his own personal definition.

When the subject comes up I'm almost tempted to ditch my ethical hat and don my political one. That's not a shot at politicians, but many would agree that they have the ability to determine our positions on issues and then recite them to us in a convincing way.

Recently I stumbled across seven criteria for a sustainable landscape. They come from a 1995 publication issued by the National Park Service. I think they are so good that what follows will almost be plagiarism.

First: contribute to and not distract from local plant communities and their biodiversity.

Second: provide habitat and food for local and migratory wildlife species.

Third: grow without significant inputs of fertilizers and pesticides.

Fourth: be well adapted to the local climate, particularly in terms of temperature and precipitation.

Fifth: be tolerant and resilient to routine and periodic environmental extremes and disturbances (drought, temperature extremes, wind, flooding and pests).

Sixth: provide ecosystems beneficial to people and the environment.

Seventh: create beauty and comfort to inspire and inform the community about their locale and the ecological processes that define and sustain that environment.

What the above suggests to me is that we seek moderation in our use of fertilizers, water and pesticides while working toward the day when they are not necessary. Avoid invasive plants. Give natives a favored spot when selecting plants.

The last one is my favorite. To me it suggests that we replace the rhetoric with education and action.

Just yesterday I encountered an individual gazing toward the top of a small tree. He had just caught a glimpse of a wonderful new little yellow bird. If that was the first goldfinch he ever saw he needs to spend a lot more time outside, studying and enjoying the natural world.

We all do. Maybe then a consensus would arise on green issues.