Thanks again for all of the suggestions!! Bulbs will make my have list, if I can find them cheaply. I am envisioning that most people will love the project and one or two will destroy it - so I'm doing it on the cheap. If the project survives, I'll add some more cash to the deal. I tried to eliminate water loving plants, excessively poisonous ones and sun lovers. Here's my list: If you take the time to read through it, please comment if any are invasive in zone 5. THANKS AGAIN ALL - Agastache Lavender Haze Anthemis tinctoria Golden marguerite Aquilegia Columbine Aquilegia Royal Purple Artemisia vulgaris Oriental Lime Lt Asperula Blue Woodruff Astrantia Masterwort Autumn Fern Brilliant Baptisia Australis Blue False Indigo Begonia Go Go Yellow Bergenia Winter Glow Bergenia red edge leaves Bergenia Redstart Butterfly Flower Angels Wings Calendula Clematis Mongolian Bells Coleus Giant Lime Light Coleus Giant Palisandra - Velvet Black Coleus Wizard Sunset Coreopsis Digitalis Summer King Foxglove Dryopteris Autumn Fern Echinacea Gaillardia Geranium Ripple Mixed Gloriosa superba Glory Lily Heuchera Coral Bells mix Hosta Earth Angel Hosta Frances Williams Inula orientalis Elecampagne Lamium macula Lemon Frost Ligulara Leopard Plant Lobelia Siphiliti Great Blue Lobelia Lychnis Orange Gnome Michauxia tchihatchewii Michauxia Milkweed Pink/Red Mimulus Puniceus Red Monkey Flower Mirabilis jalapa Marvel of Peru Nepeta Blue Infinity Catmint Nicotiana Only the Lonely Nicotiana Fragrant Cloud Nigella Pachysandra Green Sheen Papaver Checkers Penstemon Pikes Peak Purple Platycodon balloon flower Primrose Oxlip Primula Veris Cowslip Ruellia humilis Wild Petunia Salvia Evolution Sedum Autumn Joy Sedum Gold Moss Tagetes African marigolds Tagetes French marigolds Thalictrum Yellow Meadow Rue Thalictrum Columbine Meadow Rue Thalictrum Adiantifolium Torenia Clown Burgundy Tricyrtis toad lily Viola Brush Strokes Viola Labrador Showy Stonecrop Rose Campion Happy Gardening - Deb

Probably the easiest to find milkweed seeds are common (A. syriaca), swamp (A. incarnata), butterflyweed (A. tuberosa), and tropical (A. curassavica). The tropical is not native or hardy up north and grown as an annual, but it is readily available and easy to grow. I'm sure if you posted on the seed exchange that you were looking for a large amount of milkweed seed you would get several offers for postage only or maybe even free since it is for a school project. Gardeners are pretty generous I have found especially if you are teaching kids to get involved with nature. Be sure to educate the kids and any plant recipients about the nature of milkweed and that the "milk" inside is an irritant that can cause eye damage if not handled properly. Some varieties like the common milkweed can exude lots of milk when cut while others like butterfly weed are much less drippy. The common is an excellent food source as it gets tall with quite large leaves and spreads a lot, but it may not be wanted in small gardens due to the aggressive nature. It is better for wilder areas. Swamp milkweed is smaller and less aggressive and likes moister soil obviously. Butterfly weed is even smaller and bushier and tolerates dry soil and has a large taproot to seek out moisture. I have had cats on all these kinds although the butterfly weed is less used when other juicier types are available. The butterfly weed is popular when first planted when the leaves are young and tender. In the pic below you can see I had my very first cats on tiny freshly planted seedlings of butterfly weed that I was shocked they even found. I agree with KC that you could try other butterfly host and nectar plants as well for some variety. Hosts for black swallowtails are readily available too. That butterfly life cycle book is excellent. While it doesn't cover all the butterflies it covers most of the common ones with great pictures that are very kid friendly. Most of the plants are easy to start using the wintersowing method. And easy option would be to sow seeds in extra large plastic drink cups, quart size yogurt tubs, or similar containers. The open tops make them easy to sow in, transport, gift, and plant out from. Below is a link the wintersowing FAQ if you aren't familiar with it. Here is a link that might be useful: Wintersowing FAQ

Jean - I hope you meant the 25th (the Wake Forest market is only on Saturdays). Lets aim for Saturday Sept 1st. This next weekend is a big grilling festival at the market and I need to haul as many sellable plants as possible to make up for the lackluster sales these past couple of hot and dry marketdays. I will also go through all my various stashes of plants to find more goodies by Fall Swap. And next spring I should have even more after sowing seeds all winter. I have Rue. But the caterpillars on it are eating it down to the nub so I doubt I will get seeds. I plan on finding some seed somewhere and growing a bunch of it, so at some point I will have some available. I do have some parsley potted up and some Agastache (Hyssop). If you find any of the annual butterfly weed (Asclepias currasavica)(sp?), I have been able to over winter the roots and got bigger plants the next spring. I simply dig them up after first frost and pot them up and store them out of the way. They are easy from seed also. Pentas are a great nectar plant and they are easy from cuttings but they won't overwinter outside. Good luck

They do SOUND lovely but they might not be. Avid doesn't = well done or tasteful. Not that I mean to disparage them, but just keep things in perspective. The certainty that one has a treasure that is worth thousands keeps a lot of people loaded down with a lot of old things. I honour your ability to forgo making money off them; that will make it a lot easier. I don't know why anyone would consider shelters though. That's not a population that (a) does a lot of decorating or (b) treats stuff with respect. It's true they would be most appreciated where people pay something for them, so I wonder if you have any friends in a larger centre where you could find, say, a large church that holds a large annual bazaar or something like that? Or someone who would take a few to several different thrift shops or vintage stores in a big city? Box 'em up and ship them over there, and they will find their way to appreciative homes. Bon Voyage. Otherwise, the wonderful internet can indeed be a help through Etsy or Ebay where you could always sell them for a nominal amount if you have the time. You can post for free or small price on the craigslist of a nearby city if there is one. In truth, the real value of these rugs was that they gave your mother something gratifying to do that she enjoyed. In that sense they did their job the moment she finished each of them, and you could use them for garden paths and not devalue them in that sense. Plus, the ones you keep give you something that keeps her in your thoughts. Which is lovely. I think I would put aside a few for the grandchildren too (with cedar or something for moth protection, of course), and ship them to a larger centre. KarinL