Hi Danny, I have (on your want list) Ginger mint Where are you drawing the line for mints? Catnip is a mint...and many herbs are in the mint family--basil, rosemary, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano, thyme, lavender, and ground ivy (creeping charlie-Glechoma hederacea). I can get you rooted cuttings or seedlings of most of these, I think. be sure you plant your mints in containers--I didn't and I'm in the process of eradicating chocolate mint from my garden...lol. :)

Wow! You have Globe Thistle!? Yes, please I would like those seeds. I can trade or send SASE. Check my list--I have a lot of perennials and I'm in zone 5 so you might find something you'd like to try. If not I'd be glad to send you the SASE. Heidi

OK. In your post about cover crops I mentioned that generally native plants don't need a lot of soil improvement, being already adapted to local soils as is. I think since your soil had a lawn growing more or less successfully on it, you don't need to worry much about improving the soil. If you were in new construction that would be a different matter but you're not. In our rainforests, as in most rainforests, there is very little organic matter or nutrient content in the soil itself. Too much rain, everything gets washed out. The nutrients tend to be contained in plant biomass, either living or relatively recently dead and fallen to the ground. If you were to dig a soil profile in the Quinault rainforest there'd be an organic layer of leaf and twig debris on top of the soil along with fallen logs and branches; then there'd be a very very thin A horizon which is where most soil microbial activity takes place; then there'd be a heavily leached B horizon (the lower part of what's called topsoil) and below that there might be subsoil or there might be just rock, or a glacial hardpan. I'm surprised at how thin the soil is that these trees are growing on! Roadcuts and landslides in the Olympics show big doug firs growing in just a few inches of soil on top of bedrock. Typically for rainforests, both temperate and tropical, most nutrient recycling take place in the organic litter on top of the soil and the top few inches of soil. Some plant roots reach deeper of course but mainly for water and balance, there's not much microbial activity down there. That's one reason you see so many plants growing on top of rotting logs and stumps - it's where the nutrients are. So, what to do with your garden. You could plant now, without adding anything to the planting holes, and mulch around the plants - that would mimic their native environment. In our area you can plant hardy plants any time the soil is neither frozen nor waterlogged. If this will be your first winter in this garden, you might want to see how it performs over the winter, flooding and drainage wise, before finalizing your planting plan. Or, to be sure you've gotten the lawn grasses out, you could go with the cardboard covered with manure and tree chips route, then plant in spring. Typical ryegrass lawns are not that persistent, but if you had bentgrass or quackgrass, you need to be sure it's gone before planting. Adding organic mulches should take care of any nutrient needs. Yes our soils are typically low in calcium, but that's what the native plants are used to. Don't worry about it, or the pH. Leaf mold from deciduous trees would add calcium too, it's the coniferous stuff that makes our soil acid and calcium deficient. But what does 'deficient' mean if you're growing plants that are adapted to that state?? Calcium content is mainly an issue when growing (non native) plants from areas where the soil provides more calcium than ours does. What, no salal?

Hello! I don't know if this offer is still on, but I would love these: pink candy pop mint cuttings lime mint cuttings spice mint cuttings Sister Julie's Wintergreen mint cuttings marshmallow mint cuttings hibiscus Jambalalya I only have seeds of these, but would be willing to send them all: cosmos (mixed) zinnia (red spider) larkspur morning glories (scarlet o hara, and a mix) cleome (white queen, purple, cherry queen, and a mix) different poppy seeds (pink peony flowered, red peony flowered, flemish antique, a mix, single red, india white, china white, hungarian breadseed, probably a few more too) and check my list! I'm romando. Thanks for considering!