Dear Lisa I am so glad I found your site. I am an artist working in England. I mostly paint botanical subjects and I was given a photograph of the white spider lily last year from a friend who visited South Africa and found one there. I have since approached The Eden Project in Cornwall, England to see if they had any knowledge of this plant, but they do not. The Eden Project is a major conservation project which has a tropical biome in which the spider lily might thrive. I would be most interested in finding out what growing conditions the lily likes and whether it would be possible to grow it here in the tropical biome. I am also interested in how the lily is polenated. With the anthers being so far apart, we thought that it might be Humming Birds that spread the pollen, with the action of its wings. I would be most intersted to find out as much as possible about this flower as The Eden Project have commissioned a book (the fourth one) and the subject will be exotic flowers. I have been lucky enough to be published in the last book, and if I can get enough information about the lily and a really good image to reproduce in watercolour, I may be accepted for publication again later on this year. I see that you have a list of plants you would like to swap, and it may be possible for me to ask the Eden Project if they have any that we can sent you in exchange for a specimen of the Spider Lily. Its a big ask, but might work, I am going down to Eden in May for a painting day, and will ask the chief horticulturalist then if we can do a swap. I hope I have not taken up too much of your time and would really love to hear from you regarding this lovely and unusual plant. With kindest regards Yours sincerely Ann Jelley

I should be able to send you some Lamb's Ear. I'm heading down to my husband's grandmother's this weekend and was planning to get some for myself. I don't really know how much she has, but I'm pretty sure I could get some for you. Might not be a full flat rate box though. I don't know if you'd be interested or not, but I have some Canna 'Richard Wallace' I could divide. It is a yellow blooming canna. I also have solid green and variegated monkey grass to share. It sends up purple bloom stalks in the summer. Let me know what you think. Thanks! Amanda :) redsnowflake@comcast.net

I planted mine in the center of an island bed where the shade from the dogwoods seemed to prevent anything else from doing well. Plus I wanted a groundcover in there so I wouldn't have to crawl in on my hands and knees to mulch. They stayed pretty contained in that area until I was forced to severely cut back the dogwoods, which allowed a lot more light into the center of the bed. This spring I noticed that they were spreading much more aggressively and I had to dig out quite a bit that was not where I wanted it. They had been planted in this area for probably 8-10 years and this was the first time I had ever had to take any action to contain them. I'll see what they do this year and if they get too wild I guess I'll have to take them out and find a more sun tolerant, but better behaved groundcover. Totally Confused

Thanks Guys. I kinda am nostalgic about mine since I got the first handful from around my great grandparents gravestone. My Grandma or one of their other offspring must have put them there. They have been there for as long as I have been alive (47) at least. I put them around the base of the outside air-conditioning unit to prevent the dirt from washing away. It seems to have done the job a lot better than grass would have. They don't seem all that aggressive to me. The bugleweed however is taking over the lawn! Not that I mind. I guess I won't bother to rip apart the whole thing. I will just leave what I don't use there. Thanks again.