Hi all, what I great night out!!! I had so much fun and what a perfect end to a wonderful day. I can't thank all of you enough for the plants. I hope everyone got a chance to pilfer from my seed box!! Since I didn't have a chance to dig the "promised" plants, I will be happy to mail things out to anyone interested. Here's what I have: primroses - your average, everyday kind but have been growing in my gardens for at least 10 years so they're really hardy to this area. columbine - on Thurs. I noticed probably 50 babies under one plant that happens to be a native columbine. These could be very interesteing crosses since there is a hyrid plant just behind this one. Campanula punctata 'Cherry Bells' - this plant seems to act as a biennial and reseed for me. I had no blooms or growth last year but a 3' wide area of small plants. They are back this year and I am assuming they will be blooming since they are already taller than last year. Cenetaurea montana - in full bloom right now! I have multiple large plants that need spliting plus some random babies. These grow large in full sun or can be kept smaller in part shade. Also, since I am in the process of moving my herb garden I have a few extras of: Lemon Balm, oregano, strawberries and possibly some tarragon. I have 2 very large ground clematis ('Mrs Rober Brydon') that I will be moving soon to their permanent home in the woodlands edge beds. At that time I will be doing some cuttings so let me know if you're interested in these as well. So e-mail me from my page with your address and I'll be most happy to send you plants. Since we all live fairly close it shouldn't be a problem. Many thanks to all of you for your plants!!! I also have some that I have no idea what they are so I'll be looking forward to the picture post! Till we meet again, Cheryl ::]

I'd go for mint. I've never had/seen a lavender act even remotely aggressive. Other "aggressives" to consider in addition to the various mints, that should work in your situation: Oregano - I've found it MUCH more aggressive than mint. Creeping Thymes, though not too aggressive, they eventually spread pretty well and keep down weeds. Daylilies - almost as bad as oregano. Houseleeks/Hens-N-Chicks. Again, not terribly aggressive, but eventually form very tight mats that weeds cannot penatrate. And there's lots of different kinds to try. Shasta Daisy. They stink, but they look nice, and will spread very aggressively. Wormwood - some of these self-seed very aggressively and have very grey, fern-like foliage.

I wanted to see Jali's "jar test" so scanned down that page, missing much of the information. It said to put detergent in the water and soil in the jar and shake "hard!!" I thought to myself, "I can't do that! The rocks will break the jar!" Then I look up the page and see that it says to remove the rocks. Well, I don't know if I'd have any thing left in the jar to test! On my member page it says something about "It seems like IÂve been gardening since before there was dirt." There may still not be dirt - maybe I can consider myself in my infancy. But, I don't garden in Colorado. Up here, about 800 miles north of your location Leslie, I garden on glacial till. I remember when I first put in a large garden. There was another new neighbor who felt it important to give a young guy some advice . . . He said I should bring in a truckload of sand. I looked at him, realized that he had no evidence that this would benefit, and discounted his comment. (I noticed that it wasn't 6 months before my neighbor had jettisoned him from her house so the discounting of this guy's worth may have been a shared perspective. ;o) I don't need sand in any of the gardens that I've had over the last 40 years. Only 1, when I moved 100 miles south into the Palouse for a few years, may have benefited. That Palouse soil is wind-blown loess and clay, clay, clay. I had a terrible time putting plants into it and can certainly sympathize with what you are going thru, Leslie. And, I can understand how experience with one soil type doesn't translate well somewhere else. What I've got to work with is rock in every form from pea gravel on up. But, I'm wondering if you would benefit from that long-ago neighbor's advice - adding sand to your Colorado soil. David suggests organic material and that's great but sand would make for a permanent change. I'm asking here, having no experience with adding sand, would raising the percent of sand in your soil benefit your gardening? Steve

I think that it depends on which variety of mint you are trying to grow. There are over 600 different varieties of mint with all mints being varieties of spearmint or peppermint. Some of the varieties are hard for me to grow while others are very easy. I have found that I have better luck with the spearmints opposed to the peppermints. Also do not let your mints dry out because they become very unhappy little plants without moisture. I grow all of mine in dapple sunlight to shade. And remember mints should be planted as far apart as possible, as true mints hybridize easily, cross-pollinating when in close proximity. The resulting hybrid combines the characteristics of both parent mints in a way that may not be favorable. If you grow both peppermint and spearmint, start them at opposite ends of the garden in order to maintain the integrity of both.