Debi, I don't know if you would be interested in doing a trade for just one item. Though if you would I would be interested in your Monarda fistulosa, Wild Bergamot. I also was looking down your want list and I have some Castilleja coccinea, Indian Paintbrush. I will send you an email.

kathy that would be great! i'm still trying to compile a list of wants. i dug through my seed box and did not find any that i had enough of to use for trades other then the Dames Rocket. so for anyone who does want them please check your states noxious weed list first before inquiring please. i checked my state, idaho and its not on the list and is sold in stores and nurseries locally. Countrycarolyn i'll be checking on the peony seeds tomorrow ihaven't had time this weekend. hope they get ready soon. they are the first blooms this plant has had so i'm like an anxious parent! i'll send both of you an email monday or tuesday with an update on info :) many thanks!!!

I'd have to check some actual plants to say with absolute certainty but I think Monarda/bee balm is in the mint family. Feel the stems--if they're square instead of round, they're part of the mint family which includes many rampant spreaders. It's been my experience they're also nearly indestructible. Most can be easily grown from seed which would suit your goal of doing things on the cheap. Check out the winter sowing forum here on GardenWeb to learn how the method works to give you nearly 100% germination with seeds + a fun-filled winter season which will = a garden full of healthy plants in just a few short years. I filled nearly a dozen new flowerbeds with gorgeous perennial plants I grew via winter sowing from 2009-2011 and can now sit back and just enjoy/admire them. According to my perennial book, monarda blooms from mid- to late-summer & the bloom period is 8 weeks or more. Be aware, however, that monarda is highly susceptible to powdery mildew.

Well, I did not still have the receipt, since they were bought last summer, and I am not sure I would trust them to have the replacements marked correctly anyway. I went to the garden center here in town instead of going back to that other nursery. She had a few very scraggly lychnis chalcedonica (Maltese Cross), which would eventually be the right height, but they were just about done blooming for the year and were only 12 - 15" tall. She didn't have anything else red, not even some annuals. I ended up buying a couple of 'Orange Perfection' tall phlox to fill in the spaces for now. At least I will have something blooming, even though they are much smaller than what was there before. I almost feel guilty admitting this, but it felt really good to dig those plants up today. I have heard so much about them attracting bees, butterflies, and hummers, but the only thing mine were attracting were grasshoppers. I squashed at least 7 or 8 while digging them up. Every day I was finding a half dozen or more on them. There are grasshoppers on the coreopsis and yarrow too, but they don't seem to be eating those plants, just using them for shelter. Maybe now that the bee balm is gone the grasshoppers will move on to someone else's yard.