nanners, I placed one order with those folks, well over 12 years ago, and vowed 'never again'. I did not get any of your aforementioned varieties, however. I did get 'Black Giant' mulberry, which is nothing more than a non-descript row-run M.alba seedling, producing bitter little fruits that are anything but giant - but they do ripen from red to black. It worked well as a diversion crop to draw birds away from the cherries and strawberries, but it's going bye-bye this year. I do have a buddy in NV who bought a number of figs from 'em and actually got some decent plants, though I don't know if he got Patrick's Supergiant - I know he had 'Mystery X', which he sent wood from one time. Another buddy, in NJ, bought one of the 'Cannonball' black walnut seedlings. Still hasn't borne nuts yet, so who knows - will seedlings of the Cannonball tree produce nuts that are as big - and are the nuts themselves really big, or do they just have a really thick husk on them? Then, even if the nuts are big, what's the kernel %? He sent me some scionwood from it a couple of years back, but who wants to graft an unproven seedling BW - especially one from an outfit who's just as likely to have sent you just a run-of-the-mill BW seedling as one that actually descended from the 'Cannonball' tree(if such an entity even exists!)? Cold-hardy bananas? I suspect they're just Musa basjoo. Hey, I've got one growing here that was sent to me by a friend who's got it growing in MI!

I order my perennials from Bluestone- less expensive. Some varieties may not be available from them. Over on the perennials forum you could get some feedback about coneflowers, etc. My local Lowe's actually had Harvest Moon coneflower recently and I bought several (Good thing I got them then because they started to kill them right away by not watering- it was so sad to see what happened to those plants!). Wayside, Parks and J&P are on the expensive side, so I would only order from them if I couldn't find it at Bluestone. Many exotic items are sold by Plant Delights in Raleigh and I have been to a couple of their open houses (planning to go again this Sept.). Brandy Those websites are bluestoneperennials.com and plantdelights.com

Susan, Thanks for clearing that up because I was becoming majorly confused (even more than usual :)). Now I know that albus and fraxinellus are the same thing. I didn't realize how long it takes that plant to bloom...I think I read that it blooms the third year. Holy cow! Talk about a late bloomer! Ha. I wish I could find the plant around somewhere this summer, but I highly doubt it. Even the nursery that gets plants that are geared towards butterflies more than anyone else in the area, they don't even sell it. I stopped in today and asked since I was up that way anyway coming back from taking our daughter up to her apartment at college. They said they haven't sold it before but she'd look into it. So we'll see if she makes any headway or not. I would just LOVE to have some GST butterflies and cats here someday! It's one of my favorite ones, along with Black Swallowtail, Zebra Swallowtail, Pipevine Swallowtail, Monarch, Baltimore Checkerspot,..oh heck, there are too many to mention. I'd end up with at least 20 or 30. Sherry, I'm glad you like the website. I do too! You can't be more interested in the gas plant than I am! :) I think I'll send to J.L. Hudson for some of the seeds. Here I thought I'd have everything all ready to plant outside once it's safe to plant things outside, but here I am still buying seeds. There are just so many for different kinds of butterflies. I kept finding about more and more and it's kind of become an obsession to get as many as I can to try to get as many butterflies as I can. They'll have so many plants here this year they'll go nuts! Maybe the perennials won't do much this year, especially the ones that I don't even have yet, but next year should be a really great year. Oh, I think this year will be better than last year, but I just bet it won't be as good as next year when the perennials will be bigger. I heard of the gas plant before, but I didn't know about its relationship to butterflies. I thought it was just another flower. There are so many different flowers when you go to the stores it gets overwhelming at times. I just love flowers and can spend hours looking at them. Who knows, maybe Lowe's would even get something that the gas plant in. Last year I thought they had been more geared towards butterfly gardens than other years. I also notice that stores around here are selling Butterfly Weed. I would still like to see more host plant seeds sold in local stores. I can only think of a few like that one and parsley and dill. There are some they sell that I'm not sure if they will host anything or not, like the lupines. I'll have to wait and see. I have a feeling this is going to be a great year for us and the butterflies! I'm really raring to go! Cathy

I have worked in the hardwood flooring industry for 23 years, and we don't recommend using vinegar or soap to clean a hardwood floor. Just as we NEVER recommend using Murphy's Oil soap (it actually attracts dirt to the surface due to the oil) Woodwise is an excellent cleaner, leaves no residue or streaking and if mixed correctly and used correctly will last quite a long time. I clean the flooring samples in our showroom - hardwood, laminate and vinyl with Woodwise as well as our hardwood flooring in our offices. I also use it on my floors at home and have done so for the past 23 years. I would never use anything else