I winter sowed all I had, and have never tried them before from seed. Only one yellow I had collected from my own plant, and just wanted to see if the seeds would germinate. I'm grateful for the other columbine thread where we were cautioned they may take a very long time so I won't get impatient and throw them out too soon, will have to water them once the tops come open, probably shouldn't let them dry out if it doesn't rain. Those lovely red ones (Swallowtail) were so different, not sure what red you're talking about, but they were only 10 seeds/pkt, and I passed them up, have been extravagant enough as it is. Now if I have good fortune, I will have several varieties of columbines and am not keen on them crossing, would welcome it for some. But you never know. I don't know how much of a tendency they have to cross or revert. One of my yellows, not the whole plant, just one part, had some red in it, every year, didn't care for it. If say my Nora Barlows cross with Blue Star or some odd kind I got, I would probably save seeds but don't know if they would stay true to form or not. I don't even know if they do cross if too different.

Thank-you people! We now have a fairly long dry creek which needs to handle a high volume of water. It has two levels - water comes in from the top and is "visual" and then directly under this is a hidden french drain - they all drain into a dry pond which will be filled with moisture loving native plants to clean the ground water - then it all goes back into a pipe and down the way. There are also funky tributaries to our dry creek to handle all the water coming down the bank, a few more areas need to be incorporated. It was made by the contractors and we just used rip rap but I will also add in my concrete "chunks" and the few nice found rocks the contractors dug up while grading. Eduarda, thanks for that article! It's perfect. Essentially I want mine to look like a cross between Cameron's beautiful dry creek and the Fine Gardening dry creek. Cameron, I will need to get some ideas from you about the native grasses you planted in here. Luckily I will have the ability, if necessary to "reverse" the flow of water from stored water back into the dry creek to keep everything moist. A pump and an underground water line that runs back up to the "front" of the stream will do the trick. So far our "project" is shaping up very well. A few more things need to happen before the patios go in - more retaining walls and drainage. I've got a LOT of planting to do these next few years. I have a feeling winter sowing will be my best friend!

Oh lucky you, Joyce! That is a Crocosmia, probably "Lucifer"! I love them but have been unsuccessful getting those to do anything in my garden! Linda

I vowed this past summer not to buy any new plants that are introduced. I've been burned too many times by hearing how great they were supposed to be. Then a year later I'd read how other gardeners were having bad luck with them too. If I see a new one I really like, I'll wait 3 yrs and see what people here say about them. I'm going to transplant several of the ones I have now and maybe buy a couple of different perennials this summer, but they are ones that have been around for a few years. I did look up Tiki Torch echinacea you mentioned and saw it at the Terra Nova website. It really is a beautiful color. Kat