I haven't figured out how to post my own message yet so I am in responce to this one as it is closest in relation to my topic. Actually it's how I found this sight. Anyhow, I was in charge of the Mimosa production when I was in college. I was a little inexperienced with it and noticed no one was treating them differently and they were watering them as they watered the rest of the plants all around them and they eventually would be more suseptable to Aphids and fungus gnats. I fell in love with the Mimosa durring that time of my life and I actually got one to grow through a Zone 4 winter. It lost all of it's leaves and was just a green hairy stick all winter but in the spring it gew back leaves. It flowered both years, many flowerd. That Fall it was destroyed by my aunts dog. Last year I tried growing one again, this time in zone 3. it was beautiful all summer and then over the winter it went to the stick phase and was green all winter long. Right before spring came around I made the mistake of pruning it down and it dies a few weeks later. I am trying it again this year, will also save seeds as I have learned that in it's natural habitat it reproduces this way as an annual. If any one has had success stories on over wintering their mimosa indoors in a low zone area let me know your experiences. This is all experiments to me and throughout my experimentations with plants I have learned that no matter what someone else says "should" or "shouldn't" be possible with a plant can surprize you sometimes of you try it out.

I googled this, but it seems extreme. I know I got a few to sprout a couple of years ago, and probably just stuck them in peat pots, on the window sill, because thats how I was doing everything then. 1 Heat water to 140 degrees F in a small container that can hold hot water without cracking or melting. Use a cooking thermometer to verify the temperature. 2 Add sensitive plant seeds to hot water. Since the germination rate is very low, use 20 seeds if you want one plant to grow. Soak in hot water for 20 minutes. The water can cool over this period of time. It does not need to stay at a constant 140 degrees F. 3 Prepare the growing medium by adding potting soil to the planting container until the planting container is full of potting soil. Soak the potting soil with water and let drain. 4 Remove the sensitive plant seeds from the hot water bath and place onto the surface of the potting soil. Press the seeds gently into the potting soil but do not cover. Sensitive plant seeds need light to germinate. 5 Set in a warm place (70-75 degrees F) with bright light but not direct sunlight. The sensitive plant seeds should germinate in 20-30 days. After the seedlings have two sets of true leaves, set in an area that receives about 4 hours of sunlight each day and begin a weekly fertilization program with a water soluble fertilizer diluted to half-strength.

Have I got some parrots feather! It loves one small pond and has to be thinned out on a regular basis. No problem on not being able to trade. Send me your address and I will make arrangements to get some to you. It may not be until early next week that I can send it with my schedule being what it is. When you get it just send the postage back to me. I've been searching for some redstem variety but no luck here on the GardenWeb. If you hear of any around please let me know. Kevin. kbenner69@yahoo.com

Ontario is a very big place. So you're somewhere between Detroit and Hudson's Bay. 0C to 17C degrees is enough to know that you waited too long. Depending on where you are in Ontario you should have started the actual dropping seed somewhere between mid July and mid August. If you are going to put something down NOW anyway, then rye is the only grass that makes any sense. It will germinate in a week. Other lawn seed types will take 2-3 or even 4 weeks to germinate in the cooler weather. Then at the end of next summer you can overseed with other grasses (fescue and Kentucky bluegrass) if you want to have some more variety. Here's some more advice you won't want to hear. You did not need to put topsoil down unless you had low spots to fill. Grass grows on top of just about any soil out there. The most important part is to make good contact between the seed and soil. Livestock trampling the seed works perfectly in Nature. Usually we roll it down. Adding fresh topsoil makes it easy to press the seed into the surface, but it can be a real problem if it changes the drainage causing damming or water backing up into the basement.