Forgot to mention the G. makinoi (from cultivar 'Marsha') I started from seed a couple years ago! Taken awhile, but there is a nice bloom staring on a plant out back. One of the plants (to left of budding plant in pic) is very unusual. In spring there seems to be a fine flecking of gold. It greens out a bit in summer. When I went to snap the pic this morning I also noticed some purplish coloration in the veining. Not sure, but the buds look as if the flowers will be white instead of blue. Oh well, variation is always a good thing ;-) CMK

Have a number of different gentians. Have had a number of plants of Gentiana dahurica (mostly 'Nikita') and one G. septemfida var. lagodechiana for close to ten years now. This matches the reputation of these particular gentians as easy-to-grow. All of the gentians are located at front of sunny borders where they get watered regularly, but where there's also good drainage. I don't grow plants from seed, but apparently, gentians (when planted out) are initially quite slow growing.

Hi Laurette, I, too, have gentiana andrewsii seeds...would you be interested in doing a kind for kind swap? in the interest of genetic diversity? I have lots of other natives, if you'd be interested in doing a trade. I have native stuff that's not listed, also...I have a hard time keeping track of my seedbox, LOL! Please check my trade list. April

I went on a walk last Sept. at Nachusa Grasslands. There were a lot of bottle gentians blooming at the time of the walk. In really wet areas. I remember the couple who were leading this particular walk, telling us all that Nachusa has mesic soil. With the exception of this one pretty big area we had to walk through that was extremely wet. Standing water in some areas. This is full sun as you'd expect a prairie to be. Rue anemone can't take full sun, nor can it take such wet conditions. This is the only time I've ever seen bottle gentian in the wild. I've seen plenty of rue anemone, always in the timber though. My thought is that's your problem, not enough sun. Enough moisture, not enough sun. I know nothing of soil ph. I'll leave that to the others...lol... :p here's a link to bottle gentian at the IL wildflower site. You can, at the bottom, click on return and then find rue anemone on the list. It's a nice site if you don't have it bookmarked already. Here is a link that might be useful: Illinois wildflower site