Thanks, but I've found that a lot of the specialty plant forums tend to be sluggish, and I have a better chance of getting questions answered in a busier forum like Perennials (not to mention all the time it takes to go around posting in multiple single-interest forums).

Scott has given a good background. I was very upset with the earlier ones because as so many have said I did not have a good survival rate. Some would die in the Summer others did not return after winter. If you have not tried them for a few years I encourage you to try again. I only buy them if the primarily cross is villosa. The instructions always confused me of moist fertile soil but not wet. Where I found they grew and survived now for 3 years is in a bed that has a base of gravel and lots of leaf mold (a area that had like forest soil lots of dead leaf). The area gets some shade so it is semi-shade. To get that moist idea I think as long as you have good compost and mulch the area, water once a week if we have a very dry hot summer I have not had any problems with death. If you leave the flowers to dry and drop off you will get little babies the following Spring. I let them stay in place and get good root system. Most I left to grow until the following year. Finally, I found that giving them a low dose of fertilizer once a month really helped. When they were first introduce I read not to fertilize them. I love them because of the color you can get in a semi-shade garden as a companion plant. I still will not give up 15 -20 bucks for them. They are not a Hosta. lol If we get our Herc forum we can share which vendors are having a sale, send good size plants, offer reasonable price plants, which ones are good for our area etc.

JMHO but several of those posts look like they would certainly apply to The Farm Life Forum Others look like they would fit in at Cooking When so many specialty forums are started, often there is not enough member traffic to keep them active.

Hi Stray--like you i keep coming back here to check on medusa-wish she would come over to estranged stories and we could support her easier. I like we can message each other direct too. but I will not abandon GW as yet as there are still others-new and old-that need support as well. as u can see i am having a good day myself and i think whe we can be of any service to someone it helps take our mind off our issues with estrangement. This was the place that saved my life-literally and Stray u were part of that too. Take care all and god bless