Hi Margyrose, I'd love to trade with you. I'm interested in your Variegated Japanese Grass, Yellow Aster and White Turtlehead seeds for myself and another GW member, agirlsgirl (Angie). I'd love to get two trades of each if possible. I have some commercial seed of copper sunset nasturtium and yellow sunset manihot hibiscus that I think you might like. Please check my trade list and let me know if there are other things you'd be interested in. I can contact Angie if there's something specific you're looking for and see if she has it also. PLMK Thanks! Diana Here is a link that might be useful: Ollierose's Trade Page

I like the wild asters in a wild place. I have plants that I like for the wilder parts of my yard. Four o clocks are one. They take care of themselves and can compete with weeds. I have moved the jerusalem artichokes out of the yard but I still get to see the yellow flowers where I have it on the edges of the tame area.

The 'flower' looks like a seed head to me. It has no visible disc florets which are clearly seen in the buds. It would be really useful to be able to see the leaves better and to have a side view. Top down is always difficult for id purposes. I'm finding it very hard to get Conyza/Erigeron canadensis out of my head. What about C bonariensis?

Hello Amanda, I wish I had seen your message thread sooner, but I haven't been participating in the Garden Clinic forum because I am not expert at that, I haven't been participating in the House Plants because I don't grow any actual House Plants, and I haven't been participating in the Growing from Seed forum because what I grow from seed is mostly my home-hybridized zinnias. I do continue my zinnia hobby into the Winter months by growing zinnias indoors under lights. Cross pollinating zinnias indoors is actually easier than outdoors. I did have Aster Yellows appear on an outdoor zinnia. It was quite weird, in that new plants seemed to be arising from the middle of the main bloom on my zinnia. At first I thought that its seeds were somehow germinating while green and still in the zinnia head. A Google search turned up similar photos as Aster Yellow, so I disposed of the plant in our trash almost like medical waste. You have shown some rather good pictures of small insects on your zinnias. I have had some pest problems in my indoor zinnias, but I wouldn't consider myself as "expert" with zinnia pests, indoors or out. But I have dealt with spider mites (they are the Borg), thrips, and aphids on my indoor zinnias. I did have problems with thrips and aphids in other years. I am pretty sure your zinnia pests are not spider mites, because they make obvious cobweb-looking webs, and crawl about on them in large numbers. And your photos are clearly not of aphids. That sort of leaves Thrips, but your photos don't look like the Thrips I have dealt with. I am not sure what your little guys are. Your photos show a single insect in each case. To do any significant damage, you would think they would need to appear in large numbers. It is not obvious that the insects in your photos are doing any significant actual damage. There may be another cause for your obvious plant damage. But you have reported that they are present in large numbers, so for the time being I will assume that those little guys are the problem. Changing the subject a little, as an amateur zinnia breeder, I am interested in your College of the Ozarks experience and the complimentary zinnia seeds they sent you. Your zinnias seem to differ from any of the commercial zinnia strains I am familiar with. Commercial seeds are heat treated to kill any disease (while not killing the seed by careful control of the heat process). The College of the Ozarks may not have that kind of specialized equipment to treat their seeds. I assume that all of the zinnia seeds I save are infected (even though the plants may look just fine) and I have my own chemical processes for disinfecting my saved zinnia seed. Some of the zinnia damage you have photographed may have been a disease or possibly even chemical damage. That chlorine-smelling water is a bit worrisome. Has it also been fluoridated? As far as I know, fluoridation does not have a smell. We live in a rural area and rent a farmhouse with its own water well. So, no chlorine or fluorine, but a rural well can have its own problems. I have been going for new zinnia flower forms in my amateur breeding hobby. This is an example. Click on the pic to see the larger version. If your problem is small insects, I am thinking that a good commercial systemic insecticide will be a solution. Something that you could apply to the soil rather than as a spray. I use a product like All In One Rose and Flower Carefrom Bayer Advanced, or a spray-on version of it. ZM (not associated with any product or vendor mentioned or linked)