I have tons of opium poppy seeds in mixed colors (the mix is probably about 80% purple, 10% red, and 10% pink with a very few peony poppies which are also a variety of opium poppy), although I also have separated out some of the red and pink into separate envelopes. As you probably know, poppies don't transplant well, so these are seeds and not plants. I have never planted sweet peas, but am interested in either sweet peas or narcissus. Let me know what you think (I can be generous with the poppy seed!) :) --Heather

Thanks for some wonderful trades to many! here is an updated list of what is available: Lettuce: Pablo Lettuce Herbs: Organic Common Chives Organic Plain Parsley Organic Cilantro/Coriander Organic Sweet Basil Organic Oregano Common English Thyme Dill 'Bouquet' Broadleaf Sage Vegetables: Climbing French Bean Fin de Bagnol bean Flowers: Pink & Red Peony Poppy Salvia Mixture Painted Lady Improved Runner Bean Sea Shells Cosmos

Hi FlowerLady! and thank you again for your kind and encouraging words. Sometimes we are so busy doing what we do we lose sight of it all! That lovely blue-flowering shrub is Ceanothus Impressus 'Victoria' ("California Lilac") - there are many other varieties and I chose this one for the colour, growth habit and because there's lots of it around here so I know it will thrive. When I mapped out a landscaping design for the front part of our lot which began as 1/2 acre mess of brambles, mint, horrible landfill and rock - I needed a fast-growing evergreen screen for what is now a parking area that can take three vehicles. In three years it grew to 10' tall; it's now 12' tall. In midsummer it is literally covered in those gorgeous blue blossoms (in fact another name for it is 'blueblossom'). Sitting in the rose garden on a warm summer afternoon you can hear the background bzzzzzzzzzz of countless bees as they do their work on those lovely blooms (much too busy to be bothered with anything or anyone else). We love it. It's taken quite a beating this winter with the snow (unusual for this part of Canada where we get more rain than anything else) but it's quite resilient. I would imagine it would do alright in Florida? One of the plus factors is that it originated as a desert plant and is drought resistant; we don't water it at all even during the hottest summers. The shiny leaves retain water naturally and aside from tidying it up a little with my pruning shears it is maintenance-free. Here's some photos for you and a link to read more about it: and this is a close-up of the beautiful blooms (can you see the bee?)

I think it's a bit too early, even for those cool season crops. Today the average minimum in MN is 33 F, but if you look at record lows, you see it often gets much colder than that well into May. MN's last average frost date is between May 1 and May 31. The cool season crops can be planted about three weeks before the last frost. I'll plant my mesclun, chard, beets, etc. toward the end of April. If you rig up a cold frame or greenhouse, you could start earlier though. Once they're planted, can they survive a snow? It depends on how cold it gets and for how long. I'll cover them with a sheet for short cold spells and they survive fine.