Ann;
I am in the Dayton area. You can find Paw Paws at Marvin's Organic Gardens just outside Mason. Also, Ron Powell, the President of the Ohio Paw Paw Growers lives outside Cincinnati. You can contact him by email and see if he has any small trees for sale. He has some nice eating varieties. The website might list some places as well (http://www.ohiopawpaw.com/). Marvin just gets his trees from the Little Miami river, which is fine but means the fruit can be yucky. Mr. Powell has also recommended Nolin Nut tree farm in Kentucky to me.

Wafer ash (Ptelea triloba) is another story. I have not found that at a nursery yet. I would look for a wild one and try starting some from seed.

Good luck,
Elisabeth

Thanks, I am glad to know that you are so close. I have never met anyone else that has a butterfly garden. On my wafer ash search I found that only two men knew what I was talking about. Most told me that they do not carry ash trees due to the EAB. I was talking to people in charge of or working in the tree nurseries! If you are interested in a wafer ash you may want to call Siebenthalers on Far Hills. They took my name and number and said they would try to get some next year. Yesterday I found a place for mail order of Paw Paws and wafer ash and will call to ask questions tomorrow. The Paw Paws can be mailed in the fall. I did find Ron Powell's name yesterday and sent him a message. I will look up the Nolin Nut Tree Farm to see how far it is. I would love to get at least one of these trees started this year. Why is it so hard to find native Ohio plants when you live in Ohio?

Ann,the only place I've seen wafer ash growing in Ohio is on the shores of Lake Erie and on the islands.I'm sure they grow elsewhere but must not be very common.I have a small one if you're interested,and should have a bunch of seeds later in the summer.

There are quite a few mail-order nurseries that carry wafer ash and pawpaws - Pine Ridge Gardens, Mail Order Natives, just to name two, although Mail Order Natives may only carry Asimina parviflora. They're very easy to grow from seed. One year I saved some seed that I had collected in the fall and just put in my closet, no cold stratification or anything. The next spring I planted them in little containers, and every one came up quickly! Many of them are now growing on my property, adding to my host plants.
Sherry

Ann;
I practically live across the street from Siebenthalers. We have quite an active little butterfly community here in Dayton due to the Cox Arboretum butterfly house. Are you involved there or have you visited there? I volunteer a lot there but because we work different shifts I don't meet everybody. If you don't volunteer, let me know and stop by sometime, I can help you a lot more then.
-Elisabeth

Thanks everyone for the ideas and offer of seeds. I don't think I will try seeds. I do not like the suspense and the disappointment when they do not grow. I may order online or wait till spring. Two nurseries said next spring for the Wafer Ash. A third local nursery owner was so interested in what I had to say about Wafer Ash and Paw Paw that I typed up a sheet for her to use. I suggested she get these trees and post signs about the butterflies. She was very interested and believed that this would help her sales. I am planing to order the Paw Paws from England's Orchard & Nursery in Kentucky. http://www.nuttrees.net. I spoke to the owner and he was very knowledgeable. He says he can send them in October. I am not sure how close the trees need to be to each other to pollinate so I may need to call him again. I have actually never even seen a Zebra Swallowtail in my area but the Butterflies and Moths of North America site tells me they are here. Thanks again and Elizabeth when I get back to Cox I will look for you. My son loves to go to the butterfly house.

Ann

Ann;
Plant the paw paws eight feet apart to ensure pollination. Mr. Powell is a wealth of information on paw paw growing. I have been to his house several times. We have a ton of Zebra Swallowtails in the area. Five Metro River Parks has Hills and Dales Park, which is loaded with paw paws and has lot's of Zebras. I see them everywhere though. The other day I took my kids to the splash park in Centerville and set up a little sun shelter tent (like a little pup tent) and as I sat there one flew in and then over the spray equipment. It was a really good year here last year and these are the adults from last year. I think though, we are going to go through the boom-bust cycle. We went to look for eggs and larvae and couldn't find any, whereas last year we found lots. We saw a lot of predators though.

Anyhow, go to my page and email me. I can give you a lot more information. You might be interested in joining our garden group at the butterfly house. You will learn a lot there about the plants and butterflies (and moths too!)

-Elisabeth

Elizabeth, I can not figure out how to find your email address. I changed my settings on my page to show my address to members. If you write to me I will write back. If I need to plant the Paw Paws so close to each otehr, I will need to do some thinking about where to put them. Of course I was really interested in the leaves for caterpillar food not the fruit. But the more I have read I think it would be fun to have the fruit too. I may be interested in the garden group.

Ann

Hi Ann;
Sorry, duh..my fault. Too many things going on as you will see from my post about MEEC. I forgot our addresses are not on our pages. You can email me at bigoldbulldog@hotmail.com

There are lots and lots of butterfly opportunities coming up in the Dayton area, so think about what you would like to learn and do if you are not already involved in something.
Cheers,
Elisabeth

I thought I would post an update on my Wafer Ash search. I want to thank all of you for your input. I now am the proud owner of 2 wafer ash trees. I found them at Keystone Flora as recommended by someone on the Ohio Valley forum! It was worth a drive to Cincinnati.

Ann

Here is a link that might be useful: Keystone Flora

Hey Ann;
Hope your winter was good. Thanks for the link. I don't know if you noticed the Midwest Native Plant conference link on the Keystone Flora site. It will be at Mt. St. John's this year. You can go and purchase all kinds of natives there. A lot of native vendors went last year and set up outside the conference. So, you can purchase without going to the conference. I forget the guy's name from SE Ohio, but he had things I never see, including dwarf hackberries (which sold out before I even got there). However, you can notify the vendors you will be there and they will bring you something special you want. I will try to get a list of the vendors if you are intereste. Heck, I will do that for myself!
-Elisabeth

Elisabeth, that sounds great. Of course I need to do more research to see what I need (want). My Virginia snake root is up and healthy, as is my Pipe vine. I can't remember what kind I got but it was one you recommended. All of the plants I got at the sale last year are doing well but on a couple I have forgotten which is which! I am about to go to my friend's house to compare plants to identify my Turtle head:) The lady at Keystone Flora actually gave me a brochure for the sale at St. John's. I may see you there.

Ann

Which sale at Mt. St. johns? The MEEC sale or the Midwest Native Plant sale? Where did you get your virginia snake root? I have not found any yet. I was supposed to get some seeds in the mail and did not.
-Elisabeth

Elisabeth, I sent you an email too. I ordered my Virginia Snake root from Loess Roots.

Ann