Actually, I often do like the "hard to find" plants. I have great soil, regular rainfall, and a green thumb, so I can grow most anything for my zone, unless it's a desert type plant. I have garden clubs come every year, and despite gardens of overflowing phlox, iris, salvias, etc. they are always drawn to the unusual, something they haven't seen before. "Hard to find" often means "slow to grow, and doesn't like dividing", not necessarily difficult.

Jeanne I've also had that problem with my digitalis and campanulas as well. Although mine all seem to disappear at the same time, it's not a gradual decline. I'll be potting up the delphiniums, poppies and digitalis plants as soon as they look big enough to handle. I have read that Astragalus seed may exhibit alleopathic tendencies... although I've got three varieties that are proving to be the exception to this rule. There always seems to be the exception doesn't there. As I've been reading through the posts again I'm beginning to suspect that it's the north-westerly(more westerly than north) exposure of the enclosure that I have the seeds in that may be to blame. Well... that coupled with the wildly fluctuating temperatures the seeds are exposed to. I noticed that Rick, you say that you're plants/seeds are in a shaded northerly position. I would suspect this helps keep things from becoming active too early in the season. That along with the waterproof cover. When do you remove the cover? Congrats Vegangirl! If you get your pulsatillas to germinate you'll have to give me some pointers. I sowed two varieties this year and I've got nothin coming up. Also, thanks Rick for the mention of the after care of the L. martagon seeds/seedlings. I've been wondering just how to handle some of the bulbs that I've started. I have a couple of Calochortus that I know appreciate a dry summer dormancy, but there are a couple others like the lilies that I'm not as familiar with. Things have really started to pop this last week. I've got pots that are burstin at the seams. Luckily my DH has been potting these up individually for me. I'm just now starting to realise the magnitude of plants that I will be dealing with this spring/summer.(me rolling my eye's and shaking my head as I swear never to do this again) I've had approximately 200 varieties of seed germinate so far. I've had a couple of the seeds that germinated and died, germinate this past week.(still had some seed in those pots) This has me thinking about how to handle the watering of all of these plants. I'm going to buy some colored labels so I can color code the pots by their watering needs. Then I'm trying to decide whether I want to bottom water(flood irrigate) or set up an over head system. How do you guys water your seedlings?

There are plenty of Salvia growers but you might want to rethink using them for cutflowers. They're not the best for that purpose; they "shatter" quickly. Take a look at some of these: CALIFORNIA NATIVES FOR CUTTING For flowers, foliage and/or berries Arctostaphylos MANZANITA Artemisia californica CALIFORNIA SAGEBRUSH Bloomeria crocea GOLDEN STARS Brodiaea elegans HARVEST BRODIAEA Carpenteria californica ÂElizabeth BUSH ANEMONE Cercis occidentalis, C. o. ÂAlba WESTERN REDBUD Chlorogalum pomeridianum AMOLE, SOAP PLANT Clarkia amoena GODETIA Clarkia unguiculata ELEGANT CLARKIA, FAREWELL-TO-SPRING Collinsia heterophylla CHINESE HOUSES Comarostaphylis diversifolia SUMMER HOLLY Corethrogyne (Lessingia) californica CALIFORNIA ASTER Dichelostemma ida-maia FIRECRACKER FLOWER Dichelostemma pulchellum BLUE DICKS, WILD HYACINTH Dudleya pulverulenta CHALK LETTUCE Epipactis gigantea GIANT STREAM ORCHID Eriogonum arborescens SANTA CRUZ ISLAND BUCKWHEAT Eriogonum giganteum ST. CATHERINEÂS LACE Eriophyllum confertiflorum GOLDEN YARROW Eriophyllum lanatum arachnoideum GOLDEN YARROW Galvezia speciosa ISLAND SNAPDRAGON Hesperocallis undulata DESERT-LILY Hesperoyucca whipplei CHAPARRAL YUCCA Heteromeles arbutifolia TOYON Iris Pacific Coast Hybrids PCH IRIS Isocoma menziesii COAST GOLDENBUSH Juncus balticus BALTIC RUSH Juncus effusus COMMON RUSH Juncus mexicanus MEXICAN RUSH Juncus patens RUSH Juncus xiphioides FLAT-BLADED RUSH Leymus condensatus GIANT WILD RYE Leymus triticoides BEARDLESS WILD RYE Lilium "Corallitos Hybrids" CORALLITOS LILIES Lilium rubescens CHAPARRAL LILY Madia elegans ELEGANT TARWEED Mahonia ÂGolden Abundance G. A. BARBERRY Mahonia ÂSkylark SKYLARK MAHONIA Melica californica CALIFORNIA MELIC Mimulus aurantiacus and Hybrids BUSH MONKEY FLOWER Monardella crispa WAVY-LEAF DUNE MINT Monardella villosa COYOTE MINT Myrica californica PACIFIC WAX MYRTLE Perityle incana GUADALUPE ISLAND ROCK DAISY Philadelphus lewisii californicus CALIFORNIA MOCK ORANGE Polystichum munitum WESTERN SWORD FERN Rhamnus californica COFFEEBERRY Ribes aureum gracillimum GOLDEN CURRANT Ribes sanguineum glutinosum RED-FLOWERING CURRANT Solidago californica CALIFORNIA GOLDENROD Solidago spathulata COAST GOLDENROD Symphoricarpus SNOWBERRIES Trichostema lanatum WOOLY BLUE-CURLS Triteleia hyacinthina WHITE HYACINTH BRODIAEA Triteleia laxa PRETTY FACE, TRIPLET LILY Vaccinium ovatum EVERGREEN HUCKLEBERRY Wyethia angustifolia NARROW-LEAF MULE EARS Zigadenus fremontii STAR-LILY Joe

#1 - the "correct" common name. I started doing a bit of research on this plant and is there ever a lot of discrepancy on it. I'm finding articles that say that Van Leenan doesn't even exist yet I've found other works that he has done, so I'm not convinced that's true. And I've found many reports that say that this plant does not have any effect on repelling mosquitoes. Others say its wonderful. But, the scientific data seems to say otherwise. I've never had one (MIL did years ago) but the reports say it is quite expensive because it is only propagated by cuttings. I was thinking about getting a couple for my deck but I'm not sure if the smell is quite what I want. I like my "floral" fragrances. Anybody want to start a thread to let us know your thoughts and experiences? In the meantime, find the correct common name. (teehee) While your at it, tell us why the names that Sharon has given are technically incorrect, even for a common name. Shauna