canuckistani The link at the bottom of the post mentions clove oil as a lure for *female* cucumber beetles in a discussion about making sticky traps. You can use pieces of cotton wicks stuck to the boards that have been soaked in a Eugenol based oil which is what attracts the female beetles. 2 types of oils that contain 60 to 90 percent eugenol are allspice oil and clove oil. Squash blossoms contain indole which are very attractive to the adults. If you can spare some you might mash them up and stick them to your trap. There are also a number of other natural lures that might be combined with a poison mixture. Tayuya root powder, buffalo gourd root, Caserta squash, Blue Hubbard squash, Turk's Turban, etc. And no, the clove oil attracts only diabroticine beetles, which includes cucumber beetles. Eugenol, a naturally occurring insect attractant found in clove oil (82 to 87 percent eugenol), allspice oil (65 to 75 percent eugenol) and bay oil (40 to 45 percent eugenol), lures diabroticine beetles (Peet, 2001 and The Scientific Community on Cosmetic and Non-food Products, 2000). Cinnamaldehyde, found in cassia oil and cinnamon bark oil, functions as an insect attractant and natural cucumber beetle bait (Environmental Protection Agency, 2007). Attach a cotton swab soaked in these aromatic oils to increase the sticky traps trapping effect. Cucumber Beetles: Organic and Biorational Integrated Pest Management The ATTRA site above lists common cucurbits ranked according to their effectiveness as lures. Any ranking number over 45 indicates the plant is highly preferred by cucumber beetles, male and female. You might want to review the list to see if there is anything you could grow next spring to use as a lure as well. The clove oil is usually the best way to start since it is the most readily available lure and doesn't have to be grown -- most people don't plan ahead for cucumber beetle invasions!

Woohoo! Just got my NARGS seeds today. I'm so excited. I have to slow down to make sure what I can wintersow & what I can't...I got about 50% of my first choices and the 2nd choices were ones that I am excited about too, so I'm doing my happy dance. If anyone has any advice about any of these, I'd appreciate it, I'm completely a novice gardener, last year was my first year WSing and I'm hooked! I really enjoy reading other people's lists to get ideas for next year & discover new plants. I received: Bletilla striata magenta Cyclamen hederifolium (well marked leaves) white Delosperma cooperi purple Gentiana angustifolia blue Gentiana asclepiadea blue Gentiana makinoi Gentiana makinoi 'royal blue' strong blue Hebe youngii blue helleborus hypridus purple x purple iris very good dark form deep purple iris hookeri blue Lewisia cotyledon peach/orange Meconopsis betoniciflia blue papaver somniferum lavender papaver somniferum lauren's grape potentilla nepalensis red primula japonica purple primula macrophylla violet-lilac Tricyrtis hirta white/purple spots Veronica schmidtiana 'Nana' blue Hakonechloa macra Aureola Tricyrtis angel's halo white Hibiscus trionum cream/yellow Tricyrtis lightening strike -Andrea

i am not in iowa but i am right next door. i ordered plants from Ion Exchange for the first time last year. i also visited their nursery one day last summer. i ordered some jacobs ladder, some new jersey tea and some button bushes from them... i really have to battle the rabbits for the tea... but so far they keep growing back. have you tried northern sea oats (chasmanthium latifolium)? i have been thinking about adding that to some woodland edge plantings but i havent really seen it, except in pictures, so i have been hesitant to order it. i did plant some bottlebrush grass in my shady raingarden. but my wierdo dogs kept eating the tops off, so they didnt grow very tall. i have been using cayenne pepper to discourage rabbits, and i may need to use it on the bottlebrush grass to keep the dogs off, if i ever want to see any growth on it. i agree that height is often missing in shade beds. it makes sense to me, that plants that get less sunlight are probably less prone to big growth. a nice tall plant that does grow well in shade is culver's root (veronicastrum virginicum). i have used that for height in my shade beds. the bumble bees really love it. the white spires of culver's root contrasts nicely with the dark purple of tall ironweed (vernonia altissima) which also tolerates quite a bit of shade. the two mixed look really neat at night too.

They don't have a website, but this company in McMinnville, TN will send a paper catalog upon request. Name, mailing address & phone # is on the link below. I believe they have all of the plants you mentioned and more. All plants are shipped bareroot, but I have never had a problem establishing them. Rb Here is a link that might be useful: Dave's GardenWatchDog