Hey Christine, the canna lily seeds need to be nicked or filed to expose just a bit of the white or green inside. then you can plant them in pots, cups or the ground about an inch deep and water good the first time and then when the soil feels dry to the touch. I always put mine in a vice grip wrench and file on one spot until the black is worn away and the white or green is exposed. It only has to be a tiny spot. I hope this works out for you. Joel

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The Heracleum very likely IS actually from Mongolia or at least that region. Youd be amazed how many of the perennial "new introductions" come from all over the world. A lot come from China and other areas in Asia! There are people that travel all over just looking for possible new perennials to growand sellover here! Panayoti Kelaidis from DBG does itheres a link to his blog from his most recent trip, and Kelly Grummons from Timberline used to do it sometimes too. Dont know if he still does. Re: the "cow parsnip," I found this in the Encyclopedia Britannica: ".....the giant hogweed, is native to the Caucasus but is grown elsewhere as an ornamental." That reference is to a different species (H. maximum) that gets even BIGGER, and I found another species specifically linked to Mongolia, and I found this at another site: "Heracleum lehmannianum, originally from Tajikistan. A thumping furry thing with huge cut leaves and big plates of umbels. The seeds in particular have a weird slightly indian spicy but not quite pleasant scent." There are apparently at least 60 different species of Heracleumsome called hogweed. As near as I can tell, the lehmannianum is pretty unusual, and I wish I had an appropriate place to grow it. Theres another reference to the H.l. being from Tajikistan in the article Ive linked below. Its mentioned in the paragraph by the white flowers! Its all kind of interesting when you start to research it! Aint the web a great thing! :-) Skybird