Leslie197 your picture of Virginia Bluebells is beautiful. I looked for them for several years before I found one. We have dodecatheon growing wild in this area and are called Birdbills. Erythronium are called Lamb's Tongue, I don't know of anyone outside of this area that calls them by these names. They are beautiful. We also have the little wild slipper orchid that grows wild, when I was little they grew on the hill in the woods above my Grandmother's home. Every spring my aunt's and any kids that were there would hike up to them and one aunt that lived in a cooler place than in the valley would (sorry) dig them and grow them - but then there were masses of them. I am growing arisemas from seed that are just starting to bloom, - I can't think of any I don't like. But these are about my favorites. I have seed from Bloodroot that I planted and got just little tiny plants that bloomed, is this how they are supposed to be? I have a few seeds left in the refrigerator and will try again, maybe I should of Winter Sowed them. I saw a wild ginger at a plant sale last weekend that is absolutely beautiful, davidsii (?) I think. It has large leaves with large flowers, the only one they had was sold already. I know it doesn't die back, but was really special. Oh, Trilliums too.

Bluebells are in bloom, the front beds have dicentra - fringed bleeding heart and dutchman's breeches, trout lilies, wild columbine, celandine poppies all up and looking good but nowhere near blooming. The serviceberries are in bud, scarlet elder and several kinds of viburnums and dogwoods leafing out. The baby sized native azaleas have the beginnings of buds showing. We had a mild winter and everything came through fine but we're in trouble if we don't get some rain soon. I tried tilling up a new bed for a butterfly meadow and the tiller just bounced on the surface as though it were on concrete. Yesterday I felt like I had descended into that special circle of Hell reserved for sedentary middle-aged office workers who try to work like day-laborers on the weekend.

Hudson, your backyard with the mountain backdrop is so beautiful! What a nice garden and view that you have. So picturesque! amberdim, do you like Ariadne? I was thinking of getting it but there are so many different photos of it that I do not know which one is the prevalent color of the flower. Also does the flower hang at or above the foliage. From your photo, it looks like it is above the foliage which is what I am looking for. Ariadne is a Lutea hybrid so you may get a rebloom in August too. I am also starting to get into hostas. I just placed an order for 20 some hostas. What is your most favorite hostas, amberdim? Liz, I can't wait to see pictures of your new purchases next spring. I too have looked at the Tree Peony Garden website and is greatly tempted to get some tree peonies in their collector's corner. I have to make some more space for them if I do make a purchase. It sounds like they send really big plants.

Hmmmm, this might just be worth skipping the Talahi Sale. If Chattanooga was a little closer, I bet it would put the Talahi sale out of business. When I was down at RR a while back, they sure had a lot of intersting stuff in their greenhouse area.