Many thanks flora, Sorry, I cannot post a picture - wish I could. The reason is: I have seen it near Edinburgh (but I do not live in the UK) at a friend's (or to be precise 'ex-friend's garden). He said it was a native Scottish plant and very hardy because that's what they told him at the local garden centre. Over the years, it had certainly proved to be very hardy growing in an exposed location. So, this was not West coast Scotland (which is very mild, I have been there, they have palm trees in their gardens and do not even have to wrap them up in winter. So, the bit about the plant's origin need to be correct. I think it is not a Daphne species (I know D. mezereum - and my mystery plant does not look remotely like it). What is similar though is how the stem feels when you touch it: quite silky. One thing I forgot to add: it has small dark berries (the colour of elderberries but a bit larger. I have never tasted the berries (otherwise I think I would know whether ti was a Daphne sp.) The worst bit is: he chopped the plant down in a fit of rage. B.

I agree that none of the plants you are interested in growing are native, and that makes me wonder if they are really host plants for local butterfly species. Most of them are really common in the wild, and I would think any butterfly that uses them as a host plant should be equally common. I would take some time to examine your local wild weeds and see if you can find caterpillars or caterpillar damage on them. If you find none, that indicates that they really aren't a significant host plant. However, any of them should be quite easy to grow. I find English Plantain to be a really fast spreader in the graden and in my lawn, and I would instead consider Common Plantain, which is still a weed but doesn't seem to spread as fast. Red Clover can be a pretty nice addition to a meadow, and is not among the bad weeds around here, at least I don't consider it one. Docks are very hard to remove once planted, so be selective in where you allow them to grow. Same goes for toadflax (aka butter and eggs) which spreads vegetatively and is hard to completely remove - I have tried for years without getting it all. Burdock is the largest of the group. A single plant can spread to a four by four foot size and reach six feet tall, so if you want to grow burdock give it lots of space.

You can get all the info you need from the internet. Google lakeside dune native plants of southwest Michigan. If you are lucky enough to find them, get some seeds of the endangered plants in your area like Pitcher's Thistle and Houghtons goldenrod.

I'm confused whether you want to can these or just make a fresh tomato dish. If you want a sauce tomato I'd suggest Roma, determinate, or San Marzano, an indeterminate. For canning my neighbor cans a lot and buys plants from Burpee's. She uses SuperSauce an indeterminate. I would suggest Dester and Belgian Gigant, Giant Belgium, which both produce a lot of tasty tomatoes. For fresh eating I'd suggest Pink Brandywine which doesn't produce a lot of tomatoes, so suggest for fresh eating only. I'd also suggest Mortgage Lifter because it's been my first producer the last two years. For a yellow tomato I'd suggest Kellogg's Breakfast. It's a vigorous grower with lots of tomatoes. I grow it because I have a heart burn problem. Some say not to can yellow tomatoes, but some say there's no difference in acidity. I grow two plants in case I can't eat the red tomatoes. We made a pasta dish this evening from both a canned red tomato and Kellogg's Breakfast. Sweet peppers, onions and sweet sausage. I experimented last season with planting out 4 tomato seedlings two to four weeks late so that they start producing later. I planted them in mid June and they started producing in September. Big crops of big tomatoes like I usually see when a plant first starts production. For beefsteaks I'd suggest at least 3 foot spacing, maybe 4 feet, but I've planted 4 in an eleven foot garden.