Hi again froggy, This is the Conversation side of the Plant Exchange. You need to go part way down on the main page, and click on Discussions All the trades are looked at and found there. Happy Trading! Sue

In defense of grasses, there are many superb ornamental grasses that are a piece of cake to trim in late winter. Steer clear of the Euro and Asian imports that will inevitably die out in the centers and need regular dividing like Miscanthus and Pampas. Opt for the Panicums anywhere in the US or the Sacaton's and Muhly's in the mid to southwest if you need a big grass, the leaves are not sharp edged. Muhly's often stay almost evergreen here. There are many lovely medium and small ornamental varieties that make for low maintenance choices, far more attractive for a grass effect in my opinion than the lanky, weedy, grass-like foliage which is "not worth the brief period of flowers" of daylilies that tend to look like that patch of messy Johnson Grass up the road in a garden. Since they will grow in poor conditions with no care, people do plant them but there are so many better alternatives. On the other hand, appropriate tussock type grasses look good during all seasons, block weed growth, add great texture, wonderful seed heads and require almost no maintenance. I imagine the area one lives in determines if a plant looks suitable or not and tastes probably differ in various parts of the country. One problem with a garden full of plants like garden phlox, rudbeckia, day lilies etc and many other "die to the ground" perennials filling a bed is that there is no interest in winter or early spring. Many have a tendency to flop, therefore requiring staking and future dividing along with the job of deadheading and require too much irrigations. Maybe this is just a factor in more southern parts of the country where we tend to be in the garden for most of the year and lack snow on the ground. There are many varieties of plants to choose from that fit the bill around here for these issues. Less work would result with well spaced drought hardy shrublike perennials and subshrubs that get woody and have a presence with maturity. I find they are better choices for year round interest & low maintenance, which usually means maintaining overall neatness. These types are attractive both in or out of bloom. It prevents that often overwhelming & overgrown chaotic appearance that often occurs in mid to late summer when choosing various plants based strictly on "showy flowers" especially when the plants are out of their early peak blooming period after which they tend to shut down & burn up in summer and need too much irrigation just to stay alive. A garden full of blackened to the ground foliage & stems and a boring blank slate in winter is something I find downright depressing. Again this is probably a regional thing. The grasses are quite pretty in winter here.

Are you still looking? I have all you could possibly dig. And I mean all. I have so many I'm pulling them out and throwing them away. If you get them right now, they'll probably bloom still. Where are you? I'm on the south side of Bowie. Do you want to come out? Christine

Tropicbreezent- I've attempted at making a humidity tent out of cling wrap and some bendable wire, however I don't think it's doing much as the hydrometer next to it reads 34-40% (during the day, at night its 50-68%). I think this is because during the day we have the air con switch on whereas at night we switch it off. I've watered my PL once again today (I'm planning to do it every day till it settles). When I water, most of it gets drained out, so I'm thinking this watering schedule should be okay...hopefully no root rot. I've also covered the top of the pot with cling wrap (yeah I think I might ave gone a little overboard with it haha). My reasoning for doing this is because I noticed/read that the soil drys from top to bottom and with a coarse mix (5:1:1) this usually means the bark at the top drys out much faster than the mix around the roots. This means the dry bark would make it difficult to transfer oxygen to the roots (my understanding ??)....so by placing the plastic on top of the mix I'm hoping to retain the moisture this way till the next watering.