Marcia, I have 'Honey Bells' hosta also. I like the large shiny green leaves on it. Last week I went shopping at Lindenberg's. In store they are clearing out their perennials at 40% off. So, I bought... Supreme Sultan TB iris... $2.39 regularly $3.99. American Halo, Fair Maiden, Sleeping Beauty and Sea Lotus Leaf Hostas all $3.29 each instead of $5.49. First Frost, Summer Breeze and Great Arrival Hostas all $5.09 instead of $8.49. Monarch's Velvet Potentilla followed me home also for $2.99 instead of $4.99. I also picked up some Japanese peonies for $10.19 instead of $16.99. I bought Kukenu Jishia, Bride's Dream and Glowing Candles. The herbacious peonies I bought were Springfield, Eden's Perfume, Kansas, Laura Desert, Tom Eckhart, Pink Cameo and Edulis Superba. They were reg $6.99 and I paid $4.19. Daylilies...I will plant and hope that they are true...if not then I may just have to give them away or sell really cheap. I bought Black Stockings, Fire and Fog and Moroccan Sunrise all regularly $7.99 and now on for $4.79. The daylilies that were regularly $5.99 and on for $3.59 that I picked up were Edge of Darkness, Cherry Valentine, Canadian Border Patrol, Paige Pinata and Daring Deception. Each year I go and get stuff at their clearance sale. Sure is a lot cheaper. They are bare root so I just plant them up immediately and they do fine. Thank goodness perennials can grow in a pot until I have time to plant them. I have done some cleaning through the beds and found a few spaces already and the rest are going to be placed in my new walking garden where the old holding garden used to be. Brenda

OMG Marie - I don't want to be a downer, but did you read the negative feedback at Garden Watchdog? The most protracted rant came from a lady who did exactly what you are proposing and sounded like she wanted to go back in time and dope slap that very idea out of her own head by the end of her ordeal. That being said, I HAVE done a group order of Helebores on a smaller scale from SG and it was OK. There were only three of us - Dee, another swapper friend and I. The plants were nice enough, but small as should be expected. Nothing that has inspired me to order from him again, but I wouldn't totally rule it out. I get their emails and laugh at their pricing because whether it is something exotic-ish or as common as Garlic chives he seems to charge the same two pricing structures for everything and presents it with the same huckster patter. Of course he also has some good growing information to impart also. He must really be a character in person.

Anise Hyssop White Horehound Valerian Pretty Bonnets Echinacea-White Swan Filipendula ulmaria (meadowsweet) Geranium Pratense Geranium Mrs. Kendall Clark Heliopsis Hosta-New American Hybrids Mix Primula Mix Verbascum mix Viola Penny Lane Mixture Alpine Strawberries Ruegen BERGENIA, HEART-LEAF-NEW HYBRIDS MIX CORAL BELLS, NEWEST HYBRIDS CHRISTMAS ROSE (warm cold warm cyler) PRIMROSE, RONSDORF HYBRIDS DRUMSTICK Actaea pachypoda (Doll's Eyes) (warm cold warm) Allium cernuum (Nodding Onion) Allium tricoccum (Wild Leek, Ramps) (multicycler) Anemonella (Thalictrum) thalictroides (Rue Anemone) Antennaria microphylla (rosea) (Pussytoes) Aruncus dioicus (Goatsbeard) Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed) Chelone glabra (White Turtlehead) Chelone lyonii (Pink Turtlehead) Cimicifuga (Actaea) racemosa (Black Cohosh) (warm cold warm) Claytonia virginica (Virginia Spring Beauty) Darmera peltata (Umbrella Plant) Dicentra eximia (Wild Bleeding Heart) (warm cold warm) Gentiana clausa (Closed Gentian) Geranium maculatum (Wild Geranium) Hydrastis canadensis (Goldenseal) Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal Flower) Lobelia siphilitica (Great Lobelia) Mertensia virginica (Virginia Bluebells) Passiflora incarnata (passionflower) Rhexia virginica (Meadow Beauty) Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot) (multi-cycler) Stylophorum diphyllum (Celandine Poppy) Thermopsis caroliniana (Carolina Lupine) Trillium cuneatum (Whippoorwill Flower) (multicycler) Trillium grandiflorum (Showy Trillium) (multicycler) Trollius laxus ssp. laxus (Spreading Globeflower) Viola labradorica ( Labrador Violet) Xerophyllum asphodeloides (Turkeybeard) oh also self gathered: Agrimonia eupatoria (agrimony) Aster (Symphyotrichum) cordifolius (Blue Wood Aster) (I think) solidago (?) - blue stemmed goldenrod Yellow flag Iris Helianthus giganteus (Swamp Sunflower) (again, not positive ID, wild gathered seed) Peony Phlox panticula Verbascum - "wild" (naturalized alien I think) moth mullein White snakeroot wild strain black eyed susans lots and lots of triploid daylilies (from a friend) The warm cold warm cycle plants got about six weeks warm and six weeks cold (should be three months of each) because the seeds were not available soon enough for full cycles-they are in biodegradable containers and will be sunk into the ground to recycle if no germination. The species marked "multicyclers" need two cycles of cold to germinate. They were planted this winter but will be sunk into the ground to overwinter next winter. Any seeds that were not stratified due to expert directions or that had disagreement (the cardinal flower, the Huechera, etc.) are split between winter sow and spring sow-most will just be sown outdoors when it is warm enough. so that makes about 58 species I guess. I'd say for container count multiply it by 3. I have monkshood, astilbe, assorted hostas and ligularia fall sown direct seeding, along with assorted second cycling seeds. I have tarragon and golden hibiscus and two varieties of watermelon under lights indoors, and more passionflower, rosemary, Clethra alnifolia (Summersweet), Hydrangea quercifolia (Oak-leaved Hydrangea),Kalmia latifolia (Mountain Laurel), Rhododendron maximum (Great Laurel) indoors under lights not yet germinated. Also a Mr. Kendall Clark Geranium that germinated too early and was picked out. Discpline is not my strong point. I had other Geranium pratense germinate in January and are big happy babies waiting to go out in the cool air ASAP. They do not appear to like the heat of the house. Thus summarizes my winter garden experience *grin*. I have like thirty tarragon and only want one-left them under lights for trades and something to stare at and harrass. Start looking for recipes that require tarragon. Laurette

The trillium bible is "Trilliums" by Fred & Roberta Case. Coryjames' post sounds like a quote from page 100. Along Maryland's Susquehanna's River we have some variation of T. flexipes. About one million will be blooming next month. As the name implies, the flower is bent or reflexed. The petals are ivory and heavily veined and the base of the petals do not overlap. The leaves are large and heavily textured. The ovaries are white, purple or striped. Anthers are greyish. T. grandiflorum can also be variable. The ones that I have seen are more refined than the above. The flowers are not reclined. The anthers are golden yellow. The base of the petals overlap. You just about have to pull the flower apart to expose the ovary. There is a tiny, protected population of T. grandiflorum f. roseum on the Lancaster Co, side of the Susquehanna which is exquisite to see in bloom. Those of us who observe trilliums know that the pedicellate ones hybridize freely. They are incredibly variable. Sam