Davallia trichomanoides, or Squirrel's Foot Fern Typha or Cattails, there are 11 species, says Wikipedia Moss roses, my favorite is Alfred du Dalmas, sometimes called Mousseline, for the scent of the flowers is reminiscent of French linens. There are cultivars with mossier buds. Some Lavenders have very soft leaves, and soft velvety flowers especially right before they open, I love to feel them. Sinningia, or florists, Gloxinia. Roman Chamomile makes a wonderful "rug."

Well, it looks like some of you want to try Castilleja. Good for you. I'm no Castilleja expert, but maybe I can give you a few hints from my trial and error approach to getting Castilleja established in my gardens. Keep in mind that I put in screes for many of my plantings because the base soil where I lived in the north was clay. In my case I used variuos species of Artemisia and short prarie grasses and sedges as hosts for the Castilleja. They also did well in with my scree full of Populus tremuloides. My best and fastest came from transplanting wild collected established but young Castilleja that were cut into an established hosts root system. Not as fast because of set back or shock to both was transplanting established plants of Castilleja and host at the same using the same method. Most of mine where done in the spring to early summer, and they would be well established the nest spring. If you have to work from seeds only and have established hosts, cut into the hosts roots and sow the seeds in the cuts. IOW, by cutting into the hosts root system you damage some to give the Castilleja a faster start at parasitizing them. If from seed only for both Castilleja and host, sow them together and rake into a well drained soil in full sun areas that will also be able to be kept wet in the spring. If you want to do it from seed this year, hubba hubba on getting the seeds in hand. Fall to late fall is the time to sow them into established hosts. If seed only for both you can wait for next spring/summer, but those that do germinate won't until that fall so you'll probably loose another year or two getting them established. HTH,and good luck to all of you if you try. Sherry, Your local colony may use the Castilleja, but also may not as they are not naturally exposed to it much. Would be fun to see though. Sandy, I was very lucky to see so many places. Sure wish I had access to all the pictures I took in my lifetime to share. As it is I have to garner most of them. I could do that alot for the places I've been and whats there, but since most here won't every go beyond their home gardens there's no need. Larry

I have an Asclepias fascicularis that I bought in a gallon pot, and its leaves are very different from these seedlings. So I'm pretty sure this plant is something else. It can't be spotted spurge because it doesn't have the spots, but it does look like it could be prostrate spurge. Anyway, I've ripped it out now. About the first plant, I think you may be right about it being in the carrot family. The leaf shape does kind of remind me of a small branch-end from wild carrot, whereas it doesn't really seem to match the leaf shape of anything in the cranesbill/geranium family. Well, I'll let it grow until I figure out what it is. Thanks for the suggestion! Here is a link that might be useful: wild carrot

This is my second try with Indian Paintbrush. The first time I got a few to germinate but they didn't thrive. My host plant was liatris. This time I'm trying penstemon. I had lots of little penstemon seedlings that volunteered in my yard and I put a few in the container with my seeds. In another container, I added a couple larger penstemon plants. I don't know if that makes a difference. Just experimenting. I also scattered my left over seeds in the area where my penstemon volunteers are coming up. If none of those work, I might try ordering native grass to plant them with next time. That was a good link Helen, one I hadn't come across. It talks about competition which I hadn't thought about. Here are the others that I sowed this year: This is partly to help ME remember. lol Anise Hyssop Aquilegia formosa (second try with last year's seeds) Phlox - seeds saved from reverted Peppermint Twist. Pulmonaria - last year's saved seeds. Hope these come up because my pulmonaria died and it was a long bloomer. I wish I could say my yard is beautiful Sunny - Most of the time I think it looks more like a weed patch with a few flowers in it. I started out planting a long row of shrubs and trees, and have been tucking some perennials and annuals around it. I wonder if it would've been better to just stick with mostly perennials and a couple shrubs here and there since shrubs don't bloom very long. Check out what this 'new' gardener has accomplished in only a year or so. She has a few hundred MORE containers of seeds to add this spring. Here is a link that might be useful: winter sowing forum - ws'ers dream come true