I have Trillium tubers Grandifolrum Snowy White Erectum - Red Luteum - Yellow - variegated foliage Undulatum Painted Pink Send link to your trade page or what you have to offer. I'm looking for unusual shade plants.

We started trillium in pots years ago and planted them out in the garden where they have taken hold and multiplied. We started our trillium roots, winter aconite corms and snowdrops in pots and then put them out on their own after a year. This isn't essential but it just increases their odds of surviving. I treat anything zone 5 or lower more or less the same. Some zone 5 plants haven't made it but neither have some zone 2. Proper drainage and mulching makes a big difference for so-called marginal plants. Many plants aren't listed as zone 2 or 3 because there just isn't much experience with them other than anecdotal evidence. A lot of so-called higher zone plants just haven't been given a fighting chance. I like to find out myself rather than shying away because of the literature. Everytime we visit a keen gardener or they visit us there's always at least one 'I din't know that could grow here'. Some of the plant requirement literature just parrots other literature and bad info is perpetuated (not that there isn't also a lot of good literature and info).

I have only been successful with DOT one time, but it was a very rich site, so we were blessed. We did have a developer this spring who, already having cleared the area, decided we could go on the property. We went six times as there were SO many Trillium cuneatums, Sol. seal, bloodroot, and a few mayapples and ferns that had refused to die. Of course, they were in the hot sun, but these plants were still trying! I was negociating with a construction company in Oregon, if you can imagine, that was going to build something in the NC Piedmont. Everything was just fine for several months...then a polite and somewhat contrite withdrawl of permission. What a shame as it was on a creek and along a very boggy, damp area...usually a good place around here. I missed two digs a little earlier as they were about 70 mi. away, and I did not have the time to go on those days. I did, however, get to one in the mountains, and there were many wonderful plants, including the yellow form of Trillium sulcatum. There were a few of the maroon ones, but most were yellow or almost white. Today I was in an area that has mostly T. grandiflorums, but I did not dig as they are not threatened. We only move them if there will be construction. Hopefully, you will find one person who will allow you to dig. We are losing green areas very quickly around here, and I hate for everything native to be lost. Oh, some people still plant privet. Yuck.

Many of us who posted at GardenWeb over the years know that this is an issue that comes up every Spring. Whenever we see cheap, bareroot trilliums, orchids, native lilies, and ferns for sale we should be asking some questions. Wild-collected plants are offered by both family-owned businesses as well as big box stores. Wording such as "Grown from Cultivated Stock" and "No Plants Harvested from the Wild" are meaningless. It looks to me like Langeveld is a Dutch bulb broker, the plants have passed through several hands by the time they come back to US. Such brokers deal with VERY large numbers of plants. If a poster got an orchid/trillium from Aunt Molly, that has no bearing on this issue. A few years ago, Better Homes & Gardens was putting their stamp of approval on wildflowers being sold to Big Boxes via a Dutch broker. I personally contacted the CITES official in Raleigh and after an investigation, BH&G dropped the line of plants. Below link is a press release from Fish & Wildlife about wild-collected plants being shipped to a Dutch broker. The N.Carolina man was found guilty and served time. Unbelieveably this same man is still in business and still dealing with wild-collected plants out of NC. One display in local Big Box is called "Botanical Wonders". When wild-collected plants change hands several times, there is really little if any follow-up on the part of the state's Dept of Ag or the USDA, this is especially true if it is unclear whether or not a law has been violated. For many decades the collection of wildflowers has been a cottage industry in NC, WV, Tenn as well as other states. Think about it logically, what genuine propagator and grower of eastern wildflowers is going to market his plants through a big box? Cheap, bareroot, pre-packaged plants native to eastern US such as ginseng, hepatica, trout lily, all violets, Mertensia, ferns, trilliums/orchids are wild-collected. It should be stated that while there are a few small, domestic growers who do legitimately propagate wildflowers, they take pains to document that fact and their plants are not cheap. Here is a link that might be useful: U.S. Fish & Wildlife News Release