Hi MIchelle! (Sorry to be so slow in responding, but I just saw this) I'd love your Liatris punctata, Oenothera pallida, and Hibiscus moscheutos. If you find enough from my list that you'd like..I wouldn't mind double trades of all 3 species :-) Please email me directly at Thosedarnsqurls@aol.com

It is great you are keeping your garden green with natives. Many of the native plants are protected here in Michigan--no picking Loosestrifes, Queen Anne's Lace, and we have a shortage of Joe Pye Eye Weed and violas--so, I embrace all my natives that I can! Keep up the good work--and get your hands in the soil--somehow that is how I find my solace to dealing with stress (especially between the books, if you know what I mean). Good luck, Pam! If you see something on my small (newly started garden) and I am a newbe on the forum, e-mail me at pconnole@aol.com and let me know--more than likely SABSE will work just fine with some of the seeds.

Thank you so much for sharing the links.A very good source of information. Felix

MaryLiz: Sounds like an exciting project - you sound like you have a lot of great information already, and a plan of action. Here are some thoughts and suggestions based on my limited experience on a very small plot in eastern Mass. (1) I used John Diekelmann's Natural Landscaping: Designing with Native Plant Communities as my guide. Although some of it was over my head, I found dozens of useful points, plus lists of plants in the back, categorized by type of community (oak-hickory forest, mesic grassland, savanna, etc.). But I also took the advice of the book (and folks at GardenWeb) and learned about the native plants that actually live in my area now. I did this by using field guides and by exploring natural areas (state parks, etc.) to identify what was living in sites similar to mine. (2) As for your book's philosophy that non-invasive aliens are 'bad' too, I feel like that's a matter of semantics. The irises in my front yard non-native garden aren't actively 'bad' for the environment, but they don't do much good either (although you'd be surprised how many native insects and birds enjoy feasting on non-native plants). But for me the more important question is, what plants and animals have evolved together over thousands of years to form a community? These species have slowly pieced together a multi-faceted mosaic with countless connections and interrelationships. There are no places in the mosaic to fit non-native plants and animals - they fit into other mosaics, other communities, where they have evolved, usually far away from here. So one way of native plant gardening (and it is only one of many ways - your way is another) is to plant only those species that are part of the community that you've identified as native to your area and your site conditions. Then, the frustrating part is finding places that sell the plants you identified. (3) As for 'select aliens', I would ask around in the various GardenWeb forums covering your desired landscape type. Woodlands and Meadows & Prairies are two good ones. Folks there will probably steer you to natives, but you'll probably be able to get some advice about aliens/exotics that will behave themselves in among the natives. I've never heard of an invasive hosta, for example (watch someone prove me wrong!). Best of luck, wd