The native Sol. Seal does creep and can form colonies. I would never consider it invasive. However, the Japanese Sol. Seal creates really big clumps, and most of my gardening buddies have to divide it often. The really large native one, Polygonatum biflorum var. commutatum, can get very tall, but, again, no one has ever called it invasive that I know. Check to see which one you have, the native or the Japanese one, which is variegated and quite lovely but does need attention to keep it in bounds.

i started a patch with very fresh seed that was given to me in the fall by a friend who grows it to sell in his herb business. He told me to rake up the soil surface, scatter the seed, lightly cover it and water it in, letting the leaves fall over it as they may. I did this and it came up nicely in the spring. My little patch is thriving after 5 years. It does go dormant in late summer. I planted it in the woods where I had cleared out weeds and honeysuckle under a grove of oaks. I planted another small patch a few weeks later, but the seed had already gone into dormancy and it didn't come up until the second spring. It too is thriving now. The soil is general woodland soil, not wet or too dry, just average. I don't take any special pains to keep it watered, it is fine on its own. I don't rake the leaves out or tidy up the patch. It seems to grow well in the same woods with trilliums, solomon's seal, mayapple and dogtooth violets. It is primarily a deciduous woods with oaks, dogwoods, hackberry, wild cherry, and some elm. Sandy

A few words said late to this long-running post: In the new HBO movie "John Adams", there is a scene late in the movie where Abigail Adams is in her room dying and John calls on her to focus and look at the hydrangeas he has brought into the room for her to see. "Oh...they've bloomed...." she says. I definitely think of hydrangeas as "Colonial" and have five backed by a trellis of climbing vines. Monticello sells seeds. I have underplantings too, but native shrubs mixed in with modern. We have Old Salem here in Winston-Salem, NC, also Bethania and Bethabara and I have been to Williamsburg, VA. The gardens could best be described as "rambunctious bounty enclosed by neat boundaries." Boundaries can be fences, walks, hedgerows, structures,bodies of water, roads etc. The key, I think, is to keep it blooming year-round and not be ashamed to mix fragrant herbs in with ornamentals. See Monticello and Mt. Vernon online. Thomas Jefferson , Geo. Washington were curious gardeners interested in new varieties and methods and would probably advise you to embrace today's plants and planting styles along with the old. In my mind, colonial authenticity begins with thinking like a Colonist!

Yo Ken, if your still around your up on this one. Far as Composites go I am with the Larry/whoever We are for the most part. Composites are really no longer using recycled material because there is just not enough of it so most of the raw stuff is virgin,the energy used to make composite is an enviro no no, when its time to remove the project composite is not real big on bio degrade its tricky to burn shreading it would be silly. Bottom line composites are not so enviro freindly. Info like that might suggest its not all that good to clean it either, with anything. I dont agree>> composites will out last Ipe, left to go silver/gray Ipe is as close to no maintance as a person can get. With the softer composites like Choice/MoistureShield even trex= tjunk I have found a coat or two of TWP 116 seals up the decking,locks in the color and keeps mold,mildew,stains from causing major problems. Of course not needing to do this is the reason the Wallet goes for composite in the first place. I my own self dont like composites at all for the reasons stated in several posts here and on other sites. Welcome aboard Larry!!! Sorry I dident understand your intent at the begining . John