Hi, would you be interested in trading a bit of your Scarlet Gilia for some Lemon Beebalm- Monarda citriodora? LMK. Ronnie

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.

To take out the location-loaded terms 'native' and 'cultivated', I think what you're trying to ask is, "can hybrids occur between species from different continents"; the answer is yes, provided the species are closely related enough. There are plenty of examples. In Prunus, the hybrid between P. avium (Europe) and P. emarginata (N America) is known, recently named Prunus à pugetensis. I'd doubt that P. serotina could cross with P. avium though, as they are in different sections of the genus (sect. Padus, and sect. Cerasus, respectively). Resin

i thought that the southern magnolia only grew in zone 7 and warmer? how in the heck did it end up on the zone 5/6 boundary up north?!?!? looking at some pictures online, i do think that id of this thing being magnolia grandiflora is correct. can we blame canadian geese for "planting" it? im happy to see it's at least native to the eastern US though. my goodness maybe there is something to global warming! i will have to continue to monitor this plant and see if it survives through our harsh winters. i am really shocked but again after looking through photos online i think it has to be southern magnolia. WOW