I was just looking over Hawk Hill's offerings and noticed their opening statement. Hawk Hill Orchids is located in Pacifica, California, a coastal town about 10 miles south of San Francisco. The climate is wonderful for growing Andean orchids and other cool growers. In fact, two other orchid nurseries renowned for their species collections, Hanging Gardens and Golden Gate Orchids, are located on the same hill as Hawk Hill. The question 'What grows well for you?' is really a question of geography. Tom Perlite of Golden Gate Orchids, grows Dend cuthbersonii in that location like I grow Dandelions on my front lawn. There are exceptions and during the 5 years when I did not have a greenhouse, I experienced a few of these. Epidendrum raniferum,which is a warm grower, tolerates our cold winters quite well and has grown really well. Now that I have a warm GH, I still leave that one outside as it's doing so well. I'm going up to San Francisco this coming weekend and will get a few cold growers like some of the Odontoglossums, Dracs and Masdies. Bottom line, it's all a matter of geography. Nick

thanks! I'm passing this along...

I've collected seed from sagebrush and germinated some. They germinate easily when collected in December but the percentage of seed to germinate is very low. I have never tried to grow sagebrush. The seed from Oenothera deltoides, desert primrose are easy to germinate an grow. One of the finest plants East of Reno, in my opinion is a grass called Oryzopsis hymenoides, Indian rice grass. I can get the seed to germinate but it takes years to produce an attractive plant.

Plant sale at Flower Mound http://kfmb.org/home/going_green_matters_fair