I bought plants at the shop this year when my friend and I went to the gardens. I'd been wanting to go for a long time, but just hadn't made it. Many of the plants they list above where not part of the selection offered when we visited. They propigate like crazy there!! When we went, the nursery was apparently not opened, but the gal who was working there let us in to buy some plants. I will caution that their "leavenworth's coreopsis" may not actually be that, but a native bidens. I purchased one, and if you look up photos of the coreopsis, there are some differences. The strongest point I'd make is that mine is doing well in the nastiest, dry soil!!! So I highly recommend this golden yellow gem they are selling. It's so cheery! I can't wait to add many of the shrubs to my future native shade garden. GGG

Um okay sorry for not clarifying but the parts in FL I would be growing this stuff in would either be Southern FL in these areas..... I've found a map of chill hours for the entire state of Florida. The link for it is provided below. You'll have to copy and paste it into the browser manually; I don't know why, but it doesn't show up as a hyper link that you can just click on and it'll redirect to the site via opening a new page. http://www.justfruitsandexotics.com/USDAZones.htm Fort Myers Naples Miami Tampa Saint Petersburg All of those zones listed have garden zones ranging from 9A-10B. The other areas would be in northern Florida and they would be in the panhandle of Florida..... These cities include... Jacksonville Pensacola Tallahassee Panama City Callahan Yulee Middleburg Also I was wondering if in northern Florida, it would be possible to grow traditional varieties of apple trees. By traditional I mean traditional, not the tropical hybrids designed for warmer climates. From what I've heard, their taste is inferior, which to me defeats the purpose of growing them. What I mean by fruit trees is peaches, pears, plums, apples, and plums. Also this is off topic, but since Florida is so well known for Citrus, would it be possible to grow it in the northern areas of FL or would it be too cold? I honestly don't know that's why I'm asking. I'd also like to know if you can grow tropical varieties of fruit such as bananas, pineapple, guava, etc.

tinasam, I admit that until AlbertoÂs question I had just taken a very quick look at your posting before, since although Georgia and NJ do share quite a few plants in common, I didnÂt think itÂd be that useful to me. I hadnÂt noticed the similarities between your user name and the authorÂs name. Correct me if IÂm wrong, otherwise congratulations on your book! Always good to see another book on the topic! Alberto, youÂve asked a question I definitely care about. I hope other people add to this, but there are some thoughts. I let nurseries I go to know IÂm interested in native plants in the hope theyÂll start carrying moreÂand of course that would make my plant buying much easier. Two things that I remembered from reading about what individual people can do (I donÂt remember where I saw these; maybe it was on one of these forums) are to start writing articles or letters for local papers, and to get involved in local government to get more natives plantings done in public areas. (or write a book on the topic for that matter) I suppose having an absolutely stunning native garden might get more people interested. Sharing native plants from my yard that people like is one definite way to get natives in their yards. I mostly just try to get people interested when I can. IÂm usually focusing even more about the negative effects of invasive plants, and so while IÂm very glad if people become interested in natives, itÂs even more important to me that they know the reasons to avoid invasives. If thereÂs an appropriate opening in conversation IÂll bring up the topics. In terms of invasives, IÂve actually printed out a short handout from the US government that explains the issue that I like because I think it gets the point across quickly and clearly. Depending on somebodyÂs interest during such conversations IÂll just about always offer to supply them with links, and might lend them books and/or offer to research which native plants might work well in their gardens. If somebody is already interested in gardening for wildlife I think pointing out the benefits of using native plants is often much easier for them to see. A book that many people will tell you is inspiring and that I also found very easy and enjoyable to read is "Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards" by Sara Stein. It tells about how she became interested in this and her experiences in it. She was gardening in New York state, but I think the main points would still apply. If you havenÂt read the thread on this forum on "Explaining Why Natives" you might find it interesting. It doesnÂt really address your question, but part of it kind of related. The first half of it had its last post in early September. Good luck making progress. -- Lori

Try Park's Seed Wholesale. They have a number of growers that they contract with for liners and some of them have natives or special cultivars from native stock. Watch them closely on quantity and size...I once ordered what I expected to be a 36 liner tray of penstemon and received a tray of 288!! Grow on! Jeff