I'm fairly certain- though not 100% sure- that the plants are all of the same variety. We do have a fair number of uninvited grasses growing in the back, and I'm glad to have some that can survive in the shade from our oak trees. I noticed several other familar looking grasses while trying to ID this one, including at least one other rosette grass, so it is possible that the first, uprooted plant was similar, but not the same. But if the fall plants can be somewhat variable, I think that could explain why they don't look completely the same? Also the uprooted plant was a smaller, less mature plant. I think the closeup photos from the first and second groups show the same sort of somewhat hairy stem and blade. To me they look the same, but I'm not a trained botanist, so if there's a glaring discrepancy, I could easily miss it! If you see such an incompatibility that's not likely to be due to variability of a species, please point out the difference, and I'll apologize for posting photos of two separate varieties. I don't mind being wrong in public if I can learn something from it! jekeesl, once I got onto the Dichanthelium "track", my first thought was laxiflorum. I do think I also am hosting another species or two from this family (including commutatum), so I'll spend some time with the 'Name That Plant' web site, the USDA Plants site, and Google Images to see if I can determine which ones I've got. Many thanks, Virginia

The place I have in mind for the carex has morning shade til around 1 pm, and some spotty afternoon shade moving over it. It is moister than the rest of the strip, by being next to a downspout. I really like this plant: I may go get more if I could figure out where to put them. I have lots of dry shade in a back garden raised bed under ash trees. I have a watering systems set up there. But it gets pretty dry if I donÂt stay on top of it. Will they take dry shade? With occasional good soaks? Hosta does OK, and and astilbe do well there. The gold color would really light up that area. How big does M. 'Morning Light' get? The tag said 5 feet tall and wide, is that correct?. I would like a large "anchor" for this space. But more than 5 feet wide would be pushing it. Fast grower? ItÂs a gallon pot now so is only maybe 6 inches in diameter. The Cabaret Grass is supposed to get as tall but be narrower. That one is a wider bladed striped grass, green with white streaks. ItÂs also a miscanthus sinensis but a variant. I think I will lay a soaker in this area to help get these plants established. I see beautiful grasses in lots of gardens but I really donÂt know how to integrate them into my current garden. Except for some older shrubs in my front yard everything is oriented toward flowers (except for heuchera and hosta). I have a large island bed in the front I am renovating: keeping the shrubs and working in new perennials. I have a huge old mugho pine at one end (easily 15 feet tall), toward the street, in between variegated weigelia (2), barberries (2), and some bronzy dwarf spirea at the opposite end and Palace Purple heuchera. There is a lot of color variation in the leaves, from solid green (the pine) to green and white, to purple, to bronze. Since I bought 4 grasses IÂm thinking about putting one of them here but I canÂt figure out where it would look good and which one. The pine casts a lot of shade so probably not right next to that.

Ecotypes can have structural differences (morphological) and/or functional differences ("eco"physiological) which are genetically induced by habitat location. This may result in visibly discernible differences in the same plant species, i.e., leaf color(plain or patterned), stature (short or tall, bushy or slender) or functional differences, such as extracts of different types of oils and chemicals. Ecotypes do not necessarily occur as a function of widely separated geographical locations and can occur in a single population or in nearby populations. In a recent observation of a native Asarum species population, there were leaves with prominent white venation, some with very little venation and others with solid green leaves. Although Ecotypes may have appearance and functional differences, they are still able to cross-pollinate and produce offspring. Rb

1. When you say "truckload of soil" I assume you mean ordinary soil which would be a very bad idea, it would become compacted and won't drain well. The roots would drown for lack of oxygen. You need to use an appropriate well draining 'non soil' organic potting mix. This rule is part of the ABC's of basic seed sowing in containers. 2. "Months watering" sounds like you intend to keep seedlings in trays a very long time, later you mention leaving them in there for an entire year and even worse, counting on them surviving summer in trays. This is also very bad. Trays might serve in a pinch to germinate seeds but certainly not for growing them on, crowded together in such shallow soil as a seed tray would provide. What you want is good root growth and trays would not provide this, that is not what a seed tray is designed for. It is meant for holding pots or cells. 3. Scaling back on water to keep plant growth in check to control size doesn't even make sense. 4. Growing seedlings in a container that has no drainage holes is simply not done. That would result in a stagnant mess, damping off, drowning plants etc. This is a sure way to kill plants even if they are water loving plants. I suggest you get online or find a book on basic seed sowing methods. It appears you are over analyzing and making things difficult along with a lack of understanding of how to sow seeds. Seeds have simple basic needs for good success and your proposal doesn't sound practical or promising at all. Check the seed sowing forum or even the winter sowing forum. Either place will give you better ideas than what you have proposed above.