Dear Plantknitter, 1) How many of each kind of tree do you want? 2) RE: dahlias: no need to buy or bring dahlias for the swap. I know that you always bring many interesting things, especially the saxifrages. 3) The Hmong farmers do raise other perennials. I asked Bee Cha, of the Cooperative Extension Service if they needed other plants. He said it's only dahlias that were destroyed. Bee will attend the Green Elephant. We can get an update from him then. Regards, Jim

FataMorgana- I research various plants in my yard for salve use and other, I've seen the Henrietta site. Some plants I have used in salve include stinging nettle, ribwort plantain, Heal-All (Prunella), St. John's Wort, Rosemary, Akebia, Western Red Cedar, Lady's Mantle, Rose petals, Agrimony, Sage, Thyme, Calendula, and I nearly always put in some Comfrey. I only use around 3-8 kinds of herbs at a time of course. So I guess I would also be a nerd, or amateur herbalist. I've only had one batch that didn't seem to work well, it got kind of hard and crumbly. I don't know what ingredient caused that. I use a pint or quart canning jar filled full of herbs then filled with olive oil, and put it in a water bath in a crockpot on low. 8-12 hours later I strain and add beeswax to harden. I find the salves very useful and beneficial. I also dry herbs for tea. I'm not very good at using herbs that require using the root as I hate to kill the plant, though it's possible to dig down on one side of a plant to chop off just a few roots, I've tried that with Comfrey. Well, I'm looking forward to seeing all my new Goldenrods, hopefully the plants will be big enough to bloom this year? So far no germination on my Baby Gold seeds from ebay,:-( I'm excited to be adding another genus to my plants that sounds very useful.

Ncrescue, thanks for letting me know about Trillium cuneatum. Now that I know it blooms a long time, I've put it at the top of my list of Trilliums to look for. As for the bleeding heart, mine are in a lot of sun, which is probably a factor in their blooming a long time for me. I find they do well in full sun, as long as their soil isn't too dry. Agretz, welcome to perennial gardening! My method for keeping track of bloom times is a spreadsheet. For each type of plant I grow, I record the day it starts blooming and the day it stops. In another column, I subtract the first date from the second, and that gives me days of bloom. The spreadsheet can also be used to average the bloom time over multiple years. This system works really well for me. Having the spreadsheet to fill out means I pay more attention to my plants.

Posted by Mari - 7: I have very dark shaded woods and would like to know of some wildflowers that will bloom in the summer. I have plenty of spring flowers and bulbs in the woods but in the summer they are bare. Gwenne Hayes-Stewart - z6: Dense shade does not afford a lot of blooming. Those spring flowers bloom during times before the leaves of the trees have developed. Might you consider ferns and woodland ground covers like wild gingers. Susan King Z7a: If you have a moist spot, Lobelia cardinalis or L. syphilitica. Bill Plummer - 5: Mitchella repens, partridge berry blooms in summer- white stars in a green sky. Snakeroot,Cimicifuga, is a late summer bloomer as tall as M. repens is small. Toad lily, Tricyrtis, Corydalis lutea and C. ochreleuca will bloom throughout the summer. mark golden [AL/zone7b]: here are a few I've found to do well starting in late spring/early summer, some even thru midsummer: Chrysogonum virginianum - yellow flowers, nice green foliage. Tiarella codifolia - a few cultivars are available also. Stylophorum diphyllum - big yellow flowers, interesting foliage. Bob in zone 6: Most of the Actaeas (Baneberries) will bloom even in dense shade. A nice display of scarlet or white berries will follow. Bruce Morrison - 4: You might think of giving White Woodland Milkweed a try (Asclepias exaltata). The Prairie Nursery catalog describes it in their woodland wildflower section as a July bloomer and calls it a well behaved plant. (Prairie Nursery, Westfield, WI (608)296-3679) I would suggest not overlooking Wild Columbine but in zone 7 perhaps they wouldn't still be at it by mid summer (they are here in NW Iowa). You might think about those plants which have color later on from their fruit. Jack-in-the-pulpits, Solomon Seal, False Solomon Seal, are examples. Barb Mich z5: There are a few goldenrods that prefer shade. Solidago puberula and S. caesia are 2 that would give late summer, early fall color. Aster puniceous is more blue than purple and does well in about 2 hours of sun. There are several small white asters that are comfortable in the open woods. A. Tussing - 5: Other woodland plants blooming in summer include Shortia sp, Oconee Bells, Galax sp, Chelone sp, Turtleheads, Astilbes, Marshallia sp. would be excellent to try, but they like a little bit of sun. These are the Barbara's Buttons. Ligularia and Aruncus sp. also like lots of shade and moisture, and bloom in summer. Hatsy Taylor: How about the pipsissewas, Chimaphilia maculata and C. umbellata? The first is also known as spotted wintergreen, with a variegated stripe down the center of each leaf. They both bloom in July and are evergreen. Here in Northwest Connecticut they are common in the most woodlands. Traute the BioGardener: You can get all colors of columbine. My favorite shade loving flower is the ground-crawling blue-flowered original periwinkle. searl: What? No Lily-of-the-Valley? I love this sweet smeller! Lynda: who could have shade and not have loads of forget-me-nots[myosotis?]Remember stars are the forget-me-nots of angels! Tamara Guinn: In addition to the above Astrania Major, Hydrangeas, Meadow Rue for summer and late summer. Paula: Only plant the forget-me-not if you are willing to see it come up in a lot of other places. A great low grower is Sweet Violet. It loves shade. Thalictrums are tall, but have lovely columbine-like leaves even after the blooms are finished in June.