jb, Your seed germination station sounds great. DH & DS are working on something for me right now and for their pepper and tomato seeds. Ours will have to be in the basement. They are also building a coldframe. I hope we have enough room! I just looked at my chick grit and even though on the front of the bag is says "crushed granite" it has a lot of other stuff in it. I didn't even think to look at the ingredients until I opened it up just now and smelled the anise. It says "oyster shell, washed heat treated silica, calcite, potassium sulfate, magnesium sulfate, zinc oxide, calcium carbonate, mananous oxide, iron carbonate, copper oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite, sulphur, calcium sulfate, oil of anise." I realize that plants need and use trace minerals but will any of these things have a negative effect on my seeds? Thanks for the tip on reforestation projects. I don't know if there is one going on here but there are a lot of Christmas tree growers that I will check with. NARGS 2md Round--I got my seeds last week! I got the 80 packs for $20 and I'm very pleased with what I got. Except for one thing which was my fault. I wanted a veronica but I marked the wrong number and got Vernonia which is Ironweed. We have ironweed growing all over our property:-) Good Luck with all your projects! vg

I live in NE OK about 30 miles from the MO border. I believe we are the 'flat edge' of the Ozark region. I previously lived just over an hour N of Fort Worth Texas, and have lived various places. The summers are hot here, but not as hot/long as TX was. The winters are cold here, but not as cold/long as CT was. The weather is sometimes grey here, but not as grey/long as WA was. The spring is GLORIOUS. The fall is GLORIOUS. OK, so we have occasional tornados and hail and hellacious storms (mostly in spring and fall). You've got those in Texas too, though! I think someone forgot to put the Maple tree on the invasive seed list for this region. I am told this area used to be the edge of plains. It's hard for me to imagine. I pull out hundreds of maple seedlings trying to grow anywhere, up the walls, in the cracks of the flagstones... and there is more 'green-green-green' here in Spring than my nearly 30 years in California all combined ever saw. I love having seasons. Just love it. I grew up in avg 72 degrees year round, chronic sun in Ventura-Ojai CA and am a weather wimp. But I wouldn't trade having four seasons now. I'm spoiled... now unless I've no choice, I'll never again live somewhere that doesn't have four seasons. As for people and culture, well, I've lived all around the country. I am around people from MO-AR-KS-OK all the time now, being right in the four corners, and I find them pretty nice in general. I wouldn't want to try out their hospitality if I were a racial minority to be honest, but that'd go even moreso for farther South. Culture is something that is very local, and what there is in the region may not reflect what is going on in your neighborhood, which may be influenced by certain churches or leading families or the leading trade of the locals. You guys oughtta take a drive up to the area and look around, talk to people. Palyne P.S. All of my friends are spread across the country and none are physically near me. I'd give up a whole lot to be near any one of my very few 'best friend's. That friend may be the best part of the geography. P.P.S. People grow roses in the Ozarks, too. ;-)

Alright, so Im a couple months late this year! I kept putting it off because I was planning to list all the info (height, color, etc) with the seeds I have again, but since it looks like I wont be getting that done, Ill just do a list of the names, and Ill be glad to answer any and all questions about the specifics. And Ill be glad to post pictures of any of them for anyone whod like to see what they are! This is all seed Ive collected in my yard, and some of it is a couple years old by now, but its all stuff that should still easily be viable, and I send plenty of seed so you can plant it heavily if you want to be sure. I do it a little bit differently than others! I dont actually do trades anymoreif somebody wants something I have I just send it to them (if you happen to have something I want, dont worry, Ill ask for it!) I put the seeds in a plain business envelopeunpadded, but virtually all my seeds arent the kind that are crushable, so that shouldnt be a problem, and if something does get crushed, well, it was free! If you see something youd like to have, please PM me thru GW. As far as I know thats working for me now (it didnt for a long time!), but just to be sure, if you PM me, post it here so I can watch for it and let you know in case I dont get it. And one request! Please include your screen name in the PM so I know who you are! Oh, and make the subject something about RMG Seeds or something to be sure it doesnt get deleted by mistake! Most of this is the same stuff I have every year, but some of you are new, so heres what I have availablein no particular order! Agastache foeniculum anise hyssop, licorice mint (this is the one youre looking for, Red!) Aquilegia chrysantha fragrant yellow columbine - blooms a LONG time Lavandula angustifolia English lavender Penstemon strictus Rocky Mountain penstemon Alcea rosea hollyhock, mixed colors (theyll be shades of pink!) Alcea rosea Nigra" black hollyhock really dark, dark, dark red (these are the oldest seeds, but they should still be good! I couldnt collect any new seed once I had other colors since they cross pollinate!) Hibiscus moscheutos Disco Belle Pink hardy hibiscus these get to be HUGE plants, up to 5' high x 5' wide, and they have large, 6" to 10" flowers Crocosmia Lucifer the hardiest Crocosmia and easily hardy to z5, worth trying in z4! Thalictrum aquilegiafolium shade, tall, flowers are purple fluff! Heraclium lehmanianum cow parsnip (romantic name!) shade, HUGE PLANT (like 8' to 10' tall!) Huge leaves! Huge flowers! Needs WET soil! Echinacea purpurea plain old purple coneflower! what I got off of these is mostly chaff, so youd get a bag that looks like a LOT of seed, but there will really only be a few seeds in the whole bag. Next time I collect seed Im gonna try to get more seed than chaffbut Im not really sure how to do that at this point! Aruncus dioicus goatsbeard the seed for this is almost like dust! shade, moist to wet Callirhoe involucrata poppy mallow this one is apparently extremely hard to germinate. On the other hand, Ive had seedlings come up naturally, so I know its possible, but I dont think anybody Ive ever sent seed to has gotten it to germinate yet! Armeria pseudarmeria thrift, sea pinks mixed pinks this is the tallest one with the biggest flowers and theyre mildly spice scenteddifferent colors, slightly different scents! Cyclamen hederifolium hardy cyclamen white pretty little things with bi-colored green leaves that come up in the fall and are evergreen all winter summer dormant z5! Catananche caerulea Cupid Dart blooms all summer with regular deadheading Rudbeckia fulgida Goldsturm Black Eyed Susan this is the one thats definitely hardy, z4 smaller flowers than the ones that arent reliably hardy (R. hirta) Snapdragons mixed colors variety thats 18" to 24" high technically an annual, but they often come back and they reseed all over the place! Nicandra physalodes ANNUAL! Garlic chives this stuff should be reseeding all over the place with all the seeds it drops, and its not, so maybe its hard to germinate for some reason! Dont know for sure! Plain old generic dill! definitely NOT hard to germinate! This one DOES come up all over the place! Foeniculum vulgare Rubrum bronze fennel this one doesnt have an edible bulb! I think thats everything! Sorry, Bonnie! Even the few new things are pink or purple! If anybody wants more information on any of these or wants to see a picture, just let me know. Otherwise, PM me with what you want and your addressand post here that you PMd me. Heres to a GREAT year in 2010, Skybird P.S. OK! Not to confuse the issue, but it dawned on me that I had posted the descriptions of most of these things last year, so go here and scroll down to November 21 for the descriptions And go here for pictures of many of them. There are some things listed/pictured here that I didnt list this year, but I might still be able to find some seeds if you see something youre interested inbut ask me here about it first before you send me a request for it! And if youre interested in something that isnt described or pictured on these posts that you want more info on, just let me know! Bedtime!

The Rocky Mountain Gardening forum is picking up more and more new members. Involvement is increasing - a more complete package for the forum is far more important now. Thanks for making it all possible. Steve