Though -- as has been pointed out -- this is an ancient thread resurrected by some post necromancy spell, I'll respond. @s8us89ds The OP had expressed an interest in plants <u>native to Maryland</u>. This, then, would translate to winter hardy/temperate plants. Perennial plants native to the northern regions require a cold winter dormancy -- even the evergreens. It is not merely a matter of utilizing "indoor grow lights". It is more a matter of providing the freezing or near freezing temps these plants require to go and remain in a dormant state for 3-6 months of the year. Without it, they decline and die. This makes them unsuitable as houseplants as there is no practical way to provide them with such conditions indoors. (Even bonsai trees -- if species from the "Great White North" are used -- MUST be given a cold dormancy.) Now perhaps it might be possible to selectively breed for a lack of dormancy. However, such a program would take years to bear fruit (so to speak) and would likely result in plants which would not go dormant when reintroduced to outdoor life. This would nullify their usefulness as a way to replenish outdoor natives. Finally, most live plants simply do not work well in vivariums long term. Providing conditions the plant require to thrive (not merely survive) whilst simultaneously providing the correct conditions for animals is surprisingly difficult. Furthermore, animals typically beat the heck out of live plants in the confines of a terrarium in short order. (Think how quickly the grass in one's yard gets killed off in certain spots because of all the foot traffic.)

I just made it to the computer today for a brief moment, and what do I find? A snake ID! Love it! Gary, I can't see this picture as clearly as I would like, but I THINK this is a pine snake. I hope Wayne stops by for a quick look to confirm or correct me, but that's my best guess. And for sure, it is NOT anything poisonous, so no worries on that score. It doesn't look quite red enough for our corn snake, somehow, but it does look like a pine, as far as I can tell. Also called a bullsnake or gopher snake. Nice! Marcia

I had the same mission for a nature center where I used to work. We displayed freshwater animals native to NY State. The outdoor stuff was relatively easy but the installations were over a long period of time. Indoor displays were another story. I ended up using quite a bit of moss and various small ferns in the displays. Some grasses and sedges did well also. Pocket plantings where the animals (mostly turtles) couldn't trample or disturb the plantings worked well. We made fiberglass inserts that looked naturalistic. We worked in concert with the NYSDEC and were able to field collect native specimens. In addition I used things that would peeter out after a season and then be replaced or more often moved outside to recover. Good wide spectrum lighting for the displays helps. A year after I left a big donor had a garden installed in his own honor... Inoki cypress and some crazy junipers.

Hi Wayne. I was pretty sure it was a Milk Snake. The odd thing about it was the pattern, which is so much more like the "Intergrade" Milk Snake shown on plate 30 in Conant and Collins 3rd edition, or really like a Red Milk Snake. It was awfully large too; I have seen Milk Snakes, and they were rather smaller and had more of the pattern shown in the plate for the plain old Eastern (from the Boone area, collected by Wayne Vandevender). I am wondering if the "Intergrade" happens outside the Mid-Atlantic, and if we have them, or if it might be a rather odd color and pattern variation. Oddly, for all the years I have been catching and chasing snakes (probably over 50), and to live in Milk Snake range, I had never seen one. I saw your page Wayne. A neighbor of mine was proudly talking about her son killing a 5 foot rattlesnake, and I just walked away; I hope she heard me cussing and saying that the snake wanted nothing more than to live another day, and did not want to run into an ignorant human that just liked to kill things (he air guns squirrels and pigeons in the neighborhood; he was talking about air gunning Woodpeckers, and I offered to turn him in - federal crime! HAHAHA!). Ah well, we can only do what we can do...