I recently ordered two plants from hirts garden. A peperomia prostrata (string of turtles) and a ceropegia linearis woodii (string of DAGGERS). The string of daggers is a close cousin of the string of hearts plant which I'm familiar with as I have 3 large plants of the HEARTS variety and one DAGGER variety that I have been growing for a while now (not from Alan Hirts but from actual honest sellers). For starters, these plants are EXPENSIVE for tiny 2" pots. So my expectations are that they are gonna be good investments. Fast forward to receiving the goods. Instead of what I ordered (string of TURTLES & string of DAGGERS), this guy sends me 2 string of HEARTS. After several back and forth emails with photos, he finally Sends a partial refund for string of turtles only because he says "What a joke.............String of Daggers is the same genus and species as String of Hearts." Alan you are a joke and a scam artist at best. Don't buy from this guy. There are a lot of sellers who are honest and customer service oriented and will work with you. I've been buying plants online for a couple of years now and have had good luck with many online sellers including Etsy shops. I've never had quite an experience as I've had with Alan hirts. You should google his shop reviews too, they are eye opening...wish I had seen sooner before my purchase as mid-shipments of plants are a regular occurrence. If you do decide to take a chance with Alan hirts, don't buy direct from his website. Take your risk through his Etsy or eBay shop because if you do (and you will) run into a problem with this guy, you can dispute it at least without dealing with his shadiness directly. Good luck to whomever decides to try your luck with hirts garden. Didn't say I didn't warn you

Jack, I can understand why an anonymous note would make you uncomfortable, and I can also understand why you don't want to name the plant because it's irrelevant to the discussion. However, if it is on your state's noxious list, should you as a responsible citizen continue to offer it for sale? If it is not on the list then there's no issue. Here's what I would do. Print out the "Severe Threat" list for your state from the Invasives.org website Vaccinium provided, post it in a prominent location and post below it your "Company Policy" that your customers will never find one of these plants for sale at your nursery. How many of your customers have actually ever seen that list? And, how many confuse "invasive" with "aggressive spreaders or seeders"? You'll be educating them. If a customer questions the invasiveness of a plant you sell, you can show them the list and explain the difference. I have never seen and never expect to see Japanese Honeysuckle, Kudzu, Tree of Heaven, Mimosa, Common Privet, or Chinese Privet for sale at any nursery in the South. However, I have purchased Variegated Porcelain Berry and have it growing on an arbor. That plant is not on my state's invasive list, but is on "Watch List B, plants that are severe problems in surrounding states, but have not been reported in Tennessee". I'll watch it. Interestingly enough on "Watch List A: Exotic plants that naturalize and may become a problem in the future", among others are listed Buddleia, Cosmos, Rose of Sharon, Spearmint, Peppermint, and Grape Hyacinth. All of these are commonly found in every nursery and most gardens. Where do you draw the line? Do you refuse to sell any plant that is listed on not only the Severe Threat List, but also the lower threat lists the watch lists? That's your decision and your conscience.

The easiest way to post that email is to copy and paste it. Here's how: Copy all the text: 1. click in the body of the email Select all your text by holding down the command key (or control key on PC) and the A key. 3. Once your text is selected: On a PC, right click and choose copy, or hold down the control key and the C key. On a Mac, control-click and choose copy from the popup menu, or hold down the apple (command) key and hit C This will copy the text to what is called the "clipboard," which holds it in memory for you to paste it down somewhere. Go back to the forum and click in the body of your post. Paste the text into your post: Follow the same steps above, except instead of the C key, use the V key. So control-V, or command V. The text of your email will appear in your post and you can edit it from there. This works anywhere, on just about anything, on your computer. FWIW. (When sending an email or posting on a forum, I always click in my post and (Cmd-A/Cmd-C) copy it to the clipboard before posting, because there's nothing worse than having the board flake out on you after you've just written a long post, leaving you staring at a blank field! That way you can always paste it back (Cmd-V) in if you have to start over. And just an aside note: If you are not familiar with Command-Z (or Control-Z on PC), which undoes the last thing you just did, it will surely save your life more than once.

Copied from my AOL news feed; The U.S. Department of Agriculture has identified some of the plant species in bags of unsolicited seeds arriving in mailboxes across the United States. Officials have warned the shipments of mystery seeds, which appear to have originated in China, could be invasive plant species. So far, however, the species appear to be innocuous. At least 14 of the seed species had been identified as of July 29, according to Deputy Administrator Osama El-Lissy of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. They includes mustard, cabbage and morning glory as well as herbs like mint, sage, rosemary and lavender. He said hibiscus and roses were also found. CBS News confirmed that residents in all 50 states have reported receiving the suspicious packages of seeds. The USDA said if you receive the packets of seeds, do not plant them and contact your state plant regulatory official. Although the species identified so far are harmless, plant experts have warned that seeds from other parts of the world could damage crops. State agriculture officials in Virginia warned, "Invasive species wreak havoc on the environment, displace or destroy native plants and insects and severely damage crops. Taking steps to prevent their introduction is the most effective method of reducing both the risk of invasive species infestations and the cost to control and mitigate those infestations." Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller urged people to be cautious. "It could be a bacteria. It could be another virus, some kind of invasive species," Miller told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth. Robin Pruisner, a state seed control official at the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship in Iowa, told Reuters that she has heard reports of a coating of possible insecticide or fungicide on the seeds, which could prove especially harmful to crops. "I've had people describe to me that the seeds are coated with something purple. I haven't had it in my hands yet, but it sounds an awful lot like a seed treatment," she said. The Agriculture Department has said the packages are most likely part of a "brushing" scam, in which a seller sends unsolicited items to someone and then posts false positive customer reviews to boost sales. "Brushing scams involving seed packets in international mail shipments are not uncommon," the USDA said. "U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has intercepted similar seed shipments in recent years." Phylissia Clark of the Better Business Bureau told CBS DFW that if you are a victim of brushing, "your identity has been compromised."