Water cress can be bought in the grocery store (though not in really rural areas like mine) and floated. Duckweed can often be gathered from local water sources. Shade is tough, IMO alot of the floaters like tropical conditions. Hopefully someone else will chime in. I did azolla (fairy moss) my first year, and it did great even in 3/4 shade, but it's an annual here in zone 4. The pond plant exchange here is a good source, tho often floaters are offer too early for use in cooler zones. Then again, about now is when southerners are over run with WH, etc! Last year I got tons of great WH for ~$7 postage!

Found nothing on your trade page. I have White, blue and pink ruellia short and blue and pink tall. Tami

I have water celery, spearmint, chocolate mint, siberian iris, green and white hosta, and lots of purple pickerel and native yellow waterlilly (round, bulb-like flower). Would you have enough baby hyacinths to stuff a gallon ziplock bag full, and do you see what you would like to trade for them among the things I have? Also, my backyard is full of ferns if you like them.

I am SO glad I saw this! We have the native Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal flower)and the nativar Lobelia cardinalis "Black Truffles" planted beside Impatiens capensis (Jewelweed) and hummingbirds love all of them and we see them all the time! Unfortunately, Mazus pumilus has grown in the favorable conditions and took over last year. So we dug up the plants, transplanted and 'solarized' the weedy soil down to a depth of one foot. Added new soil, replaced the plants and the weeds started up again this year, although not as badly. Last year we had a "spring-fed" stream installed in the back yard with a waterfall of one foot which empties to a small pond of about 8" and physically connects to a dry creek bed. So, being able to root Lobelia (both types) in the stream will solve the weed issues, provided I wash the roots first. Whenever I place plants in my stream, I pot them in a plastic pot with holes and netting to prevent peat moss from escaping. This way the roots have something to hold on to. The water level is always above the top of the pot, to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs in the pot water, which if above the water line, would remain stagnant. The great thing about the "Black Truffles" variety, even though it only provides 80 percent of nectar as the true native, is that it bloomed first and the hummingbirds came to that and then the true native when that one came into bloom. They both still have a lot of unopened blooms and several stalks came from each plant! The native Lobelia is 5 ft tall! The drooping stalks are "Black Truffles" and both varieties are loaded with seeds, which I hope to propagate. The Jewelweeds are 4 feet tall and as usual, the blooms hide. For the picture I attached a 3 ft yardstick to a 4 ft 'yard stick' which is easier to see in the next photo. Thanks again for the information!