mmqchdygg, I should take a look at that but have already bought too many seeds. That is one I really like though. I could try to save seeds from the one I have going now, don't know how w/foxglove, and am a little wary that maybe the plant may have lost its vigor and not produce the best seeds. I will give that plant some bloom booster if it comes back or if I get any more seedlings. My darn white foxglove, I went out with my camera this am, and the thing's blooms are facing the foundation of the house which is white! It must be confused and gets more reflected light than from the actual sun which is a scant 6 hours there. I was looking forward to seeing that one bloom, well it doesn't look normal. The partial good news today is that some seeds are starting to sprout in my milk jugs. I had them all taped up, ventilated and labelled, but you should not try that in spring. They were rapidly getting moldy plus I was in a hurry and usually run my things through a bucket of bleach water & rinse well. There were some milk rings in a couple jugs, always rinse but there it was, maybe that didn't help. So I frantically looked for what to do, sprayed with dilute H2O2, ripped off all the tape (packing tape this time, much easier), opened up the jugs, had to leave top hinged part on and pegged to ground because I taped my labels on the handles. THEN I had to cover it all with chicken wire and peg THAT to the ground as best I could because of chipmunks and squirrels.

Julie, I would be honored for you to use the photo. I really do thank you all for the kind words. I would bet the farm that the first one has "Mr Lucky" for a dad. I've seen several of his seedlings in my beds. I think he is a beautiful plant. Let me see if I have a good picture of him and I'll post it so you can see the similarities(sp????). This photo was taken in bright sun light so, it's not the best. Mr. Lucky:::

I'm certainly not an expert, but I have several hostas that I've had for a while. I grow them in pots and they do beautifully. Generally, the only problem I have is the slugs will get them if I don't keep them on "pot feet" or some device to keep the pots off the ground. They die back in the winter and come back up in the spring and like everything else, they can suffer in August. They don't get as big here as in the colder climates, but that may be because I grow in pots. I'm going to try some in the ground next year. Generally speaking, hostas grow slowly. It can take up to 5 or 6 years for some varieties to reach nice size. I would suggest that you buy from a mail order source, as the plants will be bigger (multi-eyed) and you won't get as impatient. I've bought from Avalon Acres and Gilbert H. Wild (they can be really inexpensive on common varieties, but don't buy their potted plants as the ones I've bought potted have been single eyed) and been pleased. Everyone on the list orders from Hallson's and has been pleased. Don't buy the ones in the box at Sam's, etc. because they take too long to get big enough to enjoy and many reportedly have diseases. Smith County Extension did a in-ground hosta trial about 2001. The Dallas Arboretum is doing a extensive trial now, but I haven't been out there to see how they are doing. They did one a couple of years ago, as well (recommendations below, also). The advice I've stumbled onto includes keeping the blue ones in pots and anything fragrant does well. You will notice conflicts in these lists. Fried Green tomatoes did well for the Arboretum but bad in Smith County. I have So Sweet and it does beautifully. I have Blue Angel and it's not so great this year, but it looked great last year. (You know how hot and dry it's been, and it's still a young plant.) Sum and Substance has done well for me, but it always looks tattered before fall. You can look these up at www.hostalibrary.org to see what these hostas look like. These are the varieties in the trial with their ratings: A & M/Smith County Hosta trial (the numbers are in columns which shift when this is posted - so the first number is the rating for what they looked like in June, then in August, then in October, then the average) NAME DATE June August October Blue Angel 9.8 8.8 10 9.5 Sugar & Cream 9.2 9.4 9 9.2 Blue Cadet 8.7 8.8 10 9.2 Francee 6.0 8.8 10 8.3 Gold Standard 6.3 7.6 10 8.0 Honeybells 7.1 8.8 8 8.0 So Sweet 9.4 5.6 8.5 7.8 Royal Standard 7.4 9 7 7.8 Lancifolia 7.3 7.8 8 7.7 Grand Tiara 7.8 7.2 7 7.3 Albo-Marginata 7.6 5.8 7 6.8 September Sun 6.2 7 7 6.7 Sun Power 6.8 6.8 6 6.5 Elegans 6.0 7.4 6 6.5 Emerald Tiara 7.8 7.2 4 6.3 Patriot 4.6 6.2 7 5.9 Bold Ribbon 6.5 6.8 3 5.4 Guacamole 6.7 5.4 4 5.4 Gold Edger 7.1 6 3 5.4 Fragrant Bouquet 5.1 4.8 6 5.3 Sagae 5.2 4.6 6 5.3 Shade Fanfare 5.5 4.6 3 4.4 Summer Music 3.8 2.8 6 4.2 Undulata 6.3 3 3 4.1 Temple Bells 6.1 3.2 3 4.1 Krossa Regal 4.2 3.8 4 4.0 Resonance 4.3 5.2 2 3.8 H. fortunei 'Aureo Marginata' 4.3 3 2 3.1 Aphrodite 3.5 2.4 3 3.0 Colossal 4.3 2.6 2 3.0 Fried Green Tomatoes 3.8 3.4 1 2.7 Invincible 4.5 2.6 1 2.7 Halcyon 2.8 2.8 2 2.5 Big Daddy 2.3 2.8 1 2.0 Daybreak 1.7 2.4 2 2.0 Sum & Substance 2.1 1.8 2 2.0 Hadspen Heron 1.5 1 1 1.2 Dallas Arboretum recommended varieties; Invincible (plantaginea Hybrid) Sugar & Cream (Honeybell sport) Dixie Chick (Invincible x Masquerade) Abba Ready Sweet Standard (Honeybell sport) Emily Dickinson (plantaginea hybrid) Potomac Pride (H. 'Blue Umbrellas' x H. yingeri 'Treasure Island' cross) Plantaginea Honeybells Royal Standard Regal Splendor (Krossa Regal sport) Krossa Regal Francee So Sweet (Green with cream edge- compact) Blue Cadet (Blue green medium) Patriot September Sun (Chartreuse green/yellow with dark green edge) All I can suggest is go ahead and jump in - the water's fine. Bkay Dallas

Mike, Wading the Stillwater River in west central Ohio is out of the question this weekend. Just 30-40 miles north of me received 5"-6" of rain this morning, so even with waders and a PFD the Stillwater will be flooded and unfishable for @ 1 week. Very disappointed, but on the good side the 'kids will get out for sure as we're expecting 80's for the next week or so. Like Bill, I have a lot in bloom right now. As of earlier this week, I had 27 of my 70-80 orchids in some stage of bloom. Great time of year for us indoor northern hemisphere growers. I have 2 nodosas blooming right now and it is 'special' walking into the grow room first thing in the morning and smelling their fragrance. Back to the weather: I very rarely complain about too much rain, but it's getting pretty ridiculous here in Ohio, I think we are 10"-12" over average for the year. Lawns looks great!, but I have to mow every 4-5 days, if possible. Will probably be a dry hot summer and we'll wish we had the rain. Bob