WANTED: Pitch Pine (pinus rigidia) seedlings, American Persimmon, Buffalo Clover. Anyone in New England have any volunteer Pitch Pine volunteers they were going to get rid of? I'd love it if you potted some.

I'm fortunate that I neighbor Wind Cave Nat'l park in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Bison arrived in Wind Cave in 1913. http://www.wind.cave.national-park.com/animal.htm#ani Custer State Park, another neighbor :-) has bison also. They have a yearly round up and sale - http://www.sdgfp.info/Parks/Regions/Custer/round.htm Any given day we encounter bison on the park roads.. I never fail to slow down and admire their massive grace. Yes!, Bison are unpredictable. There are many many signs through both parks warning folks, yet it seems each year, some idiot thinks they should be able to get "a little closer for a photograph"! ..they often end up in the ER after being gored. Bison meat is very low fat and not at all gamey tasting. Several neighboring ranches have bison...either for meat or working horses (the bison don't sour like cattle) It's a job to keep their water tanks full enough as their little short necks can't reach into the tank.. LOL Years ago I met Larry Belitz. He is quite a wonder. Larry uses bison like the plains Indians did. http://www.tipis-tepees-teepees.com/buffalo_hide_tipis.htm Until this spring, my sister and I had a soapmaking business and at one time, bought bison tallow (not much fat on bison!) from him, rendered it and used it for soap. _Buffalo For the Broken Heart_ is a wonderful book written by rancher/author Dan O'Brian. Any of Dan's books are worth reading..Buffalo for the Broken Heart is my absolute favorite! :-) I highly reccomend it, even if you're not interested in American Bison Google Dan O'Brien ..or bibliofind.com Buffalo for the Broken Heart My then 10 year old daughter and I rode through Custer State Park a couple of years ago. Part of our ride went through a herd of bison...almost all of them were laying down, basking in the sun..the sounds they make as they're resting made our hearts beat a leetle faster!.. almost like they were snoring. .. one or two turned their massive heads as we tip toed through. It was quite an experience. Have I bored you all enough! Bragged on my home enough?

Speaking of annuals for reliable, long lasting color and easy filler, if you want to add some easy and nice touches of color and texture to grasses in a hell strip its hard to beat Indian Blanket cooking in the hot sun out there by the street. They are a new addition to mine and I like the way they look in late afternoon sun with all the fuzzy balls catching the light the same way the grass seeds do. Its easy to pull any unwanted volunteers or yank the whole plant before the seeds shatter. Next year the strip will all have more little bluestem among the flowers since I added several small plants. In truth I'm mainly interested in showing my state pride because Indian Blanket is Oklahoma's designated state wildflower. (do you believe that?) Each helianthus annum plant makes neat and tiny bouquet of solid yellow from spring to fall, they don't get very tall in full sun but they really do like to self sow. They add so much color I don't object personally but they along with lazy daisy would definitely turn a buffalo grass lawn into more of a 6 to 8" low growing meadow so that depends on personal taste. They both stay low in height. Interestingly, they are coming up in various spots downhill from my house, some quite some distance away, they love cracks in sidewalks or by curbs in the street. I also saw some suspiciously familiar looking rudbeckia hirta down there too coming up in the crack of a driveway about 9 houses down the hill.

There is another cool canna - Stuggart I think. White stripes on green foliage. Okay - spelled that wrong, it is Stuttgart. Here is a few images of it. I just haven't seen it for sale locally and hate buying mail order as they are usually quite small. https://www.google.com/search?q=canna+stuttgart&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilqIDiuK7VAhWCbj4KHU8sC1sQ_AUICygC&biw=1184&bih=528#imgrc=FmSm1Fui89kZyM: And if you ever get to mid-GA, go to Callaway Gardens and also take in Animal Safari - thought I would hate it but it was a riot - animals that you feed from your car (you can rent an open Jeep there or take their bus if you don't want to have your car drooled on). https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=callaway+gardens&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjBso7Hua7VAhUFNT4KHTg2C9gQvwUIdCgA&biw=1184&bih=528&dpr=1.62 https://www.google.com/search?biw=1184&bih=528&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=animal+safari+columbus+ga&oq=animal+safari+columb&gs_l=psy-ab.3.0.0i24k1l3.10984.17987.0.20291.20.20.0.0.0.0.136.1739.15j5.20.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.20.1730...0j0i67k1j0i30k1j0i8i30k1.5w90LyViPf0