I already have creeping charlie that came with the property. It is green with scalloped edged leaves that can get up to 1 and a half inches wide. I fight it all summer, every summer,in 10 out of the 12 beds. Thank goodness it is easy to pull. I have had Golden creeping Jenny in a part of my garden before. It is much slower then charlie and flatter to the ground.It also has had winter die back and has been burnt out by a hot spell and crowded out by it's taller fellows which has made it easy to keep ahead of. Where as charlie is an iron invader.I understand the nature of these creepers. I have given the same warnings many times to other new gardeners. I deal with creeper menace all summer, might as well be one I want. If it goes where I don't want it, it's not weeding, but lifting a new plant to put someplace else I would like some,lol Well since seeds are out and I will have to spend money anyway, is there another ground cover plant choice that would work better? The area at the base of roses, around daylilies and the nooks and granies. Thanks for your concerns. Elizabeth

David, I looked at that Ebay sale of black bamboo and suppose it depends on what you're looking for. When I bought a start of black bamboo, I paid about $70 or so for a two or three gallon plant, delivered, from a reputable vendor. This was an entirely reasonable price. The plant arrived in a timely fashion and in great condition. I have no complaints. In contrast, that Ebay vendor you've found is shipping bare rhizomes for considerably less than I paid, but is this plant certain to survive? No, it isn't. As I understand it, black bamboo isn't particularly easy to propagate by rhizome, certainly not by rhizomes dug this time of year. So, as usual, you're paying much less and taking a much bigger chance. The buyer offers your money back within seven days, but you won't even know whether this thing will survive in such a short time frame. For me, not being a gambler, I'd much rather invest wisely in a sure thing.

I did hit Bremerton today in the course of my travels and checked out the eucryphia. You can see the top of it over the buildings and did look like it was lacking leaves. But I did get the head of facilities to get me into the area - the Child Development Center is naturally very restricted access and they are putting in a new parking lot in front so not an easy site to get close to. Up close it looks much better. It obviously has lost a lot of foliage since I last saw it as well but mostly on the top, most exposed portion. Down lower there are many more leaves. Not the best photo as I was looking up in to the tree (you can't get far enough away to get a clear shot overall) but you can see the leaves present. And this one is more of a close up of the lower branches but still not the best shot. Leaves much more apparent. It's definitely taken a hit. I am assuming the leaf drop was due to winter conditions. Bremerton had a couple of pretty sharp cold snaps and a whole lot more snow than we saw on Bainbridge. btw, the Umbellularia was another tree they had asked me about (and that was 2015, not last year as I had thought) and I had made mention in my report that it looked unthrifty at that time. It doesn't look any better now. Drainage in that area is not wonderful and it was pretty squishy after our endless months of rain so that may be a factor.

by adding price to the name of the plant.. is a good way to find sellers of any given plant or seed .. adding TX to the search terms adds nothing .. that i saw anyway ... btw .. do you have a light setup to grow vigorous seeds indoors... or can you do this outdoors in TX? ..... or are you going to try winter sowing.. there is a forum for such.. but i dont know how active it is.. though one would think it would be in winter... ken https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=penta+seed+price&ia=web