Baked soil stinks - true. I always use a sterile medium for starting important cuttings & never have had trouble transitioning cuttings started in a sterile, solid media to an unsterile potting mix. Make the transition when the roots have filled the container the cutting is in or when it's getting hard to keep a group of cuttings hydrated in the perlite/other. You can treat the cuttings as plugs if they are singular. If they are planted in mass, break them apart & plant in new medium with root/perlite mass as intact as possible. If you root plants in water, you can insure a higher % of parenchyma tissue in roots if you float the cuttings on top of a water reservoir (through holes poked in a block of Styrofoam) and use an air stone (aquarium bubbler - you'll need the pump, too) in the water, + a few drops of soluble fertilizer. This produces a very high % of strikes, quickly, though I still prefer rooting in a solid medium whenever possible. Al

Ginny: I have some fountain grass seeds, some what I think is Maiden grass seeds, and some graziella grass. Youa re welcome to all for a sasbe. PLMK Thanks, Ann

Hi....I have Grass Black Moudry (3 ft) What other grasses do you have? I will take a look at your list to see if we can make a bigger trade. LMK if you want to trade. My list is at http://www.gardenweb.com/members/exch/caw_in_zn5

If it gets at least 5 hours of sun, consider a summer blooming clematis on a trellis. Then you can cut it back for the winter and still have the trellis as an ornament, perhaps with lights twined onto it. Hydrangea Tuff Stuff is about the only big leafed Hydrangea that is hardy enough to bloom for me, and it is very consistent, blooming every year I have had it. Some of the Viburnums are happy in a fair amount of shade, but you would need to avoid the types that are particularly susceptible to Viburnum beetle. Cornell has a listing of those that are most and least vulnerable. You could choose a Rhododendron, either evergreen or deciduous. Besides the spring flowers, the deciduous rhodies often have nice fall color and the evergreen ones will give you a winter presence.