I will describe everything I know about plain petasites after about 12+ years of growing them in a lakefront peninsula which is periodicly under water. One plant now has produced about 45 in those years. Look like small cauliflower when they come up and they grow quickly with about a 6' spread. They colonize via underground rhizomes. If trading it's just as easy to pull up a double - an older plant + its new pup. Should be soaked before and after shipping so they are about $13 to ship. I personally use them to crowd out the vast amounts of poison ivy that thrive in the same area. Interestingly, the soil around the petasites close to the shallow lakefront eventually become peat. (This is a naturally occuring process with shallower areas and especially true in swamps). The rhizomes also add structure to unstable boggy or wet soil - I dug up one plant last year only to find 4" of air between the plant and the water! My husband and I were standing right there! So they have their value in the right place. To contain, I read that most people either make a bog garden in a big tub, or you could treat like invasive bamboos by putting a deepish wall around the area you want to keep them in.

If things were not under 6" of snow I would get them for you now. I will keep a lookout for early thaws! might get you a start sooner. Merry Christmas!

If you can't work with a spreading habit in that spot, Japanese snowdrop is not the tree for it. Plantings of 'Pink Chimes' are too recent here for full development to be seen, but since it is not a dwarf a 15'-35' (50') tall tree should be planned for. Branch spreads half or more of the height of the specimen are common on older examples of typical white-flowered ones. Some can be very spreading, even forking and bushy, with much lower, broader tops than those growing on sites (or with genetics) producing a taller habit.

Pinetree also sells the rhizomes. Many of the websites that have to do with "home brewing" sell hops rhizomes as well. You can check them out on Garden Watchdog to see what their rating is. I ordered 3 to plant this spring from Pinetree. I like their seeds, and hopefully their rhizomes will be good as well. I am growing mine for the Question Marks, Commas, and other butterflies that use Hops as a host plant. The females are the ones that produce the hops, though. I think you may need at least one male in order to get good hops if you're growing it for home brewing purposes. Susan