In the East and South, dogs are now the chief predator of native deer. Whether animal weeds or plant weeds, invasive species are a number one cause of the extinction of native animal and plant species or biological diversity. "The extinction of biological diversity is a threat to civilization second only to global, thermonuclear war." THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. Why? Biological diversity or all native species, create, sustain, support and maintain Earth's ecosystems, are an ecosystem altogether with soil and water. Ecosystems are the physical body of Earth and all biological diversity is the living components of its ecosystem, much like the human body is one organism given life by all its living body parts. An ecosystem, functioning synergistically, altogether, is one, living organism/unit. Any agent that kills biological diversity, kills Earth's ecosystems, and any agent that kills ecosystems, kills Earth. Humankind is alive because of ecosystems and biological diversity. If it is a native animal or plant, it is a strand in the web of all life; a rivet in spaceship Earth; the bricks and mortar of man's house, Earth. Humans have life because of Earth's oxygen and fresh water factories, i.e., ecosystems. Past living species created Earth's atmosphere and maintain it today. Before the advent of plants/trees/ecosystems, there was no oxygen on Earth. What is the most deadly, Earth-killing invasive specie in history: The domestic cat. Most recorded extinctions occurred on Earth's islands, and the majority of these extinctions, 78% were caused when European explorers, fishermen and settlers introduced the domestic cat and European rat to these island ecosystems. The domestic cat caused over double the number of these extinctions. Only native plants and animals altogether with soil and water, are an ecosystem, the physical, living body of EArth and man's only home. There is a vast and deadly difference between native and introduced, unnatural, alien, transported plants and animals and biological diversity, man's life-support team and Earth's workforce. tessyt

Have only had one really nasty experience with E-bay but probably my own fault. I attempted to point out that Japanese iris were most unlikely to be protected by PBR. Really none of the iris breeders in aus do that! Also that no law in aus prevented a person from giving the registered name of an iris. My suspicion was that they were seedlings as the actual photo of the sale item was not being given. The irises were priced rediculously high, and the postage was also way high. She was extremely nasty back to me, and put my comments up on e-bay which of course was the last thing she should have done because it would have lost her sales, if any one was even interested at those prices. As far as the exchange here being better than e-bay - I beg to differ. I have had some fabulous stuff from e-bay (seeds that is). Some nice stuff here, but generally not of much interest to me anyway. I think the best place to go for seeds is specialist groups, such as SIGNA and the alpine plant groups, if you are looking for special little bits and pieces. Common plants are best bought in Aus rather than from O/S sources. There are plenty of catalogues (Diggers, New Gippsland, etc) who will probably have seeds for prices as good as those offered on e-bay. Watch closely for people who advertise a plant (say siberian iris at present on e-bay) and in the small print it tells you that you will get 1 seed, or 10 seeds, or whatever, rather than the plant that is advertised. Also if something is advertised as rare check out that it is not infact a weed. There are a couple of these on e-bay right now at crazy prices.

Its water needs can be hard to provide in a bed, depending on your area. Many places have summers that are much drier than the plant likes. You can grow it in planters set in trays of water, etc., but I personally wouldn't because of mosquitoes. So, on the one hand, it does grow easily... IF it gets enough consistent water. Maybe a shallow SIP setup is something to consider if one is very determined? There are 2 kinds IIRC, and one needs somewhat less water than the other. For those who want to try, I've seen seed pop up on etsy from US sources.

Well my post as gone cold. So I just thought I wold post a final question, if anyone would know the answer. BTW...I just got my seeds of 'Box of Chocolates' seeds. 6 variates!! But my question is...i am TRYING to grow double yellow daturas, i have been taken advantage of 2 times so far, by 2 sellers, sending me the plain old double purple/white ones. After months of growing then, to only get those blooms, ICK!! So this is my third try and 3rd seller. I have seedlings up, these are taking a lot longer to grow than the others, but my question is, if THESE ARE the double yellow, would the stems by a lighter green, instead of the dark green/purplish color I have gotten 2 times already? The first and second set of true leaves are DARK green, nothing light about these seedlings. Will double yellow or even double white daturas, have lighter green stems? Or lighter leaves? Or does the stem color have nothing to due with the bloom colors? 'Purple Specks' on Ebay, now $4 for 30 seeds. I managed to get 6 variates...and triple white datura seeds. So...this should be fun:) !!!