davidrt28 - The weather is psychotic in my area, the summers are hot and humid and the winters are bone chilling. You are warmer overall of course but, it is not unusual at all for us to be near or over 90 F on many days then add the humidity. I adore Rheum so I created a mini bog. I simply dug out a very large hole and lined it with two layers of thick gauge plastic sheeting and punctured one hole with my scissors. I filled in with my good sandy loam amended with a generous amount of compost. The crown must be dry but the roots love moisture and they are very happy in boggy conditions. Since they are heavy feeders I will give it a top dressing of compost every year. These plants grow very quickly and are so architectural. Love them! You may still choose not to have a plant that you feel you may need to fret over but this could help alleviate some of the worry for you or anyone else considering this beauty.Rheum palmatum 'Atrosanguineum' May 23rd on its second year.Same plant on Sept. 27th.

Ok, if anyone cares or has wisdom to pass along, here's what's coming from Jolly old England toward me in the next 3 weeks (mostly will be winter sown): Allium flavum (lost these before..but at other house..will grow drier, hotter, harder) Adenophora bulleyana (looked nice...though this genus usually scares me) Corydalis heterocarpa, malkensis Dicentra eximia (felt silly ordering a native plant seed from england..but..) Erodium manescavii Heuchera americana ('Metallica selections', yes another native) Lathyrus vernus (had not much luck before, but trying again, gonna baby less and grow harder/drier) Linaria purpurea Senecio polyodon Impatiens glandulifera and namchabarwensis I eliminated a lot of things I was interested in, because frankly I don't have places to plant them all :) You will note a prepondence for things that go dormant at certain times of the year :)

They sure are easy to germinate. As for growing, I don’t know. We had an extensive landscaping project that was supposed to be done in April. Communication mishap so the guy didn’t finish until last week of June. I tried my best to keep all the seedlings alive in jugs, but the Clarkia germinated so early that they really wanted to be out of the jug much sooner. They didn’t do well. Trying them again this year to see how it goes. Will report back in summer!

I haven't seen anyone mention Fernleaf Bleedingheart Dicentra "Luxuriant". This comes up in March in my SW Ontario garden, bloooms in April and continues to bloom enthusiasticly into November. Mine is blooming still under several inches of snow this morning. The official description says it grows in shade to lart shade but my plants haven't read that. They self seed and grow into massive blooming clumps anywhere they please to in my acre garden. They are the ONLY plant that I allow to self seed at will because I love them so much! https://www.gardenia.net/plant/dicentra-Luxuriant