Esh, thanks for the perennial advice, I will keep them in a sheltered spot and wrap the pots in a blanket if it freezes (like this weekend is going to!). I was hesitant buying such leafy perennials (yes, the hostas are leafed out), but its quite a trek over there so i wanted to buy a lot at once (DH even told me -- make sure you buy enough to make the gas money worth it -- now there's an invitation!) Thanks for the warning about Margie Jenkins too. She was only $4 so not a great loss if she doesnt make it, but I love the foliage of Leucothoe so would like to have another. I have the species plant and also have "Rainbow", which i read some less than encouraging reviews of somewhere. The Varnadoe's Pink is the biggest of the plants i bought (3-gal), and has lots of buds. I am very excited! Pleased to hear it will be fragrant too, i will try to place it somewhere we can appreciate that. The other shrubs are much smaller, the illiciums look a little straggly (the trade-off for the lower prices), but i hope all will pick up in spring. Cece, yes the availability list is not always 100%. I had a similar experience last year. Now if I'm going for one thing in particular, i usually email them first to check that they actually have it. She did say they were aware of it and trying to keep the website better updated (i think that's also why they have added the "holding" option this year).

Hi Bill, you asked about hardy Callistemon.......I received some seed from the coldest areas of Tasmania and I planted one out last summer to get a feel how hardy they are. We'll.......they aren't very hardy. The leaves are totally fried and the trunk ruptured. I've read a report from a guy in Deleware who purchased Woodlander's hardy Callistemon and his fried for the first time this winter and his low was about 10F........I'm not very impressed. PS, I have a few of these in my garage.....you can have one to kill for yourself. LOL

What type of Daturas do you have coming up by the thousands? Brandon, what type of Datura(s) are you looking to sow/grow? Datura is easily my "first love"... hook, nook, or crook, I MAKE space for them indoors LOL I got my hands on a "new" variety for 2006. It had one bloom (that was more beautiful than a rose) before it took damage from kids/critters and subsequently looked like it would die off completely. But alas, the variety appears not so unlike D. inoxia (aka D. innoxia, D. meteloides) in that it returned from its rootstock. It definitely prefers a cooler growing environment. I moved the looked-dead pair to a larger pot and have them in the master bathroom under a CFL that I have in the ceiling light's socket (I'm gradually changing all of the lightbulbs in our place to CFLs, it wasn't just for the plants, but energy saving and longer life of a bulb). Both of them are coming back stronger than ever from the rootstock and relishing the cold/cool environment. They were pitiful looking growing in the high heat of last summer - truly. I just hope they can avoid kid/critter damage this second go-around to not only bloom, but produce viable seed. The variety is Datura nanakai. The one bloom (they're a double) was a watercolour-like yellow (I don't generally like the colour "yellow" but for this, I definitely made an exception), a "washed" colouration - not even as intense as a pastel. And while a tactile inspection revealed strong petals, visually they appear incredibly delicate, like tissue paper. The scent was light but floral, the slightest hint of a rose-like fragrance. Absolutely wonderful! *IF* I can get viable seed (my original seed #s was limited so I'm hoarding that supply), I want to try WS this variety in the future. Out of the multiple varieties of Datura that I grew in 2006, it was the D. nanakai that truly thrived when we moved into the cooler weather and even took the frosts -- there was foliar damage, but it didn't deter them from growing new foliage so long as it wasn't freezing. At any rate, while I don't know of any that could withstand the freezes post-germination without protection, I will say that just about any Datura can be sown en masse in a pot, brought up indoors in a cool room with adequate "winter light", while one waits for things to warm outside, and grown there until an appropriate time/weather to transplant out individually. Datura seem less persnickety about any "crowding" - very tolerant of it in fact - as long as they are in a good mix and allowed to develop a strong root system. They handle the "trauma" of being disentangled from one another when they are larger and coming out of a pot from indoors, to go outdoors. So, if you have space to fit in say a 10" pot to sow multiple seeds and fair light, most Daturas will grow even with lower temperatures indoors and wait for the warmer weather. They won't necessarily "bolt", but my experience has been (even right beside a sliding glass door with a direct draft from freezing temps outside and north light) that those started in a cooler situation really early on, become very hardy starter plants to be put out later. I trialed all of my varieties in 2006 with full-full sun - no shade all day long - and every single one of them balked (were smaller/shorter, not as happy as others in different positions, etc.). Most of them were fast to throw out blooms and get on with producing seedpods and seeds - and then rapidly die off. So for my area, I dispelled the "full sun" preference that is often cited for them. It created inferior plants. The same plants did an abrupt change when I moved them to a spot where they got only afternoon-sun... Anyway... what Daturas are you all "doing"?

I know very little about any of the shrubs you listed. What about them attracts you? Are you thinking about the "usual attributes" such as seasons of interest, habit (clean, messy, ) pruning requirements, food source for wildlife. Do You get wet snow where you are? Some shrubs may have brittle wood and look a mess after high wind, rain or heavy snow, though trees are more susceptible to damage . Flowers, berries, succession of blooms? I have made so so many mistakes I cringe to think about what I've gotten rid of. Ones that withstood the test of time? Winterberry, rhodies, beetle resistent viburnums esp the plicatums tomentosem despite pouting when short on water. There are several indespensible hydranges and some are unsuited for large swathes of New England. Buyer beware of sexy bombshells that bloom on old wood only