I'd be interested in some of your peony seeds too. I have several types of columbine, including Christa Barlow, Leprechaun's Gold, and William Guiness. Also a lacy lavender and white poppy. You can find my list at the following link and--if interested--e-mail me from my member page. Thanks! Here is a link that might be useful: Audrey's Trade List

Moving it outdoors when the weather gets mild would probably do the most good for the plant. FataMorgana

Yes it's a beauty. I think with the ever growing selection of palms available people tend to get confused and plant something they've never heard of before and be disappointed with the result and effect. A good form of P. Sylvestris is a gorgeous thing. It's well worth taking the time to select for the characteristics that make it so lovely. A little grove of intense silvery blue Sylvestris is more evocative of place and more effective than hundreds of mixed species no matter how rare. If you are lucky and can afford, choose trunking specimens. You will immiedetly see there are differences in leaf arrangement colour and outline, so you may have to select from various growers. In younger palms this is also apparent, don't think something will turn powder blue or silver as it matures it won't, generaly what you see is what it will be with these. The only difference is with seedlings they all tend to be dark green but by the time there are at least ten to twelve leaves on a juvenile the colour is apparent so that's the size to do your selecting if going for little ones. Choose leaflets that are broad and short and have a plumose arrangement on the mid rib. Thin long narrow leaflets don't look so attractive on a mature palm even if a nice silver colour. The leaflet attachment to the mid rib should however be narrow or you are looking at a possible hybrid with a date palm. This will mean a slower growing fatter and less attractive palm, also avoid anything with fat leaf bases, Sylvestris bases are flat, strap like. The nice thing about them is it's never too late to plant one as they look just as lovely as a small fecund fountain of leaves as they do as mature adults. They have many leaves making a very nice full head. If you have small dogs and children it might be wise to choose your planting site carefully as they have quite sharp thorns. The other fantastic thing about them is that unlike most Phoenix they are very happy in high humidity and retain their colour just as well as a dry climate if not even better. So if you are in the tropics it will still thrive and look good. In fact they positively explode with regular watering and feeding, in cooler weather or during your dry season keep on the dry side to give them a rest, this encourages a deeper root system. Think of each leaf as a food storage organ, the more the stronger it will be, so only cut off when the leaf is completely dead and when doing so don't cut into any living white tissue because the sap could attract boring insects. P. lourii is a lovely Palm too. However most people tend to think because it's a Phoenix it thrives in dry arid climates and icy wet winters. However this is not so. It thrives in seasonally very high humid summer rainfall areas where it's much faster growing and more rewarding, it prefers a dry cool winter. Definitely more sub-tropical than tropical but not an arid wet winter species at all. Most you see depicted on the net and growing in parks and botanical gardens are hybrids including palmpedia. The trunk is always narrow and delicate looking only slightly thicker (and much taller) than a P. Roebelenii and smooth, the long bright green leaves with leaflets on a single plain make a lovely full head and have a characteristic arching twist to them. Happy hunting.

Many common lavenders do not make seeds and some that do are sterile seeds. Plus, even if you have non-sterile seeds germinating them requires cold stratification and has a very low success rate. Lavender is best done from cuttings. The link below gives you all the details on the various types of lavender and how to propagate them. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Lavender