Hi wherewerewe, Interested in your: Muskogee Crape Myrtle 2-3 saplings NASSELLA (STIPA) TENUISSIMA 'Silky Thread Grass' ECHINOPS banaticus ÂBlue Glow Globe Thistle 'David' Phlox I can offer: Japanese Bloodgrass - Imperata cylindrica 'Rubra' Hostas, unnamed variegated Hostas, unnamed, pretty foliage, would have to describe when sun's up if you're interested Colocasia esculenta - 'Black Magic' Elephant Ear, pups Lily of The Valley - Convallaria majalis - white pips Narrow-leaved sunflower - Helianthus angustifolius, root divisions Northern Red Oak seedlings, winter sown late '06 Passiflora incarnata - Maypop Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon' Purpletop verbena - Verbena bonariensis, root divisions Bald Cypress - Taxodium distichum, 2 seedlings winter sown 1/15/06, many more seedlings winter sown 2/7/07 Kousa Dogwood, 1 winter sown 1/22/06 Pavonia Lasiopetala - Texas Rock Rose, 2 winter sown 1/15/06 Chestnut Oak - Quercus prinus, 1 winter sown 11/30/06 Thanks for considering, Katie GW: katie88

floridarose, I got my seed from a friend, but I always assumed they were something like Summer Carnival, but after being open pollinated for years, things can change. There is some variation in height, but most are a little shorter like SC, and do often bloom the first year. It's hard to tell if they act as short lived periennials or are just reseeding almost on top of the mother plant. I don't stake my hollyhocks, but grow them against fences and the house. I've tried the Madame Butterfly snaps, and didn't like them as well as la Bella. Not only do la Bellas live longer than most other snaps, when they are pinched back they promptly send another single thick shoot up. When I pinch back Rockets, they start branching off with floppy shoots, though they also live through winter here quite well. La Bella doesn't reseed like the other snaps I grow, though (darn). It's probably a hybrid that wouldn't breed true, anyway. Here is a pic of Rocket snaps. Off to the side are some pink la Bellas. Hopefully, my file isn't too large for posting here.

Ken - the key difference between your milk jug and mine is yours needs "bottom heat under lights" in order for the plant to grow, both of which require electricity. Winter sowing is all natural, doesn't cost any more than a bag of growers mix and leaves the growing part to Mother Nature. The added bonus is re-purposing recyclables. Once I set a milk jug with growers mix and seeds out in the snow/cold, Ma Nature is in charge and I'm off the payroll until the seeds germinate and pretty much until they're ready for planting out if it comes to that. There is a post in the winter sowing forum about various ways to prep jugs. I'll try to find & link it. One beauty of winter sowing is, there is really no right or wrong way to prep a container. Containers can be anything that's deep enough, lets in sufficient light & has enough head room for top growth. I use an ice pick to poke drainage holes; others use a box cutter or soldering iron. Whatever works for each individual is fine. The most important thing is drainage so seeds don't rot + enough growers mix for healthy root development. There are some amateur winter sowing videos on YouTube. They'll demonstrate what to do but I'd have to say they're not on a level with Roberts Rules of Order. 'Nuff said. A couple years ago I tried growing ornamental dogwood trees from seeds I harvested at the office where I work. They sprouted and grew at the rate of 12-14 inches per year. A neighbor asked me to grow heirloom apple and pear tree seeds for him from trees he picked from as a boy in upstate Vermont. He gave me 4 apple tree seeds & 10 pear tree seeds in December 2010. I gave hime 4 apple tree seedlings & 10 pear tree seedlings in April 2011 to plant in his orchard. One benefit of winter sowing is amazingly high germination rates. It was not my intent to steal the thread and turn it into a winter sowing testimonial. I just wanted the OP to be aware & consider WS as a USDA-approved way to economically/affordably fill her garden beds with flowering perennials as well as annuals, vines, vegetables, herbs, trees & shrubs. Just today I noticed the potentilla/cinquefoil I winter sowed last year is up...

I am assuming you want plants that draw attention and comments/questions from onlookers due to their unusual characteristics or simply because they are not typical of what you usually see growing. These are plants that I call 'head-turners" and they make people slow down to gape and point at your garden while driving by. I think I can give you some suggestions guaranteed to different and not be duplicated anywhere else within miles. Personally I think its best to develop a theme and stay with it rather than having a lot of attention getters like a museum collection of unusual plants. This means not every plant needs to be a focal point but should fit into the scheme in a harmonious way. The use of appropriate fillers makes a scheme like this work. Big rocks strategically placed can add to the unusual and taking out a standard lawn and replacing it with gravel, pavers and/or very low growing native grass & small native forbs really makes it different not to mention low maintenance. It depends on how far you wish to take it or what your neighborhood will allow. If you decide to plant cactus, Cold Hardy Cactus online offers a very wide variety of them with differing pad textures/color, sizes and color of blooms in spring and bright pears in autumn for year round color and texture interest. You need good drainage and full sun, this is more important than temperature for success. I have dozens of varieties and they do quite well because I am on a slope. Native grasses and forbs are a good way to bring it all together and create a very unique, unusual landscape. Here are some focal point plants with descriptions that will grow in zone 6 that have not been listed in the above posts that would create a Southwest flavor. DESERT SPOON-- (Dasylirion wheeleri) 3 ft wide dome of stiff light blue ribbon like leaves with hooked thorns along the edges. Puts up a tall flowering spike 12 ft tall when mature. LEAD PLANT--( Amorpha canescens) 5' x 5' drought tolerant native prairie shrub with soft grey leaves running up stems in bean formation. Spikes of indigo flowers in fall. Considered one of the most ancient prairie species. Very pretty. YELLOW BIRD OF PARADISE-- (Caesalpinia gilliesii) Rows of small leaflets on an airy plant with big yellow flowers each with a long red sex filament. Blooms summer through early freezes. APACHE PLUME--(Fallugia paradoxa) White rose flowers cover plant while simultaneously forming abundant plumed silky pink seedheads. Tiny leaves, the whole plant looks feathery. Looks great with low growing evergreens or native/ornamental grasses. BEARGRASS--(Nolina microcarpa or N. texensis) 3 ft tall evergreen with multitude of thin long shiny leaves that curl on the tips. Puts out a bloom in summer, looks grasslike but its not, its in the lily plant group. BIG SACATON (Sacaton wrightii) an impressive no care ornamental grass that puts up golden feathery seed heads in mid summer to 7 ft tall. Very distinct and different from what you usually see in the nursery's for ornamental grasses. This grass glows yellow in afternoon sunlight. DEERGRASS (Muhlenbergia rigens) handsome commanding ornamental grass 4ft x 4ft with thin spikes that grow straight up and out like a large fireworks display. Gorgeous. MEXICAN FEATHERGRASS--- Delicate silky grass low growing that is golden and soft all spring and summer. Good to tie in plants together or for textural contrast. CHOLLA CACTUS--- many varieties available. Adds a strong sculptural element. Cold Hardy Cactus has one called 'Snow Leopard' that literally glows in sunlight or on a moonlit night from the dense white spines covering it. SPANISH BROOM--- A big leafless green plant that looks like thin pencils all season or you could say it resembles a big weird grass plant except in spring when it is smothered in yellow pea like flowers making everyone ask "What is that?". Otherwise, its sculptural JIMSONWEED (Datura wrightii) large shrublike native perennial 3-4 ft high with large soft blue leaves enormous 8" white trumpet flowers. Attracts bees like crazy. YUCCA ROSTRATA--Very blue leaves forming a perfectly round head and a short truck (eventually). Monrovia has a very nice one available to nursery's you could probably find online. A very user friendly yucca since it won't try to stab you. 'MISS HUFF' HARDY LANTANA. It is reported to be the most cold hardy lantana around. Some reports list it hardy to zone 6. The 'unusual' factor here would be to have a 6 ft wide lantana in your zone 6 yard blooming heavily all summer making you the envy of many as butterflies flock in massive numbers. Thats how big it gets in a single season and if you don't trim it until spring and mulch it in winter, you might just be able to do one successfully. Its worth a try. Almost Eden online carries it. Cuttings are easy to root if you want to winter one over indoors for insurance or make more of them easily. COLD HARDY AGAVE-- There are some that will grow well in zone 6. Parryii, Utahensis and others. Kelly Grummons at Cold Hardy Cactus carries them as well as some small barrel types that are also hardy. He also carried various Yucca plants that are hardy. Good source for seeds of the plants above is Plants of the Southwest. You won't find them locally, you will need to search online but then, thats what makes them unusual and why you won't see them growing locally in your city. Unusual is a relative thing. What is common in one place is unusual in another. I grow all of these successfully in the midwest in zone 7 with around 30" annual rainfall but they can take zone 6. You do need good drainage though for some and tweezers on hand for others. Cactus are not for everyone but nothing else can make such a statement.