Oh, I can relate!! I lean very heavily to plants that originate from all over the southern hemisphere - Australia, New Zealand, Chile, South Africa. Some are definitely hardy enough for me and some not so much....but I try 'em anyway. Lophromyrtus, eucryphia, pittosporum, croposma, grevillea, corokia, hebes, phormium, embothrium, Luma apiculata, drimys, azara, escallonia, nothofagus, anagozanthus, phygelius. And on and on..........:-))

Well honestly, I'd say you are perfectly normal and I don't think you need to save yourself from yourself but keep in mind the fellow addict source that comment is coming from because I can easily justify this sort of thing. Its a way of dealing with the dog days of winter.

I personally 'need' saving from topics or obsessive thinking patterns (other than plants which are OK to obsess about) at times. If that takes my mind off things I have no control over and keeps me sane or mentally distracted, especially with the shenanigens going on in this country currently, then its a good thing. Isn't it? I tell myself it is. So yea--- I'm guilty and do the same thing. I like looking online for sources that I haven't yet stumbled across and if I find one, I read through the list and get tempted if its the right kind of stuff. I can 'one more page' of google plant searches well into the wee hours.

My current pet peeve:

Has anyone noticed google searching seems changed lately? Its clogged up with endless pinterest crud (I don't get the appeal of pinterest) and fewer actual websites that have actual information. In the past I could google up to infinity and keep finding new sites but now it seems that sites just begin to repeat themselves after about 10 or 12 pages of google searching. Its irritating to pull up a plant and land on someones pinterest page and get hounded to join pinterest as they turn the page black (so non-pinterest followers can't look).

I'm having a bad case of the joneses due to gardening withdrawal right now. Its too cold & windy to go outside, I feel trapped and tired of it being dark all the time.

I agree on Pinterest. How often have I been trying to id something and got excited when I've found a picture only to see it captioned 'pretty pink flower' or some such nonsense.

As to the weather - I do tourist guiding round my city. This morning I had a family from Winnipeg in my group enjoying our current 50f. It's - 22f back home for them.

I particularly like that ChileFlora gives so much information about habitat, so I can evaluate whether or not a plant will survive in my climate without additional irrigation.

Has anyone noticed google searching seems changed lately?

Due to a security software program feature I've been using lately I haven't seen the current version but previously I was using Bing and liked that better than Google.

Bing was suggested by my computer guy.

I've never heard of Bing.

You'll get no sympathy from me (nor encouragement of restraint).

All those Chilean plants which thrive in cool summer areas and don't stand for anything close to a real winter just die here. I might as well try and grow blue poppies (again).

chusquea, nasturtiums, Chilean bellflowers....even barberries all seem so much more necessary when you find out they would really prefer not to grow here. Or a monkey puzzle tree. It looks so nasty and spiny, but....

I'm plotting my seed list attacks with more reasonable picks but have already decided to hold off on the less in-demand things so that I can get them later when the second round begins. For the NA rock garden society that means 20 seed packs for $7, and for me that probably means at least 40 packets of different pasque flowers and other things which are not needed.

I guess if there's any geographic area of focus it might be the US SW. Most f the plants I'm trying from there conveniently die when the drainage is less than perfect, and it really keeps my beds from filling up too quickly.

Katob I feel your pain. Even though we have unbearable stretches of hot dry, with endless days of over 100 and no rain in sight all summer we are not considered a xeric part of the country because there are also periodic wet times that can kill certain established plants even those with good drainage. SW plants do well in summer and usually in winter but there is always a chance of death down the road if the weather chooses to do a number on us. Humidity is another factor we have to consider. I've watched post-rain-slow-death take established favorite plants more than once, sometimes it appears they get steamed to death. Extremes seem to be the rule around here and nothing (except hot summers) is predictable which makes gardening a challenge and oftentimes a heartbreak. All local gardeners can do is commiserate & complain about weather extremes.

Plants that are listed as PNW, Alpine, California, Mountain, preferring cool summers would have to be marked off my list here. Sounds like Chilean also belongs on that list.

Fortunately (or not for my purse) Chilean plants can do very well indeed here in the UK...and I have a few different little microclimates to play around with. I will say that few Australians or NZ plants, apart from a brief infatuation with ranunculous, celmisias and NZ megaherbs (fail) have really floated my boat though - maybe too spiky.

If it wasn't for my obsessive gardening, they would have to put me on medication and possibly under restraints.

I don't think Chilean plants will work for me, but I've already started planning my new "gardens" in my head. My neighbor said I could expand my fence garden to the front of his wall and I'm all excited about that micro climate as the brick wall and the sidewalk will give a warmer and drier environment.

I want to use some of the same plants to provide cohesiveness plus I can just split what I already have (nepeta and daffodils). For a xeric element, I might need to get some historic iris - right? Right?? I have already picked them out but will surely look at the catalogs many times anyway. If I was thrifty, I would split the several iris I already have - I might. For one week, it will be awesome to look down the sidewalk and see clumps of different colored iris blooming for tens of feet. Fleeting, but glorious. Hehe.

Don't get me started on my other garden that will have woodland plants during the summer (I have a few in the back garden that I can split/ transplant). I am hoping to try erythronium and corydalis with copius crocus and other smaller bulbs in the Spring. If you have not guessed yet, I am a bit mad about bulbs.

All good reasons to troll all the online catalogs and feel very poor although I'm not spending anything!

I am not currently on a Chilean (or Japanese) expedition, but I am becoming increasingly intrigued by the Aroid family of plants. It does not help that some of the International Aroid Society publications often read like a university botany textbook, so that's a little intimidating, but at least I have discovered a new topic to discuss with my botanical scientist friends who always attend an annual party I go to (which happens to be tomorrow!).

Mmm yes, arisaemas have the dangerous potential (like epimediums) to be a collector's dream (or nightmare). Primulas are filling the shady nook urges for me though...and after a couple of primrose free decades, I fully intend to make up for lost time with that genus...plus the common as muck borage family are proving to be stalwart additions to the glut of mints and umbels which currently rule the woodland roost. On the shrubby side, working on the principle that if you can't beat them, join them...the exuberance of brambles have opened the door to the rubus clan.

Geographically, I am sorely tempted to reprise the California meadow scheme at the allotment...a great success first time around. Accordingly, tidy tips, platystemon, phacelia, baby blue eyes, sand verbena and thrifts are (so far) in the mix.(save me from SeedHunt - yet another tempting catalogue).

Re Camp's comment on Primula: wouldn't be without them. They really add colour to our perennial garden in May.

May 22, 2016:

June 7, 2015:

So now, in addition to my Aroid thing, looks like I will be adding carnivorous plants to my 2017 fantasies...I was sent my first Sarracenia Rubra today.

Let the insanity continue.

Primrose are such an easy addiction. I've been sowing dozens and dozens and nursing them along in pots and they've bloomed marvelously the first year... and then obligingly die off once planted out in the garden. I just don't water enough and our summer weather has been no help at all.

This would sound like a problem, but it really keeps the primrose bed from filling up too fast.

Other than one or two oopsies I'm avoiding arisaemas, but the pitcher plants? I started with just one a couple years ago, after it lived a few years I've added another three. They look very unhappy with their lot in life but you never know, maybe I'll figure out what they want someday.

I'm not worried about a bramble addiction. I would tolerate raspberries, but after two droughty failures in getting them established I've moved on.

Posie.... historic iris huh? You need to let me know which ones you are interested in, I have a few which are always in need of division. You're right about fleeting glory but for me they're worth every second!

Re Katob's comments on primulas:

We have, and have had, quite a variety of primulas in our garden, species and hybrids. Some of the hybrids have proven particularly hardy and long-lived and I'm able to spread them around, by division, every 4 or 5 years (e.g. 'Perth Sunrise' and 'Kinlough Beauty'). Almost all of our primulas were purchased as plants; but that includes several grown from seed by David Tomlinson (e.g. the equally vigorous little Siberian cowslip below (May 13, 2016)).

Our garden likely offers good primula growing conditions, e.g. direct spring sunshine, regular watering, soil with a good organic content, increasing shading from taller perennials from mid June on and direct sun again through fall.

In light of the healthy growth and spread of our varied primulas, it perhaps seems odd that only our Japanese primulas seem to have shown self-seeding. Some of this is certainly due to deadheading, but only some long stemmed primulas get deadheaded. Perhaps the later lack of light for seed germination (from shading by taller perennials) is a factor. And admittedly Japanese primulas may be singled out as very easy primulas to raise from seed. Perhaps the tall candelabra stature of the Japanese primulas means seeds get distributed further away from the plants, so there's less potential confusion between expansion of clumps by vegetal means and by seeding. (I do wait till later to deadhead all candelabra primulas which show seed pods forming.)

Katob, thanks for the offer! I can certainly take a few off your hands in the case you are needing to divide. :) Very generous of you! Can I message you?

After two days of driving and a day and a half of festivities, I am finally sitting to check my electronics.

Happy holidays to everyone - what a nice group - grateful for you all.

Thanks, Posierosie.

Happy Holidays to All and a very Happy New Year.

I think the personalities really add to the experience and knowledge available on this Perennial Forum. Not one for talking to plants, but happy to talk to their gardeners.

Campanula ! I missed you !

I'm glad you're here. How's your wood?

I am so grateful for your sweet pea advice. Last year they were great and I saved seed and sowed in a different bed this year. Just beginning to prune. Thanks for making me a fearless pruner.

"My current pet peeve:
Has anyone noticed google searching seems changed lately? Its clogged
up with endless pinterest crud (I don't get the appeal of pinterest)
and fewer actual websites that have actual information."

"only to see it captioned 'pretty pink flower' or some such nonsense."

Amen to this. It's really gone downhill in the past couple years. But with the entire internet becoming incredibly dumbed down, I'm not sure google has an alternative except to dumb itself down, too.

"chusquea, nasturtiums, Chilean bellflowers....even barberries all seem
so much more necessary when you find out they would really prefer not to
grow here. Or a monkey puzzle tree. It looks so nasty and spiny,
but...."

It is nasty and spiny.

Yep as I've posted before, Chilean plants are some of the hardest to grow in a non-maritime climate. They just don't get remotely high dewpoints there, ever. I have a couple shrubs that would be too cold sensitive for NE PA. You might be able to grow some of the more alpine Alstroemerias, though...that Ellen Hornig used to have great success with under her snow cover. The only source I know of these days for that sort of thing is Dancing Oaks, Edelweiss or Joy Creek. Also I had some Rhodophialas that did surprisingly well for years, but I think voles have finally gotten them.

I want to get someone in the PNW to graft one of the Chilean barbarries onto one of the Asian ones. Should help me at least in zn 7, where they die in summer and not winter.

But with the entire internet becoming incredibly dumbed down, I'm not sure google has an alternative except to dumb itself down, too.

The Internet was more intelligent than it is now? :-)

yeah...maybe you weren't around back then.

One of my friends and I were talking about this (google) the other day...the early days. Does anyone remember putting your search into early search engines - oh say in the morning - and then having to come back later in the day to find the search results?

Thinking about palms in Liverpool, David, I also recall seeing them at the Ness botanic gardens - also home to the finest collection of rowans in the UK.

As for intelligence, I also become enraged by the search engine results...but this is as nothing compared to the absolute crapulous nature of broadcast media. TV is, I swear, an insidious plot to turn out slack-jawed mumbling, passive consumers of garbage and propaganda

Aroids:. Just a FWIW:

20 years or more ago I won a raffle plant of Arisaema, Jack in the Pulpit, and I so remember a visitor who dropped in to look at my garden catching sight of this plant and telling me I'd be sorry I put that in my garden. She was so right. I cannot get rid of this plant's offspring which have seeded widely and are a beast to dig up. The bulbs go deep and the little bulblets drop off and hide themselves, so in spite of every effort more are back the next year.

Correction:. Apologies to Jack:. My aggressive plant is Arum italicum, not Arisaema triphyllum, aka Jack in the Pulpit.

Although both are members of the aroid family araceae, properly speaking, 'jack in the pulpit' is an arum rather than an arisaema. Being inexpert in both these families, I am only aware of the most egregious differences inasmuch as most of the arisaemas tend to have palmate foliage which grows above the spathes...while arums tend to have spatulate leaves which are frequently marked. I would say that the arisaemas have a fervent fanbase and although my knowledge is limited to the most common (candissimum, concinnum, proboscideum - dubious spellings). I would consider them highly garden worthy plants...although I do have well behaved colonies of arum in the woods also.

I have never seen Jack in the Pulpit act aggressively (either in the woods where it's native) nor the garden.

In eastern N America Jack in the Pulpit usually refers to the native Arisaema triphlyllum. It's a fairly common woodland wildflower and I guess it could be considered invasive in just he right spot...

From what I've heard Jack in the pulpits which do become pests (although not arisaema) are Arum italicum in the south and pinellia just about everywhere.

I just sent off my last seed exchange list. Overall there are tons of primula sieboldii but otherwise no purpose or reason to any of my other choices. I do have several camellia selections again, but since they're not hardy here few make it past the one or two year mark. After doing this for a few years I probably realize the camellias are a completely pointless exercise, but I guess I just want to be ready for when global warming passes the tipping point.

I still want acres of pasque flowers but will wait until the NARGS second round to order those. I think it's something like $7 for 20 packets (which even includes postage) and if I never get around to planting them it's no great loss to the budget.

Having grown a host of various arisaemas over the years (yeah, I used to be one of those rabid aroid fans), I agree with both of the two previous posts that these are not known to be aggressive spreaders or seeders. Quite the opposite - they are difficult to establish and slow to develop and in my very suitable climate, few varieties will self sow readily. Of any, A. candidissimum is more inclined to form a colony than just about any other. And like many true native species, even A. triphyllum - Jack in the Pulpit - is very picky about its siting. If offering the best conditions (evenly moist to wet highly organic soils), it will rapidly form a colony but in regular garden soils, not so much and could easily peter out after a season or two.

OTOH, Arum italicum - Lords and ladies - is recognized as a serious garden pest. I had a small patch that behaved quite well but was under competition for moisture and nutrients by large tree roots which likely restricted its spread. But in other areas with better conditions, it is acknowledged as an invasive species and hard to eliminate.

You've sent me on a search for Arum italicum and Arisaema triphyllum and it is quite obvious that my aggressive plant is Arum italicum. Too many years have passed to double check, but either I won a mislabeled plant or I have carried the wrong name in my mind all these years. It's nice not to blame Jack any longer.

My Jack, Arisaema triphyllum, must love its location as it is popping up throughout the bed, north side of house. Wonder how it would take to area around white pine where I removed the compost pile?

FWIW I've had A. italicums in my east coast gardens for maybe 20 years and never known them be invasive. The native one, of course, will spread around; I have a form in the cultivated part of my garden that I moved from the wild part because it had nice solid black spathes. Something seems to eat the seeds though, and I've never seen nearby seedlings.

Arum italicum is quite able to reseed and seemingly thrive in a mowed lawn...while I'm not overly concerned with my ability to keep it under control, that is definitely a warning for those that are less vigilant.

My single plant of Arum italicum has spread widely by seed. I've already this winter dug up at least a dozen colonies on my neighbor's uncultivated area -which is never watered, so it survives no water by going summer dormant. There are at least a dozen more colonies I'll have to go after. I have another invasive bulb, name forgotten, which I have to murder every year too.

It's an enigma, for sure. Arum italicum is in 2 parts of my wood...but tiny colonies of less than half a dozen plants...and in comparison with the hemp nettles, stachys, betony and other romping labiates (the other thug family are the umbels)... it is possible I am setting the bar quite low for 'mannerly' plants.

Wow, interesting about it spreading in Arkansas. I wonder what keeps it from spreading around here, as so many other plants are happy to. I would never use an invasive plant as my avatar!

Err David, isn't that an arum italicum as your avatar ?

Due to being under a shrub where I have observed it, I think it is due to birds spreading the berries/seeds. I do hope there are not lurking arums under the powerlines in a one mile radius.

Ummm, yes, obviously my avatar is Arum 'Belldene'.

Funny, I have never come across these yet, or maybe I was just never aware, prior to my current increasing interest in the Aroid family. Certainly I am now seeing some GardenWeb discussions where people have discussed the great measures to which they have gone in order to get rid of colonies, to little or no avail. It looks like where it is highly invasive is in the PNW, so gardengal can well speak to that. I don't think any of the arisaemas I have planted thus far exhibit that behaviour.

The most invasive thing I ever planted was petasites japonicus, which I must keep in mind when Heruga asks for some Japanese plant that has huge leaves, a wierd flower, and spreads like mad wherever it wants.

Oh golly!! Let's not start a big discussion about garden thugs (aka garden invasives as opposed to environmental invasives)!! I can only begin to list the number of what I though were attractive garden plants I mistakenly included in my garden without researching first and came to seriously regret after..........Jerusalem artichokes, plume poppy, trumpet vine, sweet woodruff, ficaria, chameleon plant, petasites, cypress spurge, alstroemeria.........it goes on and on :-) And then the ones that just showed up on their own........Welsh poppy, forget me nots, lunaria/money plant.

Just a point of interest but one of the reasons most arisaemas do not display any aggressive tendencies is their ability to change sex, depending on age and growing conditions. Young corms/tubers are always male and can remain so for many years, producing completely infertile flowers. Only very well established, mature corms become female and will produce fertile seeds but even these can revert back to their male form under stressful conditions.

Yes, petasites is one of those things (thugs) that I just want to scream out at people when I see it being sold at a plant sale: BE WARNED! That was in my newbie gardener phase, into anything with big showy leaves. A gardener friend who had gotten stuff for her society's plant sale said they were "elephant ears", which I thought would be cool. And yes, nice, showy leaves and wow effect.

Then look, there is a few more popping up...interesting, it's a fulsome plant...and more...maybe I don't want that much more, let me pull some out...and more...okay, looks like this is a bit of trouble, let me pull it all out...and more...just around where it originally was, and now under the tree and ten feet away and look at this crazy root system...you know the drill. I think I got the root system out, though I'm always keeping an eye on that area for "The Return".

Arum "belledene' looks exactly like A. italicum subs. italicum 'Marmorato' in my google searches. I am not really familiar with either plant. I also see it mentioned in the google search for Arum 'Belledene" as Aum italicum 'Belledene" , so you could both be right. There appears to be many forms of Arum italicum. I would be wary of this plant.

"is their ability to change sex, depending on age and growing conditions."

Did not know that gardengal. Most interesting. Maybe mine are producing infertile flowers? Is is possible some forms remain infertile? Frankly I just looked at my 'Belldene' and I'm lucky it is growing at all. I think it was selected in England and doesn't seem overly enamored with my conditions...has hardly increased in size after almost 10 years. (was one of my last orders from the hallowed Seneca Hill Perennials) I don't even think it blooms every year. When I was a teen I grew a plain green Arum italicum which was much more vigorous and for all I know might have eventually formed a colony.

It's interesting, because I have noticed an increase in Pinterest results in Google searches. But then again I've noticed an increase in just about every social media internet in Google. I'm not sure whether it's because of more use, or financial arrangements between the parties involved, probably both. As the saying goes, "follow the money, honey." A good reminder about how to help guide results with Boolean searches.

david, I think it is only the arisaemas that have a sexual identity issue :-) AFAIK, all other aroids act normally but not positive about that. btw, Far Reaches Farms has an impressive selection of arums (and arisaemas!), including Belldene, which they attribute to Ellen Hornig of Seneca Hills.

My previous garden was wide open sun so haven't grown any of these aroids for a while. My current property is heavily wooded and shady so maybe will try a few out. Prolly start with Arisarum proboscideum - mouse plant - as it is my all time favorite of this plant grouping, well behaved and happy under rhodies, of which I have gazillions.

Great thread! Oh deer- we planted Jacks last year.