Hi, I am intersted in trading with you. I have the dark,dark purple louisiana iris plants. I also have alot of tropical plants that you do not have on your list. I am interested in trading for your torch gingers, I have tried to email you with the items I think you would be interested in, but I am not able to send you an email. Please email me I would like to send you a plant list. Just a few things not on your list. I have white and dark purple lily of the nile. Both chinese ground orchids and the other ground orchids, both purple in color. I have a double brugmansia rooted "Sam", yellow, white, or purple double datura, sweet memories duranta, giant red leaf crinum, candle stick plant, tropical bleeding heart vines,both colors, red and white and purple and red. I also have palm trees that you did not list, I can send the parlor palm and cardboard palm, and seeds for the King Palm, and Alexander Palm. Variegated rubbler tree, african dasies purple, yellow, and cream, these just bloom in zone 9 non stop. I also have the african hosta. I would really like to send a list of the plants I have thru email. I will be going down this weekend, and would be able to list what I have available, I have an acre of gardens in Texas, zone 9. Barb

Would love to trade for some of your mango ginger rhinzomes. Check my list and let me know please. I have several things you have on your want list.

What color is your bird of paradise? Let me know.

Kitty- Given your zone, you could probably divide it any time. We're in a similar zone, and we divide ours whenever they look like they need it. Start by dumping everything out of the pot. Then get as much dirt off as you can so that you can (1) see the rhizome structure, and (2) untangle the fiberous roots as you make your divisions. It will be obvious where to make your cuts. A sharp knife should do the job. Try to divide into clumps of 2-3 "stalks". You will probably also see new shoots starting from the rhizomes. They will appear as little pinky-white nubs. Make sure there are some of those on each clump when you make your cuts. If you end up with a rhizome with no stalk, that's OK. Just put it into it's own pot and cover under about 1/2" of soil. It will start to show signs of growth in a couple of weeks. If you're not sure where to make your cuts (if the rhizomes are just so intertwined) just cut anywhere. We had one container that was so jam packed that I had no choice but to cut it down the middle and then lop of pieces ever couple of inches. From that one pot we now have 8 5-gallon containers that are almost ready to divide. And it only took 6 months! As for soil, we use a soil-less "pro-mix" type of medium. We fertilize with 20-20-20 and vitamin B1 on a weekly basis. We keep our new divisions in light shade for a couple of weeks until they start to perk back up. Also, keep the medium moist but not wet. You don't want to risk rotting the rhizomes. Be prepared that some of the existing stalks may lose leaves or die back totally. That's OK. As long as there are some new growing eyes you'll be in good shape. And in the end you'll have divisions to trade with people! Hope this helps -Ray