I have a leek plant .I purchased two leek plants from the local nursery in 2012.Planted them on Good Friday.I pulled one ,left one in the ground.It still produces lots of green leaves.Onion sets may be purchased at a local Home and Ranch Store.My soil is MG Garden soil,cow manure.I planted leeks,onions.in ground or pots.My method is make a hole about 1 inch.add osmocote,cover with dirt,water in with root stimulater. fertilize 7-14 days.

I've had a late season rush of palamedes cats. Quite a few have already pupated, but I still have 7 or 8, I think, that are still cats. The cooler weather has slowed their growth considerably! There may still be two on a big persea borbonia or p. palustris that's close to my house. I saw them several weeks, maybe a month, ago when I was high on a ladder gathering leaves for the palamedes cats that I had in my cages. This tree, like all my perseas, looks absolutely terrible this year, and I've had to work to find decent leaves to feed the ones I'm raising. Here's a picture I took of a late instar cat on the redbay in my front yard and a picture I took of an early instar cat last year - They can use any of my pictures - I have more - or come to my house and take pictures of the two in the tree, assuming they're still there. I'll look for them today. I'll be in Florida from Nov.29th-Dec.6th I live 35 miles north of the coast - I'd be surprised if they find any perseas with cats on them on the coast due to the extensive damage to the trees from the hurricane. MissSherry

I understand yer trepidation, vegangirl. I have another list, Planet Ohio, which I started back in 1998. It eventually fell prey to spam so I now approve or deny all new memberships, and anyone you sneaks through and tries to spam us, I kick 'em off. I can also make it so that I have final approval of all messages before they are posted. We're still small at the wildflower list; the spammers haven't found us yet, but take my word for it, once one shows his or her ugly face, I'll nip it in the bud... In other words, spamming may happen once, but then never again... I'd really like to have ya join; you clearly have a love and knowledge of wildflowers to share with others, and I think the most important thing of all is that ol' sense o' kindred spirit... If too many daily emails concerns ya ... in addition to that spam ... you can choose to receive a daily digest of the day's messages, or to not receive email, but read all the messages at the web site. no spam'll get at ya that way! I'd love to hear more of your life story. It sounds fascinating ... book material. My wife and I have been to Maine/New England a few times, and up to Grand Marais, MN and Superior National Forest, all beautiful, beautiful places... I have a friend who has PhD in entomolgy who lives up in Maine, he works with the apple growers... Last time we drove up to Maine, in late Sept 1999, the Monarchs were migrating ... we were driving into Vermont, I think it was, and they were flying by at a rate of one every minute or so. It was great... And I do hope ya consider joinin' in ... you'll have so many spring widflowers to share with us. I'm postin' a few of my wildflower articles on the list to stir things up a little, and tryin' to find some wildflower news from out west to pass on as well... Happy spring!!!!

Many of macrophyllas for sale usually get 5-6' in height. But, it usually takes abou 10 years or so to achieve their advertised height/width.... although in places with a long growing season (like here in TX), it may take less time. Just look at the plant label's height/width to make sure it will work for you. Many of the Endless Summer Series Hydrangeas and many of the Forever and Ever Series will work for you. And they are commonly sold here at Lowes, Walmart and others. No pruning, a stable water regimen and high nitrogen fertilizers (blood mdeal for examlpe) will also help accelerate grow. Just don't go overboard. Do not overwater as this can cause fungal diseases or root rot. And do not overfertilize as you can end with nice lush green leaves and no blooms. Sunlight will help produce bloomage based on "how much" sunlight the shrubs get so, lots of sun can yield lots of blooms and so forth. Too much sun here in TX and the blooms can brown out. Too much sun here and the leaves can suffer as well (especially in our awful summers). Bright shade will not produce the maximum bloomage but it still produces plenty. Dense shade is the one that can be a problem. Aim for 4-6 hours of sun and shade by 12pm (here) although less works too. If your shrubs are in bright shade, they will be ok. I have most of my hydrangeas on the north side of the house too and they bloom very well. I also periodically check the levels of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus regularly with one of those cheap soil testing kits, usually sold in Spring over here. If you still want something other than ES or if you want more hydrangeas, look at the plants offered for sale in April-May this year to see what strikes your fancy. They will be blooming so you can verify that you will like the shade of colors and the blooms. Note: Lowe's brings a limited number of hydrangeas to this area in March (maybe 1-2 varieties only) and then in April, it brings a whole bunch more. Annabelle (and its cousins) does well here. In bright shade, it will maintain its green color longer before it changes to white. Oakleaf hydrangeas also do very well here but read the labels; some of them grow to 10' tall so make sure the oakleaf hydrangea that you choose says it will be around 6' or so. Examples: Munchkin, Ruby Slippers, Pee Wee, Sikes Dwarf, Vaughn's Lillie and Jetstream. I have a Ruby Slippers under a Chinese Pistache Tree. Paniculatas are also another choice. But many also get large so just check the labels' height dimensions and look for 'dwarfs'. 'Dwarf' versions of paniculatas and oakleaf hydrangeas will get 3-6' in our long growing season. Luis