Lellie, I am not sure ..but it is my understanding that wild grown, no matter where, it protected. When nurseries propagate it from a seed, it is a different story... If you can, do contact a local orchid society. Tampa Orchid Club was once dealing with a similar situation - a big oak fell down on someone else's property, with a nice clump of E. tampensis...They - TOC folks - were asked to come out and help out with the plant. It is a beautiful plants! Good luck growing it, it is well worth it :) Olya

Are you sure that's carnea? I ask because of the dark green leaves, that are not the color of R. multiflora leaves. In the early 1900s there were many, many ramblers introduced that were hybrids of multiflora and wichurana , some have the fringed stipules of multiflora as well as the deeper green leaves of wichurana. These ramblers were planted extensively along highways, by the thousands of rooted twigs. The other thing about carnea: in my part of the world, there is some variation in R. multiflora and some very light pink blooms that come along at the same time as the other multiflora blooms. But they aren't double or even semidouble. Just a lovely pale pink. Helpmefind does say carnea is a flesh colored pink and I think yours is a much deeper pink than lp. (OTOH, yours is a prettier plant than multiflora light pink)

Curious if lack of watering was more of an issue than sun. You see we left for two weeks on a mission trip. During that time...we hadn't watered our flower beds. Hoping for rain which didn't come. When I looked up cranesbill...I found it can be located in full sun. Which makes me think lack of water was the issue. (We left last year as well on a mission trip. It's the only one in the yard that suffered) Step 1 Plant bare root cranesbill in spring or fall in a location which receives full sun to light shade, and has well-drained soil. Use a garden tiller to mix one cubic yard of organic compost per every eighty square feet into the soil. Space plants two feet apart to allow room for growth. Step 2 Apply a 1- to 2-inch layer of mulch to the soil surrounding cranesbill geraniums. This will conserve moisture in the soil and prevent the growth of invading weeds. Use bark mulch, shredded leaves, grass clippings or any other type of organic mulch. Step 3 Water cranesbill plants once per week to a depth of 24 inches anytime the temperature exceeds 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Water once every two weeks when temperatures are between 65 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit and once per month when temperatures drop below 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Cranesbill can tolerate drier conditions due to its deep, thick-root system. Step 4 Apply a granular iron and sulfur fertilizer, according to the manufacturer's instructions, only if the leaves of the cranesbill plant begin to turn yellow in the heat of summer. No other fertilization is necessary, as long as the soil was properly amended at planting. Step 5 Use hedge trimmers to cut cranesbill back to about four inches in height at the beginning of spring and before new growth begins. Remove spent flowers as they die to improve aesthetic appeal, although this will not increase the volume of blooms produced by the plant. Read more: How to Care for Cranesbill : Garden Guides http://www.gardenguides.com/68445-care-cranesbill.html#ixzz35P4B68FX Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.gardenguides.com/68445-care-cranesbill.html

Dorothy, I noticed the first one in bloom Wed. while walking the dog, but it is the only one I've seen so far. It has been so dry here for so long that the winter wildflower season is pretty poor so far, but I'm hoping the recent rainfall we received will help the spring wildflowers. It is too late, of course, for the wildflowers which typically sprout here in the fall and overwinter as small rosettes before resuming growth as winter temperatures warm up--they never sprouted back in the fall. That means we'll have our second "below average" wildflower season this year. Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) just started blooming in our yard Thurs., which is the same day that our "Jane" magnolia bloomed and our second plum tree began blooming too. It is sort of early for them, but we've had temperatures this past week in the 80s and even hit 90 degrees one day, so it is not surprising that everything is blooming. Now that the temps are colder, I bet the trees will slow down a little. Dawn