Hi valeriepa, I am assuming that you must have used the Large Flat Rate box. The use of the Flat Rate boxes is not always the best deal. It all depends upon what mail zone the box is going to and how much the box weighs once it is packed. Being a veteran trader, I (usually) don't respond to trade posts where the member's location is not shown. I take into consideration what it is that they have, and if I could find it locally. I take into consideration what I have to offer them, and the approximate weight/cost, given their location. I take into consideration what that plant would cost, if I could even find it locally, or what it would cost if purchased on line, and had shipping charges added to the cost. IMHO...all plants are not created equal in value to me, so that is a consideration. In the spring I often trade native spring wildflowers...Trillium (rhizomes), Jack in the Pulpits(rhizomes/bulbs), May Apple roots, among other things. These plants are very inexpensive to ship, usually weighing one LB or less, ($4.95) and can often be mailed in a sturdy box and go as First Class if it is less that 13 OZ, and might be $3, more or less. Here are some links that may help you. If you plan to do much plant trading at all, or even seeds trading, you might want to invest in a Digital Postal Scale from Ebay. $20-$25 is a good price if it includes shipping. You might find that printing out the Postal Zone Chart is a good thing to have handy when packing, along with a Print Out of the Priority Mail Pricing to all zones. This is the Printer friendly version I hope. Here is a list of all the Priority Mailing boxes, and their dimensions. You can order them on line, and have them delivered to your house, or you may be able to pick up a couple of each size at your local Post Office. I salvage small cardboards boxes at the recycling center, for those trades that are especially lightweight ( 13 OZ and under) and that can go First Class, (which is just as fast I am told) but considerably less than a 1 LB Priority (4.95). Last year I did a trade with a member in FL. She was sending me a rooted cutting of a Lacecap hydrangea. I forget what I was sending, but knew it would not be costly to send, but would be a good value to her if she were to buy what I was sending. Well...her 'cutting' had been rooting for over a year, and the root system was massive, and was like a very well rooted 1 GA hydrangea...to the point that it was not even possible to get most of the soil off of the root system. She mailed it Flat Rate and paid about $9 at the time. I weighed it when I got the box, and had she chosen to pay by the pound, it would have cost just $6.40. There are a lot of ins and outs to be considered when trading. For $13.95, I could mail a 19 LB box if it was going to mail zones 1 or 2. I could mail an 11 LB box to zone 3. I could mail a 9 LB box to zone 4 I could mail a 5 LB box to zones 5 and/or zone 6...etc. I could mail a 4 LB box to zone 7 I could mail a 3 LB box to zone 8 Even just 5 LBs is really a lot of weighty plants. I was stuffing daylilies in a flat rate box, and it was hard to get enough packed for the flat rate to be cost effective as opposed to going with paying by the pound. I won't do flat rate box trades. I would maybe consider sending a box of the same dimensions as a flat rate, but would pay by the pound, if it was more cost effective. I know sometimes when folks offer stuff up for postage, they just use the flat rate to keep it simple. Since I have a scale, and printouts, I can offer things up by the LB and tell the member exactly how much it would be that way. Irises, particularly named ones are traded by the fan, and cut away from the mother rhizome, which will not grow anyway. Daylilies, particularly named ones, are usually traded by the fan, and some members cut the foliage back on them...others don't...if is doubt about packing it is best to ask the member, or even inquire as to how they plan to pack and ship, especially if they are a newbie to plant trading. Hostas, too I think are traded as eye divisions...as in X number of eyes, and the soil is cleaned from the roots and the roots only wrapped in moisture. Bulbs, the # is usually designated....daffodils, hyacinths, lily (bulbs), etc. Something like a bigger hosta that is leafed out well, might be best shipped in one of the 2 sizes of the tubular boxes...or better yet, as antique orchid pointed out, just trade it in early spring. 6" X 25" tube 6" X 38" tube I would never use Parcel Post, as there is very little difference in the cost of that and Priority as Karyn1 pointed out. I mailed some bulbs in a small box and forgot to mark it First Class boldly on the outside, though I had put enough postage on it to go FC. I was mailing from my home mailbox. Well, they went Parcel Post, and arrived in 2 weeks. Needless to say, that was way too long, and way too hot for even daffodils to survive well. So many folks say they prefer large trades, well there are those of us to 'like' small trades just as well or better. These are usually trading smaller starts of things that are just smaller by nature...Seedlings, cuttings, small rooted cuttings, iris rhizomes of particularly small by nature irises. Some of my best trades have been where I received in maybe 4 cool things that were shipped for 1 LB or less A lot of consideration goes into being a savvy trader, that both members will be pleased/with what they receive in relation to what they sent and what it cost them. Being in IN, I believe that everyone East of the Mississippi is mail zone 4 or less from me. Those within IN, and some folks in the immediately surrounding states are in mail zones 1 and 2...very cost effective for mailing. zones 3 and 4 are quite reasonable too. Sue...wordy as usual

I really like BJ. I also have LG. It's planted in clay and the color is a darker purple. This year I divided it and moved a piece to a raised bed with amended soil. The color is still a dark purple but not as dark as the other one. It was one of my first and I'm really glad I bought it. Marg

Thank you for asking awm03, it was in Boston, Ma. in the early thirties. It was only a 15 minute show and it was my Mom and her three brothers. She was the soloist and they sang back up and played instruments. They were called "Three Jacks and a Queen" and yes, they got tons of request by their fans. We have them all in storage, God knows why lol. They mainly sang country and pop. She had an amazing voice in the style of Patsy Cline. Low and rich. Many scouts offered her jobs to go on the road with the 'BIG" bands but she was happiest near her family and they only wanted her and not her brothers. When she married, the station WHDH let her go as they didn't keep married women on their staff. Can you imagine? Up until 1960, when a teacher got married she couldn't work, that was in Ma. Times sure have changed. At this time of year my Mom would have been singing the masses at church. It was thrilling to hear her and, even when she got Alzheimers she still sang with abandon and was well loved by all around her. Singing was huge in our family. On Friday night the new song sheet would come out for five cents and one of us would go and get it and we'd learn all the words and sing in harmony while washing and drying dishes etc. I miss that part of family life. It seems families don't do much of these things any more.

I have no idea who Candice Olson is. But to the ones who say absolutely not to "unsolicited gifts", then you don't feel if your friends or relatives give you a gift, unsolicited you don't feel a need to thank them? Occasionally I see someone send something to another person on the forum who is a total stranger but generally I see expectations of response there. To me, it depends on what the gift is. I do think that if someone is star stature, they may well not see most of what might be sent. This is much like the hoopla about if you get a bad french fry at McDonalds you should send a nasty letter to the CEO of the company and expect a personal response! I do feel there's limits on courtesies. Many people claim an expectation to be an expected courtesy. Sometimes to not say what could be said is a very big courtesy! That said, it's also pretty lame to try to claim, I could be a victim of a stalker and bringing up John Lennon over a little gift it stretching it quite a bit AFAIC. I'd feel an automated reply to an email or letter would be appropriate in a lot of situations, again depending on the status or "level" of the person's "celebrity". But for something mailed, I'm not too sure, again it would depend on what the item is. The address label analogy in this case is a good one. Just because someone has an email address, facebook, myspace or for that matter a postal address doesn't mean they need to answer everything. I feel a real frustration when I see someone post blasting a company (or person) because "I emailed them and they NEVER ANSWERED ME!!!!!" So back to the question of obligation. I don't see a definitive answer to it, there's just too many variables.