That's good to hear -- some penstemons can take heavy soil, like Gulf Coast, foxglove, and smooth, and a lot can't. Smooth beardtongue has done very well here. I have at least 3 dozen plants that are going on 4 years now. I thought smooth beardtongue would do well after reading that there's a lot of it at Mason Farm Biological Reserve in Chapel Hill. The Gulf Coast, Eastern Gray, and Small's bloomed like crazy last year and then disappeared in the fall, so I collected seed to keep it going. I already knew that Small's is best treated as a biennal so that wasn't surprising. After the swap I'll try some of the Sour Grapes next to my house and some down in my garden and see which lasts longest.

Hello Duane(?), Lucky you to be able to visit High Country Gardens. We've been buying their mail order plants for about fifteen years and love them even if we haven't had success with everything. Over the years we've tried a lot of High Country's agastaches. Every time they come out with a new one, which is every year, we give it a shot. Mostly they have been dissapointing. Because they are at a higher elevation winter hardiness has never been a problem for us but the summers here are more brutal than in New Mexico and I've always found the agastaches to look more faded and wispy here than their pics and if not killing them it has kept a lot of them from performing well. That said rupestrus does good here and Desert Sunrise has survived last summer and winter and is growing like crazy now. My new try for the year is Orange Flare since both it's parents do well here. We've never tried Black adder but it's good to know it does well, Maybe that will be something for next year. Most of their agastaches are hybrids and have to be grown from cuttings but rupestrus is easily grown from seed which is how I got what I have now. At our old house I bought them from high country for I believe about eight dollars a plant although they've come down a little. I tried Salvia May Night at our old house but it didn't seem to like the heat so I gave up on it. There are so many salvias that love it here why waste time on one that doesn't but maybe you are having more success. We are trying thier zauschneria etteri this year with Agastache cana "rosita" and a russian sage to try to duplicate a look they had. At our other house we had a A. cana that was ok so I'm hopeful. It's always good to here what does good and not so good in someone elses yard to have some ideas about what might be good to try. Maria

Well, here's my version of directions. From San Antonio I've found the fastest way to be straight 35 to Walnut Ave. in New Braunfels (this is also called 46, but while in N.B. there are two 46's. Take the one called Walnut and head north.) to... 1863 and it is just a short distance north and turn left. Schumacher's is just a hop away from that intersection on the right. If you're coming down 281 from the north, then take the 46 exit for New Braunfels. It is a huge sign! Head left, south, to 1863, then take a right onto 1863 and it will be just a hop down on your right. I've tried the country roads to get there from S.A. and they take much longer than the 35 route. I'm a fan of country roads but not if they add 30 minutes to the drive. Patty, have you gone yet? I'm thinking about going...

Oh Barbra and TexanJana, I would love to see what the unknown plants look like that you got from Schumachers!!! They have so many unusual plants. I got the native West Texas Velvet Pod Mimosa that I posted about last year there, but didn't see any this time. It is such a great plant I can't imagine why nurseries aren't carrying it. I did pick up the similar looking 'fairy duster bush' the other day. Last year I tried to move the one I had and it died. This is creeping violet mentioned in my first post ... The South African Hosta ... When I told the very nice lady at the check out counter I was going to post about the nursery, she laughingly said, "Tell everyone to bring gloves and pull a few weeds while they are here." When Chip took the nursery back after having sold it a lot of people did go over and help get the place back in shape. The unsung hero of Schumachers, Chip, is not in the greatest of health. He has really struggled to keep the nursery going. Cast a few prayers his way. BTW, they have the yellow yucca that someone mentioned wanting.