Thanks your responses and comments - `very helpful. We planted our elephant ears three years ago in the back yard. Every winter we take them in and I think we wrap the roots and put them in a dark place. We replant them every spring. I was hoping I could bring them in for the winter and continue enjoying them, but I am not convinced from reading here that we have enough sun, so I might have to find a grow light and I"m not sure I can keep up with the water demand. I miss these beautiful leaves all winter!!

Hi, I have: Plants-clivia, pony tail palm, variegated ginger, canna - salmon color flowers and canna bengal tiger. Cuttings-Tibouchina urvilleana, tibouchina grandiflora, orthosiphon 'Cats' Whiskers', Isotoma -blue, cuphea ignea both red and orange flower types, 2 types of alternanthera, many named begonia-both cane and rex and many coleus types. I have many other perennials available to trade too. I'd be interested in any of the following:Yellow dancing ginger, C. mojito, miliky way, coal miner, jenningsii, fallax, lkime aide. Please let me know if anything interest you. I can send pictures of anything for you. Thanks, Erin

Oooh, total scoop on that DR! What a trunk! The other thing is really cute, I didn't think it was a fig, similar leaves though, so what came to mind. Papyrus. It's interesting (nicest thing I could think to say.) Failing to find tha love for it... Yes I have lasagna'd, too many times to count, here and in OH. I don't know which of the grasses we have, there are several kinds, but it's a vine. I think St. A grass is rhizomatous, if not a vine also. (My comments to follow are about tenacious southern grasses, not the stuff up north...) Sometimes pieces 4 feet long come up when I pull what I think is a sprig. Anyway, it's not easy to kill like rye or fescue grass in OH. It has to sit in a pile for like 3-4 months to actually die enough to even compost. If it doesn't stop raining, I may have to put all of the recently removed grass in a plastic bag... at least it takes so long to make seeds, we rarely get any. Compared to tilling'n'picking'n'sifting, or straight digging, I prefer it every time I can find the patience to wait. You're right, you can't trust one layer of cardboard to do the trick. It's not heavy enough, and some light can get through. I've pulled pieces of this grass near a corner of the house that have gone under the house (dark, skirted) for several feet before finding a way out of a crack on the other side. I put 2 layers of cardboard, then a lot of heavy, wet stuff to make it conform to the soil surface, and be too heavy for anything to push through. The potted plants were originally holding corners and edges but as I've accumulated more OM to put there, I've just set them on top of that. And that's (grass staying alive under there so long) why I'm not planting in it until next spring. I don't want to pull/dig grass there, and won't trust that it's really dead until then, especially the bahaigrass. That stuff has big, tough rhizomes and there's quite a bit of that too. Before planting, check to make sure it's dead with this tenacious grass even if it's been months, and cut all the way around with a shovel, well before planting, to make sure none of it is still secretly alive from being attached to the surrounding untouched grass. I've discovered pieces alive on one side, looking dead as it passes through smothered area, and still alive on the other side, still connected. This cut will also make sure the border works without starting out with unknown live grass under it. Expose a small part for a couple weeks and make sure grass doesn't start growing (after the yard wakes up, if it goes dormant where you are.) Sheet metal seems to kill it faster, if you have any, but then you're at Sq-1 when it's removed, naked dirt that hasn't had something decomposing over it for a while. Nice clean edge tho! Also like to make beds wider by laying the (yet intact) bags of mulch I will spread there later.

I am going to build a bog garden. I recently moved and need some place for my EE and bog plants that I brought from the old house. This year I kept them in pots but I am going to build a garden and went in search of how to build one. This may help you. Some of the ingredients I am going to ignore such as the destiled water. LOL Creating an artificial bog garden Strange as it may sound the first step to building a bog garden, dig a hole! The area can be whatever shape you like about 18 Â 24 inches deep and slightly raised from the surrounding bed area to keep runoff from entering the bog (this is explained shortly). Locate the bog garden where it will get full sun at least half the day, preferably afternoon sun. The worst part is done! Now line the hole with rubber pond liner. DonÂt worry if there are sharp roots etc. that could puncture the liner. A few leaks do not matter. Begin filling the bog with the following combination: add 1 bale (4cuft) of sphagnum peat, mix in 100lbs of silica sand and a big mess of conifer needles (white pine is my favorite). Add rain, distilled, or dehumidifier water till saturated. This is the second hardest job because peat is extremely hydrophobic. Repeat above until the bog is full and fully saturated. Sculpt the "dirt" such that it is low in the center and higher around the edges. Because it is saturated and all the air is worked out, it will not settle. If you wish to plant a Fen type garden (ph neutral and slightly more nutrient rich) add 50 Â 100 lbs of calcium rich lime in place of the conifer needles. Most species of Cypripedium will prefer this to the bog garden. I made the mistake of using crushed oyster shell, it added too much saltÂso donÂt use this for calcium! Time to plant! Place plants that like more water near the center of the bog where it is low and plants that like less water around the edges. This works well because the edges dry out far faster than the center. Be patient! A bog garden takes at least 2 years to become well established as a mini ecosystem. DonÂt pull any weeds that you are not sure are weeds! Some really good stuff can come to your garden from peat bales. But keep seed heads of sedges and other more aggressive plants trimmed so more tender plants will have a better chance of survival. The cardinal rule! NEVER EVER EVER WATER WITH ANYTHING OTHER THAN RAIN, DISTILLED, OR DEHUMIDIFIER WATER! TAP WATER WILL KILL A BOG GARDEN IN A SEASON AS WILL ANY SORT OF FERTILIZER! Plants suitable for bog gardens and sources