The seeds are starting to arrive at their destinations, so everyone, keep their eyes peeled. I mentioned already to someone, but thought I should make a general mention, that many of these seeds are somewhat, to very challenging to germinate. Sunflowers are cheap, easy to find, and popular for a reason (super easy to grow), and we were exchanging unusual seeds. Please be sure to look up any/all of the seeds you received that you received that you are unfamiliar with, so that you can have the best chance at success (some good sites for germination info: backyard gardener and Tom Clothier's site). Even with this knowledge, not everyone will be successful with everything. It took me four tries at germinating Actaea before I had any success, and I've been growing from seed for twenty years, so I (usually) know what I'm doing :-) But the theory is that you learn as much from your failures as from your successes, and where you're successful, you'll have some interesting plants for next to nothing :-) Happy gardening everyone! BP

Hi everyone, Well, I am double posting this in 2 forums - I hope nobody minds. As promised, here I am posting about what in the world I've been doing all summer while traveling to & fro Wisconsin. As some of you already know, I work with fish-eating birds: cormorants, pelicans, herons, egrets, gulls, wood storks, etc. My husband and I have been working in Wisconsin for the past 3 years, but we also regularly work in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, Ontario, and a few other places. Yes, we are a husband + wife team, working together out of the same office. Many people are surprised that we work together, but it is great. We make a fantastic team, and are often at our best under challenging field conditions. Great minds think alike, and being dear friends & in love sure helps too. (ok, enough with the mushy stuff). So now for a few photos from the vegetation surveys we did this month. Background: We are working on remote islands in Lake Michigan, around the Door Co. Peninsula area. All the islands have nesting double-crested cormorants and herring gulls. Some also have nesting Am. white pelicans and Canada geese. Back in April, we put up some 6 ft x 6 ft pens (we call them exclosures) to exclude the cormorants because they damage vegetation with their nesting activities (too much POOP!). So then we went back in August to catalog everything that grew in the pens, by plant species, and weighed it to also determine biomass. That meant breaking out the field guides, studying up on botany and the flora of Wisconsin, and bringing the plant presses for species we couldn't identify on the island. We compareed the exclosure plots to some "control" plots, which had nothing but 4 wooden stakes at the corners. We had 45 plots to do on 3 islands, plus another 3 islands down by the city of Green Bay that we did simple vegetation surveys on (no pens). It was alot of work, but very interesting. The bottom line: there are lots of nonnative species on those islands, like motherwort, catnip, pigweed, common mallow, stinging nettle and sow thistle. The native vegetation was primarily lambsquarter and smartweed species. Almost done clipping this 1-meter plot: Looking for small plants beneath the lambsquarter The finished, sampled 1-meter subplot Who would even know what this was?!?! I saved seeds to winter sow and see if I can't figure it out. The very last veg plot to measure. You can tell, because we look so happy! A friend found crawling across the plant press The stinging nettle I hacked through to make us a nice trail to get to the center of the island. At least its not poison ivy! Ok, that's all for now. Have a great evening. Katie (heh - I've been working on this post for days!)

Aqua, I sent you an email a week ago (see above). I still have not heard from you and no seeds have arrived. I sent you another email and GW mail this morning. TO recap this situation.... *Aquadragonfly was to send me seeds (sprouts) in this swap *Aqua did send seeds to me but stated that she sent the wrong seeds. *I received the wrong seeds (Aqua refers to them as the "WOW" seeds) *I offered (via email) to return to her the "WOW" seeds and that she could send me the correct seeds that were intended for me. *I sent the "WOW" seeds back to her on September 7 *I emailed her on September 14 to see if she had received the "WOW" seeds. *She responded to my email on September 14 that she thought she had posted on this thread that she had received the seeds. She also stated that she had not been feeling well and it would be a few more days until she mailed out my seeds. *On October 20, I emailed her and posted here that I had not received any seeds. I have received no response via email or on this thread and have received no seeds. *Today, October 27, I emailed her and sent her a message via GW.............. I certainly do not need any seeds but as we all know, that is not the point! She has not kept her end of the deal...not cool! Annie

Wow -- is there still time for me to join in? I'm kind of a newbie but from your lists I see lots that I can send to fill wishes- so here goes. Any heuchera Coleus (black dragon or others) Columbine - single colored varieties- bright colors or an all white variety is better! Lobelias -- or other trailers for pots Black, rust or peach colored flowers for my peach garden Echinachea- other than white swan or the plain purple variety(Peach would be great) Daisies - have clara curtis, giant white, and white shasta-- my three little girls just love to cut and cut all season long and far be it from me to discourage future gardeners! Coreopsis of any variety I don't have (coreopsis I have include: pink, zagreb, seashell, mahogohny midget, moonbeam) Lavendar - Spanish Pink Forget me nots Black Eyed Susan Vine - all colors Gladiola Seeds Monarda Flowering Groundcovers -- nothing invasive like vinca or ajuga I would prefer not to get-- Daturas, Moonflowers, Four O'clocks -except for the variegated kind -would love those, Cactus, Succulents or shade lovers --other than what was listed above-- I have very little shade. Also not interested in herbs and have all my veggie seeds for next year allready.