i would love a chunk of lemongrass to add to my culinary garden. i do not have any edibles to share, but i have a lot of plants! my tradelist is no where near updated, but off the top of my head, i have hardy geranium, monkshood, some noid daylilies, autumn joy sedum, a mauve columbine, a lot of other things. if you have any lemongrass to spare, i can check your list and see if i have anything you're looking for that i forgot to mention :) thanks for reading!

It's much easier to start lemongrass from cuttings. If you have an Asian grocery nearby just buy a couple stalks and stick them in a pot of soil or directly in the garden. I've never had one that hasn't rooted as long as it has even a small amont of the base still attached.

Lydia, I grow dozens of foliage plants in containers in west facing afternoon GA sun which has to be very close to your conditions. Variegated Asiatic Jasmine is beauiful, evergreen (well...green, white & pink), and seldom flowers...can be grown on trellis or as groundcover for your Bay Tree as it would not mind dryish conditions. Variegated Hedera helix would also serve..no flowers. Other hardy in z8 foliage plants I've used alone or as groundcovers under larger plants: Asparagus plumosa or Saxifraga sarmentosa (the Strawberry Begonia flowers but easy to clip off), Lygodium japonica "Japanese Climbing Fern". The herb Ruta graveolens has flowers but easy to clip off, otherwise just lovely blue frilly foliage). Likewise Purple Fennel with dusky purple foliage. Hardy Z8 perennials Tanacetum 'Isla Gold' has frilly chartreuse foliage. Centaurea gymnocarpa 'Colchester White" has white-silver beautiful cut foliage...I have it underplanted with Dichondra 'Silver Falls'(nonhardy but I carried over inside). Young Eucalyptus cinerea trees can be grown as shrubs with silvery-blue foliage. For a large plant: Cordyline australis Red Sensation is a red/purple leaved phormium lookalike which is hardy for me. Hibiscus coccinea 'Texas Star'foliage is lovely reddish-green even if you clipped the flowers off. Likewise the colorful-leaved forms of annuals: Ricinus (Castor Bean) like 'Carmencita'...just clip flowers. Alternanthera dentata Rubiginosa' with deep scarlet foliage & stems has tiny flowers but haven't noticed any bees..but then I'm only outside at dawn and dusk when weather gets above 80 degrees F. Strobilanthes 'Persian Shield' has lovely purple/silver leaves. The Black Taro loves full sun if kept moist, even loves pot sitting in a few inches of water. Likewise the colorful forms of Canna: Tropicana, Pretoria etc. and you could clip flowers off. I know there are more...I'm waiting til daylight to go out & water. May add more later. But there are a lot of gorgeous foliage plants with colored leaves, frilly lace-like or big & bold. And lots of them are hardy... some evergreen so we can have nice container gardens even for our short winter months. I hate to spend money on annuals when often I can find a hardy plant for the same garden effect, especially in our zone...and have the fun of seeing it return bigger and better each year. josh Here is a link that might be useful: Variegated Asian Jasmine

I don't have lungwort, but if you are interested in repiratory herbs - do you have coltsfoot in your plant arsenal?