Hello, Ms. Hosta,

Your garden ideas are so inspiring. I'd love to have a small greenhouse someday to start lots more plants. I have 2 very different garden projects going on, about 1 acre total to work with.

One garden project I am doing in a city and I just spent 2 hours today clearing the back lot of trash and branches from trees. We are putting up a fence along this terrace on a hill and will be putting in a garden a lot like what you describe. It has 4 tall big trees, a little English ivy and lots of square cut quarry stones. I want to plant fern, bulbs, and those pretty white star-like flowers that come up at the end of winter. I'm big on moss and cyclamen too. In the spring, we are trying to promote violets of all different colors. There are 3 lilac trees on the terrace too.

I just learned about WS a month ago, but already have about 8 milk cartons planted. I plan on snow in March in my area, even though we are have a warm February.

Planting a bunch more WS containers weekend, and family is helping me by drinking lots of milk! lol!

Besides the city garden, I am restoring a hillside property in an area that has been over developed and desparately needs top soil replacement. This one has a raised bed veggie garden and an area set aside for mosses, huckleberries, pussy willow, mountain laurel, and maybe if you all think it would be a good idea, wisteria.

Any ideas for starting woodland seeds would be most welcome.

hosta, if you order your seeds now, you should have them within a week or two at the latest, I would think. You can winter-sow easily through March and into April. By the way, I have found Select Seeds to be a good company to deal with. Although I do the bulk of my seed purchasing elsewhere, I usually place a small order with them.

I have successfully winter-sown sweet peas, cosmos, poppies, salvia, and euphorbia marginata.

Have fun with your worm bin. I've got my supervisor at work thinking about one - for *in* work, in the lunch room. Boy, I envy you your greenhouse. That's on my list for "someday"...

Have fun! Prepare to be addicted!
:)
Dee

Thanks tansy moon & dee,We have five acres of woodland,getting smaller all the time, i keep planting more and more hosta,we never had a lot of sun, so hosta is what i planted,plus, i just love them all,we have been clearing out scrub trees and replacing with some understory trees,and i now have room for some sun plants,wisteria is on my list as well.We were very lucky,we bought the greehouse from a friend going out of business,we are in the process of disassembling it,all we had to do was orded a cover,it will be 24x64,thank you for your excitment,i have alway wanted one but never thought it would happen,i am so excited i can't sleep at night,ha ha.
I recieved my 1000 worms yesterday,they arrived in pretty bad shape,they were in transit for a week instead of 2 days,i do so hope they will recover,the ones that are not already dead that is.
Dee, i will order from Select Seeds on Monday, thank you.
Tansy moon,i have wild yellow violets in the woods,i would be more than happy to send you some in the spring if you would like.They are real pretty.
Dee, do you know if i can order Jack in the Pulpit seeds?Not sure if you can only grow from roots.Gosh, this is fun,by the way, where do you guys buy your soil?and what kind do you use?
I have only used Shultzs moisture Plus:I love it, but it is pretty pricy so i am looking for an alternative of equal quality.Tansy moon, you can e mail me direct if you are interested in the native violets.Thanks guys,Carol

Ms. Hosta:
If you get too many sage seedlings next spring, I've never tried those before--or perhaps you can save me some seeds when they are dry. We're good on violets right now. I can send you some Jack-N-the-Pulpit roots. I saw them here last spring so I will keep an eye out in April to see if I can get you started. They are very colorful, reds and greens. There is also a lovely little flower I call tri-foil because it has 3 succulent leaves in the spring followed by a white flower. Columbine grows by the river, as well--I think I will be Johnny-Columbine-Seed lady next year and scatter my extra ones for the neighborhood to enjoy in the park.

I've never exchanged plants before by mail, but I've received many mail order plants over the year, so I believe I can get those Jacks to you in good shape.

I've only been on this garden site for a few weeks, so far, so don't know a thing about how it works, but I LOVE hearing about everyone's gardens and the wonderful ideas!

hosta, I've never propagated J-i-t-P any way, so I'm not sure. I have some growing naturally in my woods. But below I posted a link to a google search that turned up some info. I only skimmed a few of them briefly, but it does seem you can grow from seed (sounds like it might be expensive though!).

As far as potting mix, I've always used Miracle Gro. I was a bit disappointed in it last year, though, as it seemed to have a lot of sticks and rocks in it. But I can't find anything much better for a decent price. I'm trying to find something organic, but that is difficult for a reasonable price also.

I love hostas also, but don't have too many as of yet. I kind of stay away from the hosta forum here. It's a very, very dangerous place. I could get in a lot of trouble there.

Darn, never mind the green house - I'm *really* jealous of the five acres, lol!

:)
Dee

Here is a link that might be useful: jack-in-the-pulpit google search

just1more: Welcome to WSing. You are about to discover a lot more than hosta!

Karen

Hi all,tansy moon,thanks for your offer for the J.I.T.P.,i have some here also in the woods, they have a very deep root system with a bulb on the end, i tryed to transplant several and they do not take kindly to being trandplanted at all, i would hate for you to give away the ones you do have as they may not make it,[the only Jack i have is all green.], and our native plants are becoming scarce,around here any way,woods are being taken over by Wild Mustard,so we are working on that at the moment.So you are a newbe to?I love the people here also, i have searched other sites and this is by far the friendliest.We recycle every ting in our home,this morning i was bring some things to the garage for the recycle bin and found 4 things i took back that i can use for WSing,ha ha,this is great!
Karen,you are so right, i do belive i will become addicted,this is all i need,another addiction,oh well,my yard is really pretty what else is there to spend your money on than plants?Right?
Oh yes,tansy moon, i do have some Trilium,but thanks for the offer.You sound like you are doing a lot of resteration gardening,are these your properties?or are you a landscaper?I will save some seed when i get it for you.
I have a brown paper bag with some Ligularia seed that is a year old, is that still good, i have keep it in the basement,should i try to WS it?Does any one want any?

Hello, Ms. Hosta and everyone:
Yes, I own both of the properties I am restoring, and while I feel completely overwhelmed by them at this point with their various challenges, I am keeping on track because of the visions I have of a city terraced garden--which is 130 feet deep and about 30 feet wide; and a crescent-shaped bit of property torn out of a mountainside overlooking the Shenandoah River.
Before this, all I had was a tiny, dry townhouse garden in a suburb--with no privacy or much potential.
Now with much more land at my disposal, WS is going to revolutionize my gardening attempts. No more hot, dry, dark rooms with week seedlings, crowded under flourescents.
Ms. Hosta, I think that is good advice you have about leaving the woodland plants alone until we find out how to propagate them safely. I'll keep watching to see how it is done.
Last year we started Jacks, tri-foil, moss, morel mushrooms, blueberries in a few small areas. So this spring will tell if transplanting works.
If I had more morel spores, I might try them in a container!

Good day to you all,tansy,i just read your question about posting pictures,i hope some one answeres as i would love to see your pictures,i don't know how to do that either, i would like to post some pictures of my garden this summer, but don't know how.I am getting ready to WS this after noon some Ligulara seed from last year,would you like some?I can not guarentee they are any good,i have kept them in a brown paper bag in the basement,they are a great plant to go with ha ha,of course,HOSTA,shade and they grow quite large,a nice plant.I will be looking for your pic's.