Thank you!

Jim- I have Alma Potschke Asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae 'Andenken an Alma Pötschke'). This is a dark rosy pink New England Aster. For me it is great, I have moved it twice. It has dark rosy pink blooms. Have you tried it?

Pistil I have seen that before , I almost bought it twice and let it pass .. I will get one eventually ,, and they are very pretty , Very nice cultivar from a very rugged Species ..
I can Hybridize some (limited ) Things like Double Hollyhocks and such Lately I give to much attention to some of my seedlings , a fixation I have to be careful of ,
Too much for some seedlings to take , I am ,,

Bees like it like all others ? They swarm on asters here I am still seeing crescent Butterflies on them also
I seem to have a couple small seedling of what should be "truePink " New England type aster My blue ones are looking good so far as plants , last year they did not return , I am not sure if that is poison garden earth or Cats doing the #'s

The bees do like it a lot, although at the time it is flowering mine are surrounded by ultra bee magnets like Caryopteris and some other asters, and they get a bit more traffic.

I have a question about asters. I bought 9 quart size pots of them lately and after blooming several just turned brown and I think they've died. Is that normal?

Annual or perennial aster , Annual will die after blooming unless deadheaded (eventually they will anyway) , perennials go dormant , I have seen a few look that way ..

Must be the annual type. I had thought they'd go to seed before they died.

I can put a few more seeds in the Swap , truthfully I plan on doing so anyway if I have enough , Sky Blue Aster , Smooth Blue Aster , ( and the pink from purchase is there
Sometimes some of the perennial like the roadside get overwhelming , Small blooms and only some gardener's grow them in pots
As for me , I like the perennial , Bees and Butterflies always scouting about them ,
The Flat topped and White small ones you see growing are crescent Butterflies host , so I always let at least a few grow ,
They are everywhere so it does not matter , only I do so anyway

and I enjoy the annuals also , even I am not much growing them . I let plants grow , and I plant seeds ,, I don't garden ,,

I don't have any idea where to put this , guess this will do , ?

Rabbits and Worms don't like the Mustard , next row over ,, They are enjoying the tall Bok Choy



Cucumber wanted to self sow , doubt it makes it this time , interesting though Bloom photo is fuzzy ,



A seed bet this blooms Orange , Nasturtium

Jim I can't believe you got a cucumber to self sow. I've only ever had tomatoes do that!

Elena Some of what I find interesting This grows better as an understory plant , The leaves get Hair waxy in lower 40 degree temperatures ( interesting as info usually says full sun , and never less than 50 degrees ,
There were 5 or 6 them (something ate the others as tender sprouts
No cucumbers until the 5 th or 6 th bloom though I doubt it makes it this time only it is possible ,

I still have a few seeds of these I might try wintersowing a couple under a tree in a bed
one above was left on the ground from the time before

I keep playing with Varieties or cultivars until I get the easy or easier to grow ,

bxncbx said:Jim I can't believe you got a cucumber to self sow. I've only ever had tomatoes do that!

I had two volunteer cucumber vines later in the season in my garden. The one was so healthy with a bunch of blooms, I hated to pull it. Problem was, it decided to grow in my potato bed, which is a big no-no in companion planting.

DnD Libby , i wish i had that one here , Even though were close by state , The difference might make some results ,
As long as the cucumbers are good and edible I would probably like them
They came from the Spacemaster seeds Not the best cukes I ever grew , but they are pretty good

Jim, I will have to see if I have any more seeds. It was a Marketmore 79, I believe, but I would need to double check.

Cultivars mentioned , gives me Ideas ,, A self sowing cucumber that would actually produce ,would be really nice , of course then disease resistance , and quality becomes the goal , The two year no ,no , in the same growing space being there
Some can be grown in the same place regardless of that but it is work to do that properly
Thank you Libby ,,,

For what it's worth, it was growing just outside of a raised garden bed last year. I had a trellis next to one of my two taller garden beds last year and it would appear I must have had a hidden cucumber that fell into the raised bed and tried to grow into another cucumber plant this year.

I lose them in trees and other vines once in a while , What makes it so nice if it works that way growing them is that plants that will grow in a lower temperature to begin are often stronger here ,
The never below 50 degrees limits growing here because it makes them more likely to have mold or mildew or fungus , so on , That they would grow at 40 degrees as weather warms and falls cold again is a real hope , Besides it often goes right to the 90's from those 50 degree temperatures making plant stress part of the difficulty

A little Azure Fairy Erigeron , out of seeds for now , they will be back

@ishareflowers and @Pistil , I am moving the discussion about shipping to here because it doesn't fit the purpose of the "important messages from host" thread but I want to answer you questions.

I have been shipping flat rate for the previous swaps, but I don't guarantee it because some items may not fit in flat rate boxes or it may be prudent to do first class on future packages if expenses run high for some reason (such as a shipping rate increase, like that which happened during a previous swap, etc...). I am aware of the dangers of envelopes and I have only used the bubble wrap envelopes when necessary. Thus far, no one has noted any issues with any seeds arriving to them in less than proper condition. I have also received a substantial number of seeds sent to me via bubble mailer and all have arrived safe and sound. If I should need to use an envelope, please rest assured that your seeds will arrive to you in good condition.

I have no problem with a bubble envelope. I have never gotten crushed seeds when using them. I sent you a tree mail too.

Today I am waiting for a few seeds to finish , Not a lot here left to add ,
More or less reading along , watching the listing change ,
Setting up for wintersowing outdoors
My Crackerjack Marigolds bloomed for the first time today , What a flop of year for my annuals this year , Except the Tithonia 8ft tall and overgrowing ,,
Some of the red perilla Basil seeds got dry today
Watching the Camphor Basil finishing bloom , just about ready to dry a few of them
Setting them in peanut Butter jars to dry ,,