I know the original message was posted almost to years ago... But I cross all my vegetables. Just to see what I get mostly. I have many squash crosses. And many, many brassica crosses. I've also crossed peppers. Bell peppers X jalapeno. Jalapeno X ornamental Thia Hot. If interested in the results, let me know. As for brassicas. One intersting cross I made was a red indian mustard (Brassica juncea) and Chinese Cabbage (B. rapa). I mostly got empty pods with vestigial seeds. But I did get one viable seed. This bolted immediately and grew into a tall (about 4 1/2 feet) weedy looking plant. Leaves were very small and narrow and only slightly reddened. It branched heavily and flowered profusely. I only allowed other chinese cabbages and bok chois to flower at the same time and cut back any mustards that bolted. I let the bees do the work. At the end of the season, I had 13 seeds from this plant. I planted all of them the next year and they all grew. They all basically looked like mustard plants, some very red, some slightly red, and some green. I allowed them to be pollinated by other indian red mustards and and southern giant curled mustard (also B. juncea). I now have a very mixed mustard that I grow every year. They range from red through green. Some leaves have jagged edges, some have curly edges, while most are more rounded. Their seeds are bigger than typical mustard, more like B. rapa. They also cross more easily with othe B. rapas as well as B. juncea. Aproximately 25% of the seedlings have 3 or 4 seed leaves instead of 2! These for some reason are usually red. I once pollinated a brussel sprout from a wild winter cress just to test viability. The brussel sprout produced well developed fat seed pods but they were totally empty. I have many crosses including kale, kholrabi, broccoli, and/or cauliflower. I now have a strain of broccoli with white cauliflower heads that produces as early as broccoli. An annual kale X broccoli derivative was still growing and flowering in a pot in my yard here in N.H. until two weeks ago when I brought it into the heated greenhouse. It has been unuasually cold and into the 'teens many nights!! Two others potted next to it froze weeks before. Any more interest, contact andyspigeons@yahoo.com

-Clematis jackmanii, Niobe, Ramona, Marie Boiselot, Etoile violette, venusa violacea & a pink one whose name I forgot. -Iris ensata -Asiatic lilies -Lilium cerneum - so precious -Lilum regale & regale album -Roses -Lamb's ear -Spirea 'Goldmound' -Astilbe -Achillea 'Moonshine' -Alchemilla mollis -Heuchera - no name -Dianthus barbatus -Allium cristophii -Feverfew -Echinecea purpurea -Rudbeckia hirta -Honeysuckle -Aquilegia -Armeria -Lavender -Campanula glomerata -Oenothera - no name -Campanula persicifolia -Coeropsis verticillata -Lamium maculatum -Forget-me-not - perennial -Campanula portenschlegiana -Centranthus ruber -Larkspur -Dianthus 'Zing Rose' -Sedum acre -Geranium lancastriense -Geranium 'New Hampshire Purple' -Geranium 'Johnson's Blue' -Mother-of thyme -Blue Fescue -Daylily 'Stells d'Oro' -Itea 'Little Henry' -Hosta 'Elegans' -Scabiosa 'Buttefly Blue' -Lychnis astrosanguinea -Lychnis chalcedonica -Malva fastigiata -Primula acaulis -Salvia lubeca -Edelweis -Viola tricolor -Jonny-jump-up -Philadelphus 'Minesota Snowflake' -Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle -Centaurea cyanus All these are on a 34x125 lot. Truly stuffed! Ahh...I fogot to pick my raspberry today. They are ripe and ready!

Karen, Yes, some days I would loan her!!! She's a keeper but has attitude at times, I must warn you.LOL She would think you were crazier than I am with all your beautiful things you collect. So, I'll send her over.LOL I love her and she is sooo giving, I've always felt blessed to have her. These are your plates, so to speak, so I'm not surprised you liked this. DD gave me the purple candle in the tall holder you like. It's a battery one. Luvs, I bet you do enjoy your calla lillies. I've been going to paint some and never have. Glad you liked this table too. Thanks Kathleen for the comment on the two colors together too. You have so many neat dishes so thanks for the comment. OA, thanks and I bet that was something to see. I would love to go to places like that. MM, thanks for the comment on the vase. I gave it a shot with flowers and flunked. After hearing your comment with the way you arrange flowers maybe I made the right choice. Thanks so much for all your nice comments. Now I do need to go finish that last load of laundry and hit the hay. Punk

Thanks for finding that pic, PopMama! I looked thru several pages and if it came up on my search I completely missed it! Liz, what you described at the swap was "more pink," so I hope what you remember is right! Please don't spend all your time looking for your pic, but if you should happen to run into it sometime over winter I would enjoy seeing it! If you don't run into it I will--hopefully--get to see it up-close-and-personal in spring! When that happens I will definitely be taking some of my own pics--however since google catastrophized WebAlbums a month ago I don't know if I'm even able to post links to my pics anymore! You mentioned that one of the Iris I got ['Superstition' and 'Abigail Provides'] was "shorter" than "others"--I think! If you did, was it 'Superstition' that was the shorter one? In the last couple days I got some big (2-3' X 18") patches of the "bad dirt" dug out along the walk by the side of my deck and, saving the more friable soil that was there, I've added a whole buncha home-grown, almost finished, compost to what was left! Have a "decent place" to plant both Iris now and am planning to get them in the ground tomorrow! I also saved some of the "better" natural soil to use when I dig out the potter's clay by the front walk where the peony is going! Will be completely removing the potter's clay, replacing it with my "saved" "better" natural soil, and then adding a WHOLE LOT of compost out there--including some that isn't quite so "almost finished!" Will be transplanting some worms too! I'm gonna make a Good Home for that peony! When I looked up the pics of it, one of the Way Cool things about it was how very different all the pics look--and, remembering you had said how much it "changed" from day to day, I'm really looking forward to seeing a few flowers on that too! Will be surprised if I get any next spring, but, with "good soil," I expect it to be taking off by the following spring! Can hardly wait! I had to water it in when I put it in the pot--my store bought soil is just "moist" when I use it, but, except for watering it in to "settle the soil" when I put it in the ground I'll leave it alone all winter--unless we get an extremely dry winter! Part of my reason for improving the soil in a pretty large area is so I'll know it has good drainage, so if we should get a snowy winter I won't have to worry about it sitting in WET CLAY! Thank you again for bringing such "cool" plants! (Yes, I realize everybody's definition of "cool plants" is different!) to swap! Since I already have so many things, and since people have started to bring things they originally got from me I don't often find many things that I want or don't already have, and this is the first swap in a long time where I was salivating and waiting to "pick!" BUT! I'll have you know that you created quite a "problem" for me!!! With my tiny yard I really did need to do some thinkin' to figure out where to put my new booty! "Problem" and all, thank you, Liz!!! >>> APS = American Phytopathological Society! Egad girl! Are you seriously into this stuff or what??? Did you REALLY go to a plant pathology convention????? Skybird