I would like to do some plant trading this year with anyone on the forums. I can order from the net but would prefer making new friends if possible. I do not have a lot to offer, but I am looking to get some water hyacinth and Lizard Tail. I typically have ample amounts of Broad Leaf Arrow Head (Sagittaria latifolia) at my place, along with some Smart Weed (Polygonum spp.) and some Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia). I also can oblige if you need some cattail, willow tree, or FA, but only while supplies last...LOL

My thought is to merely trade plants for plants by harvesting enough plants to lightly fill a 1 foot cube box, put them in a heavy plastic bag with some newspaper saturated with water, trap some air in the bag, tie off tight and ship them UPS or FedEx. It is important that this takes place as soon as the plants emerge so that shipping van temperatures are kept to a minimum.

I am open to many varieties of plants so let's talk trade...anyone interested? This would be a honor system kinda thing...I'll pay to send you some stuff for the returned favor.

Be careful with the water hyacinths, they can be a big problem in fertile waters. Beautiful and not hard to kill, but they send down seeds in the bottom that last for 14 years!

wow I had no idea they were that invasive....look at this!

Most all the reading that I have come across regarding the water Hyaciths being used in Mid Missouri (or north thereof) indicate that it will not survive the winters here and will have to be reintroduced the following spring. I have to admit, most of my research has come from the PB community and only a few members use them at my latitude in Missouri.

I would like to be very sure, however, because my pond is very fertile and small and I do not need more re-occurring headaches.

Here's a quote from and article I found...

"Seasonal escapes from cultivation have been reported from New York, Kentucky, Tennessee and Missouri, but populations did not survive through the winter."

The article link...

http://stopaquatichitchhikers.org/hitchhikers/plants-water-hyacinth/

Good! They are beautiful & make good cover, maybe will work okay so long as the winters are cold. Down where I live, they are a real bad idea.

QA I can meet you somewhere in between you and I with some good root stock for hyacinth....it's good stuff for our geography based on my experience - does a nice job rooting out but dies off fairly early in the fall.

Got any lily pads? That's what I'm wanting to get a start of.

I have some banana trees and cannas I can send to ya. Becareful they grow and spread but I likem. If ya have some lilly pads I would like a few starts of them. If not no worries I will send them anyway to who ever wants them. Limited supply but they come bk more and more every year.

Hey Dale, I pulled the trigger over a month ago and ordered the hyacinths. Thanks for thinking of me!

No lily pads here, The only plants that I have left are the cattails and I'm afraid the snakes in the catch basin would get to me first...LOL.

Dale, do you overwinter your hyacinths? How did you come up with extras this early in the year?

Nope, they just reseed themselves. Not well, I'll tell you that, but they do pop back up from year to year.

I get a really good bloom about every 5 years....absolutely no idea why, just the right growing conditions I guess. So far this year they're really spotty in both ponds.

I thought the bananas and cannas required a frost-free zone to come back every year...the land cannas I had did not come back after last winter (I did not have the energy to dig them up any more).

No lilly pads here, sorry.

Hey QA...How's those hyacinth doing so far?

Someone forgot to tell my plants to not come back I guess. Going on prolly 7 or 8 years now.

I have updated my Hyacinth thread here...

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=507303#Post507303

But, they are reproducing as advertised.