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Features Laughing in the Garden Gardening Tales From Our Readers Plants by Mail? Should you buy them. Giant Ragweed The plant that wouldn't stay in the ground. What is Dirt? Archived articles & stories Garden Rhymes, Poems & Prose Interesting Facts, Tips & Tricks The Ant & the Aphid Dead Heads? Decorations by Mother Nature LittleWood Carvings take a look Funny Photos Quick somebody tell this cat - A bird feeder is for 'feeding' birds, not for 'feeding on' birds.

Laughing in the Garden   Gardening Tales, Amusing Tidbits, Helpful Tips Funkia Fun Facts What Hosta is this?? Answer is below. Q. What well known group (species) of plants were hostas once listed under, and referred to? A. Hemerocallis, daylily Q. From what country (countries) did hostas originate? A. China and Japan Q. For whom was the Hosta, named? A. Nicolaus Thomas Host, an Austrian physician. Q. Where did the name 'Funkia' come from? A. Christian Sprengel, rector of Spandau in Germany, called these plants 'Funkia' in tribute to Heinrich Christian Funk, a German botanist and specialist on mosses. Use of the common name Plaintain Lily and/or funkia has gone by the wayside in this country (USA), but elsewhere, especially in Britain hostas are still referred to as 'Funkia.' Q. How did the name 'Plaintain Lily' originate? A. Hosta leaves were thought to resembled the soles of the foot. The name is taken from the latin 'planta' which means just that. Q. Which hosta was pictured at the beginning of the Funkia Fun Facts? A. Hosta nigrescens. This hosta has a beautiful cupped leaves, a vase shaped growth habit and waxy, blue/grey foliage. Just thought you'd like to know about these Funkia Fun Facts.

Should you buy plants by mail? 
A tired subject? Maybe. An important question? Definitely! The answer is -

Of course you should! As a former nursery owner, mail order plant provider and plant collector, I would highly recommend buying plants by mail, the nurseries do it, you should too. There are just a few precautions and suggestions that I would advise one to consider.

First, only buy your plants by mail if you cannot find them, in a pot, locally. Mail ordered plants are generally just fine, but if you are only looking for ‘one’ of something or if you are buying fairly common varieties, you will be much further ahead getting them at a nearby garden center or nursery. Local places will always have standard, easy care plants and garden centers are getting ‘hip’ to the fact that many of their customers are somewhat educated about plants, so more and more they are carrying an assortment of new and interesting plants. The plant has probably already traveled to the garden center by mail or by truck anyway. At the least it has traveled from the growers field to be potted up and grown a little before you buy it, so it is likely that it will continue to be healthy and fine in your garden.

Second, try a sample order. There are many mail order companies to choose from, the big, well known places and little ones that you find in the back of your gardening magazines or even on the internet. How do you know who is good to buy from? You don’t. I recommend placing a sample order, that is, order a little something, enough to cover the minimum order and see what you get, is it as big as it was supposed to be, is it in good condition, is it alive, was it packed well and did it travel only a few days to reach you? This is the test, do this with several places, large and small to compare, you can even order the same thing from several companies to really compare plants. This may cost you a little more in multiple shipping charges and in time between orders but it is worth the test. If you like ordering plants by mail and you find yourself a good supplier, you’ve got it made, order away and order often, if you like.

I will always believe that bigger is not always better, maybe that is because we had a small company and shipped top quality plants. The big companies have big assortments to choose from, ship promptly and offer excellent guarantees and service but sometimes they don’t pay close enough attention to quality control, sometimes you’ll get great plants and sometimes you won’t. They will gladly replace a bad shipment, but you didn’t want a bad shipment, you wanted a plant, to plant right away so it could start growing.

Smaller companies want your business too and they don’t have the budget the big guys have, they may not have glossy color photos to impress you but they will go out of their way to impress you with quality and personal service. You can look up pictures in your books or in someone else's catalog, a nice picture doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll get a nice plant.

Either way, you need to shop and compare, big or small there is good and bad in both, you have to be a smart shopper.

Third, know what you want and know what you will get. Do your homework, figure out what it is you need and where you will put it in your garden. That way you will both win. You and the company shipping you the plant. You will get a plant that will be planted in an appropriate situation and will grow and thrive, and the chances of failure will be minimized.

Check the catalog to see what size plant will be coming to you. If you are getting a small plant in a 2" pot, that's what you will be expecting. If you think you're going to get a big, full grown plant and you receive a 4" high starter plant, who's fault is that? Small plants are great, they cost less, but it takes longer for them to become a significant addition to your garden and they may take a little more care to get them going. Most gardeners have patience but some of us do not… that takes me back to my first suggestion… if you want a bigger plant…buy it locally.

The selection of plants by mail is excellent and everyone should be able to find something wonderful in the many catalogs that are out there. So by all means, order some plants by mail… it's fun.

Next in this series…. What to do with your plants, once they arrive! Important pointers.

J  Giant Ragweed
           Dennis Shafer, PA
Did you ever have a desire to be a little perverse? A few years ago I had such an urge. It was nothing harmful to other people or wildlife or pets or anything like that. I observed this single giant ragweed growing up through the holes in a concrete block that I had setting near the edge of my garden. I usually just cut these weeds down like most everyone else, but this one had a most appealing shape.

When it got to be about fifteen feet tall and nearly eight feet across, some people asked me what kind of a tree it was! Well the next-door neighbor spotted it and instantly knew what it was. He had to work hard to eliminate ragweed from his garden. He stated that that plant alone would probably produce a million seeds (an exaggeration)

J The plant that wouldn't stay in the ground.

     Carrie S. Pittsburgh PA