Yes, I'd like to try some poppy seeds. I have places in the yard that are sunny enough and that I can keep the dogs from trampling. Do you have any photos of them? Do they need extra water or are they fairly xeriscape?

That Vitex (purple chaste) went in in July of 2002. The back yard tree went in a year later and was a smaller plant to begin with but has almost caught up. It likes well-drained sunny locations but I've seen it at the edge of the understory also. I have seeds for that if anyone wants some. It's pretty un-fussy here. I suppose the winter survival is the research anyone further north or with a more harsh winter would have to do. Here it becomes a small multi-trunk tree, though it is also lovely if you keep cutting off the extra limbs and train it to be a single-trunk tree. It's a twisted garly looking trunk.

In a couple of weeks my rock rose will start blooming its head off, and while that one volunteers enough that I mow the seedlings down around the edges and pull it out of other beds, it is such a cheerful plant, in the mallow family, that I keep it rounded up with the mower and let it bloom its heart out all summer long. There has been some debate as to whether this is a native version of a plant that also appears as a South American import. Here in Texas we have a mix of migrants on their own and some that were carried here. Kind of like the coatimundi and other Central American animals that stray up into Texas once in a while.

SRS