Dig a small hole right beside one of the green giants (just outside where you mulched). Dig the hole maybe 1' deep and fill with water. Let it drain out and fill again. See how fast the water drains. If it drains out within 6 hours you should be alright and the green giants shouldn't be in any standing water. However, if you have soil like my soil... the water will not drain. It'll sit until it evaporates. If this is the case... they need to come up and you need to mound plant them. By mound plant them I mean sit them on the surface of of the ground and pile dirt around them. I have a large yard... I have some areas of my yard that drain alright and I can plant normally. The water will drain out of the hole in just a couple hours. I have other parts of my yard where water will not drain out of the hole at all. I didn't know the soil was holding water like this until some of them started turning brown. So I did a little investigating. I carefully pulled the conifers out of the ground and the hole was a bucket of water. If you have terrible clay that holds water... you can easily over water just about anything. If your test hole drains it could be that they are getting to much water... but at least it drains. If they're getting to much water it's an easy fix... just don't water and hope for no rain. They may brown up a little from stress which is no big deal. If they're sitting in water, they really need to be mound planted. Dig the test hole and let us know your findings.

Kate, I assume by invasive you mean 'reseeding vigorously' rather than a plant that invades adjacent territory via a root system. Yes, they can be vigorous reseeders. This can be controlled by picking the berry clusters prior to ripening and preventing the berries from falling to ground. It does sound like you have one happy JIP. I bet the corm size is incredible on that 17 year old! One more thing...did you have to mention that you are growing vigorous lobelia syphillitica? I am so jealous! LOL. Have never managed to get a lobelia through a winter. A couple of comments about starting JIPs from seed. If you purchase cleaned seed, it will germinate relatively easily as mentioned by Lori. It will take about 3 years or so for the plant to mature and even longer to get a very nice specimen size plant. The seeds dropped naturally by a seed producing JIP, will not germinate until the second year. The pulp part of the berry contains a germination inhibitor. So....in terms of natural reseeding...germination would not occur until the second spring. Then look out.....little seedlings everywhere. This is a plus for some folks and a negative for some folks. I pick the ripe berry clusters and plant them in our woodlands and/or take young plants to our woodlands in hopes of establishing new colonies. As I mentioned previously, reseeding can be stopped by removing the berry clusters before they are ripe. But...because of the two year germination on natural reseeding....be prepared to see new seedlings for several years to come. Jan

White Flowers Sweet Woodruff White Bleeding Heart White tulips (not in place yet) Oak leaf Hydrangea on the edge of the space Black Flowers Black Bart Columbine (not in place yet) Black Tulips (not in place yet) Helleborus orientalis w/ black flower (not in place yet) White Foliage Cornus alternifolia 'Argentea' defining the front corner (not in place yet) 'Brise d'Anjou' Polemonium Fire and Ice Hosta (not in place yet) Black Foliage Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' - Black Mondo grass Cimicifuga Hillside Black Beauty (white flowers) Brass Buttons 'Platt's Black' Trifolium repens 'Dark Dancer' I've only started the garden this spring, and I have no idea how it will work, but it's been fun putting together. It's a small space just to the left of the front door. The space transitions from mostly shade to half sun/half shade as I get away from the house, so I am trying to site plants accordingly. I know it's going to be a hodgepodge to plants at first, but as I see what works (some items are just on order and not in place yet) and what doesn't I am hoping to really shape it into something cool. Lisa

But the twigs are the wrong color. And the leaves are VERY shiny. If this were true about the young trees, why wouldn't I have learned about this in my Plant ID classes at South Seattle Comm. College? Why doesn't my "Native Plants for Northwest Landscapes" book show or mention this? It does say leaves can be lance-shaped, but it also says "Young trees have smooth, green bark.." It says nothing about reddish-brown. Why doesn't Oregon state show pictures of younger leaves? You'd think if that were really what young Black cottonwood leaves looked like, the true experts would say so. I am not convinced.