Margaret, I followed the planting instructions for container grown lotus on the thread link I am posting below. The only exception is that I put half black cow and half of the cheapest brand top soil from walmart in each container. The more expensive topsoil brands have peat which will float. Also, I only put in 3/4 cup of osmocote instead of a cup but I have lots of pond fertilizer tabs I got cheap on ebay that I will add later in the summer. I did them the same way last time with good results. Lotus tubers are only sold usually March through the end of April so you will need to order early. Once they break dormancy they are very fragile and so people won't usually ship them. Last time I got mine off ebay and a few were not what they were supposed to be :/ This time I ordered from Texas Waterlilies and I got way bigger tubers and I have always received the correct tropical waterlilies from them so trust them to send the correct lotus lol. They also have some planting and care info on their webpages. You can start from seed but you may not get blooms the first year just depending on when you start them. Lotus will go dormant in the winter and are quite hardy even in freezing temps as long as the tuber itself does not freeze. I break up mosquito dunks to prevent mosquitos and throw a piece in each tub. You could also probably grow the Hardy waterlilies in tubs as well I have a yellow one that went crazy in a tub. They won't freeze and you don't have to protect them in winter like you do the Tropical waterlilies. I have found Hardy waterlilies in Petco & Petmart (by the pond products) sometimes Lowes also has them in late spring. Hibiscus::: I ordered Tie dye, Plum Fantasy, Heartthrob, Jazzberry Jam, Berrylicious, and a red dinner plate un-named one. I do like that Cranberry Crush I almost got that one as well LOL!. So many pretties out there.... It seems like the hardy hibicus should be easy to root from cuttings- have you ever tried that? Good idea on the wintersown seed method. I soaked the Luna Swirl seeds and started them indoors on the heat mat. I think the seeds came from Parks Seed. Here is a link that might be useful: Barrel Lotus This post was edited by sultry_jasmine_night on Tue, Mar 25, 14 at 11:46

Hi, I'm Beth. We moved to Forney about a year ago to be closer to our daughters and families. I am retired but DH is still working and travels so I have a lot of time on my hands. We bought a house with a flat acre of nothing but black clay and weeds. Last year I mainly assessed what was in the ground which as it turns out wasn't much. There were knock out roses in beds that only got three hours of sun a day and a variety of shrubs out of shape and just hanging on from lack of water. The beds and yard are in terrible shape and need a lot of amendments so this year will be spent getting the ground in shape to plant so this year will be one of container gardening. I've never worked with such terrible conditions so it is a little overwhelming. The front of the house is mainly shade facing NNE. Shade is new for me. The back will be where I will have to plant all my roses. So I'm thinking hostas and some annuals in the front for now. We have a pretty strict HOA so I am limited on what I can do in the front. I keep telling myself all in good time. Since I am starting from scratch I'd love to know more about how the swaps work and wonder if I can swap non-plant things. I have some baby roses rooting but they won't be ready for a new home for a few months yet.

Screen thumb, you are an old timer. And what a nice plant, already with tomatoes. You are set to harvest by early June, I would estimate. I have gardened in zone 7B in GA(Atl.) but I could never get such an early accomplishment. Congrats and have a wonderful season!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. I love all of your gardens, they have inspired me, and made me believe I could do this, they are just wonderful. That was my first shade bed, down in my Gully, I have several more beds now, but the first one that had any plants of decent size. hopefully this year I will have better pics. The White Rock, is manmade, I made it using old blocks, pieces of concrete I needed to get rid of anyway, so I wanted a rock, my husband is sick & cannot help me, so I looked online, got some ideals, and I built it, it looks better in person than in pics for some reason, you really can not tell I made it, I made one more to help hold a bank, I will find that pic, this is all a work in progress, and has taken a lot longer than I ever imagined. Since I made the rock, I found huge rock over in another gully so I have just been moving them around with my husband's truck and a crow bar, but I have dug enough rock up off this hill to rock my dry stream that is used when we get lots of rain. The great thing I have found about working down in the gully is the shade is there all day. lol