Greylady, you can grow other species that are much better behaved and grow in clumps instead of spreading by runners. Swamp milkweed or Asclepias incarnata is a Monarch favorite and is easy to grow in the garden, prefers full sun and med-wet soil. Butterfly weed A. tuberosa is another good one for full sun, dry and well-drained soil. Tropical milkweed A. curassavica can be grown as an annual and has a longer bloom period. The Monarchs supposedly love this one too, we'll see because I winter-sowed a bunch of it and have lots of sprouts. I saw the first Monarch caterpillar on my Swamp milkweed last year.

If I am not released, it will be next week, the week of the 13th, so I may not be available next week - WAH!!!!!! I am still debating on where to plant the variegatas. The roots have not filled the containers, so I don't feel like it's a big rush. I also hate to plant them in this heat and stress them out even further. Plants that are doing well include my new 'David Verity' Cuphea ignea - it just does not stop blooming; Gaillardia 'Oranges and Lemons', just a gorgeous plant; Dicliptera suberecta is beginning to bloom, orange blooms on gray foliage is so striking; Borage is blooming and very nice looking right now; the Gazanias, yellow and a muted red. Today is Charlotte's 1st birthday! She is the cutest thing ever and just now walking. She is the sweetest child, rarely ever upset, always smiling, always curious, loves her big sister and nannie! Just a joy to be around. I never want to come home when I'm with her! How do you do it, Sandy? Susan

Hi, Finding this thread very interesting. I am in the Northeast and I had heard of flooding in the midwest, but didn't realize the southeast was having heat and drought conditions. So sorry to hear that. It seems to me, you normally have high heat, so it must be very hot if you are noticing it more than usual. Having spent some time in Florida, I just can't imagine what it is like in that heat, with no rain. As a matter of fact, I love the rain you get in Florida. Coming down in torrents and then stopping in a few hours and the sun is back out, with everything steaming. Just love that. We have also had drought this summer, but not even as much heat as we normally get in a growing season. My tomatoes are half the size they usually are and nothing happening with any of the warm season crops. So glad I decided to forgo the peppers this year. I have tried to add natives to the yard, and drought tolerant, low maintenance plants to the yard over the years and thankfully some of those plants did fairly well this year. That is not easy to do in the Northeast though. At least with the drought tolerant plants, like lavender. Usually drought tolerant plants prefer sandy soil and most of the northeast is clay. I try to offset that by raising many of my beds some and add compost to the beds. Then we have unpredictability to deal with. Last year, I swear I might have set the sprinklers twice the whole growing season. Lots of rain and frequently enough that I barely had to water anything. The drought tolerant plants in the yard didn't look as good as they do this year? The grass looked the best it had ever looked. Huge amounts of mildew etc though. This year, I have never seen zinnias so clean of mildew. Even the tomatoes are much better in that respect than usual. We are really pressed to water everything this year. We had a total water ban for the month of June and nothing was looking good at all. We could use a watering can but that was all, so I tried to give everything a little drink, but I just couldn't do everything. Most things survived until we were back on rationed water, every other day. My yard does not look very good right now either. The grass is brown, and I have lost some plants but most things will survive for next year. The full sun area seems to be doing the best actually. The shade area..is near tree roots and even running the sprinkler for an hour and a half, the next day the hydrangeas and hosta can start drooping by late afternoon again. What is doing well... Butterfly Bush...had some yellowing leaves but bloomed fine Pennisetum Hamelin grasses look excellent Zinnia don't seem to mind at all Coneflowers did ok but between the dryness and the critters, they have not had a blooming or increasing year at all. Dianthus did fine with some supplemental water Iris like the dryness and seem fine Cosmos still looking okay..with some supplemental water Lavender did pretty well too Penstemon did well and produced a bumper crop of seeds Ninebark shrubs don't seem to have been bothered at all...Dart's Gold and Seward's Summer Wine. Knock Out Rose...didn't do as well as last year, but looking respectable. Foliage looks good and did get bloom Meidland white rose...surprised at how well this one is doing. It was planted in late June in a heat wave when we were still having drought and a water ban. So I had to shade it for 10 days straight and water daily with a watering can. It managed without noticing really. Slowed down it's bloom for about 3 weeks, but now is pushing out new stems and plenty of buds and the foliage looks really really great. Shasta Daisy seedlings added in June, barely noticed the drought. No yellowing leaves, blooming intermittently in their first year. The short varieties of Becky and Snowcap, just love them. In that same bed with the Meidland, plus lantana, penta, dianthus, silver mound artemesia, portulaca, a grass, some million bells. Not one plant there has shown any sign of stress and has gotten less water than the rest of the garden. Little bits of watering can water when it was really hot and the sprinkler was set twice all season. I am hoping to plant the same next year. It is a full sun bed from sun up to sun down. Tropical Hibiscus, Dahlias, Four OClocks, Nierembergia Purple Robe in pots...all seem to be doing fine with an occassional miss on the watering schedule. Hosta Guacamole...wow, what a surprise this was! It took the drought better than some of the native drought tolerant plants and it is in quite a bit of sun. No wilting, one little brown edge on one leaf and with very little supplemental water, it sailed through and bloomed and grew three times larger than last year. California Poppies...my first time growing them. Did great! Epimediums are practically indestructible in the shade. Nepeta Walker's Low..wow, what a trooper that plant is. LOVE it! What hasn't done as well... Hydrangea wilting every other day, needing most of the supplemental watering. Love them and will keep watering them by hand if I had to. Oakleaf Hydrangea, especially, has brown edges on all the leaves and looks horrible. Need to mulch it heavier next year and hopefully put a soaker hose around the base or something. Surprisingly, Asclepias and Joe Pye Weed in their second year, showed wilting and yellowing leaves with the lack of water. They showed more of a problem then the Knock Out Rose and the Butterfly Bush near them. Hosta Frances William, hates the heat and drought. Looks awful Hosta Patriot was a small plant that barely came back this year and what did come back just disappeared at some point. Dicentra King of Hearts..it was a very pretty healthy looking plant that I added in June to a very shady border, and I watered and watered and watered it because it was so dry looking all the time and it kept losing leaves. I can barely see a little remnant of it. It is supposed to be one of those dicentras that bloom all summer. Sambucus shrubs...the dark and the light one, did not like this weather this year and looked great last year. Viburnum Maresii..wilts at the first sign of drought Ferns...had a tough year, although 'Ghost' seemed to do better than the others. Heucheras had a rough year and none of them look very good. Sedums, don't really look their best this year, surprisingly, I don't know if it is the drought or they just need dividing. In the containers, nicotiana didn't fare well at all. Sorry to be so long...hoped something I might have to report might help someone trying to decide what to try next year. :-) pm2

I realized my biggest problem was that I imagined I could put either a strong turquoise ceramic tile or paint in my kitchen. It just didn't flow when it came to other rooms. I have a smaller home with many adjoining rooms, and it is not on the water. It was just too bold to carry off unless I wanted bold colors outside the kitchen as well and I want warmth outside the kitchen. It really has helped me to have the feedback from so many of you. Boxerpups, I feel lucky, because your pictures are always beautiful and inspirational. There are so many on the GW who share their heartfelt thoughts and ideas, I am really touched. And some amazing homes that truely look like dreams come true. I decided to take a break and try to share a bit more of my progression. Two years ago we began our kitchen remodel. It was stressful. Once we had everyting installed, we stopped at decorating. We haven't even painted around the window frame! The first pics of the old kitchen are for real! The only counter space was in the right corner where I kept my toaster and microwave, I think. I kept a dish rack between the range and sink. No vent. The small window near the range used to be the back door to the house. A neighbor once said that you could always tell when it was Thanksgiving, because people ran around the houses to get to the other side of the table! I am leaning towards the lightest paint colors... a cream and a faint blue/gray. It is just too difficult to start with paint, when I do not have any furniture or carpets to match with a color. If the paint does not work later, it can always be changed. For now, we at least need a finished look and some repairs to both the floor and the walls. I have to purchase the paint by 9 am Monday. Wish me luck! Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen before/after and inspiration