I adore the Gulf Fritillary butterflies! My neighbors had 2 passion vines on the wood lattice topper on our shared wall. Both ornamental, no fruit. One was the classic purple flower and the other was a red flower that was more bell shaped and produced nectar that meant it was always full of ants. Well we always saw butterflies flitting about but never caterpillars. I think the ants ate them as soon as they hatched. Well the lattice was rotten and new neighbors moved in who sweetly asked if it was OK to remove it. We were more than happy since we wanted to replace wood with steel topper. But then I seriously missed the butterflies. I saw zero for a year. I missed them so much I planted a passion vine on the shared wall of the other neighbors. Just the purple flower that doesn’t have nectar so it won’t attract ants. Well for the first time in a year, I see not only butterflies but larva! I plan to cut it back to the “trunk“ each winter so it doesn’t get out of control this time. This vine is incredibly vigorous and could completely cover a carport if you let it. I don’t care about the flowers which are always there or the look of the vine, which is always green with chew holes, but my heart sings when every day I sit in the patio surrounded by the fluttering of beautiful amber butterflies. Usually 2 or 3 but sometimes 7 or 8 as I also provide nectar flowers for them. For me, the whole point of the vine is the butterflies.

Miles, As MLC virgins, Peppi, BunnyMan, and I had to "deflowered" in front of an audience so consider yourself lucky! Here ya' go: Molten Lava Cakes -From Sol ½ pound bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped ½ pound butter 6 whole eggs, room temperature 1 ½ cups sugar ½ cup flour Preheat the oven to 400°F. Butter the bottom and sides of 8 6-ounce ramekins and sprinkle with baking cocoa, tap to remove excess cocoa. Set aside. In the top of a double boiler or in a microwave, gently, melt the chocolate and butter. Whisk until completely melted. Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together the eggs, sugar and flour until just blended. Gradually whisk the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until combined. Evenly divide the mixture between the prepared ramekins. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the tops are firm and beginning to crack and the edges are set. Remove from oven and serve immediately, with ice cream, your favorite chocolate sauce, a few chocolate-covered coffee beans and giddyap baby!. I can almost feel my zippy-self coming back to life, just thinking 'bout it ;-à Note: I didn't use ramekins. Instead I used mini wonder-molds for these cakes 'cause I liked their shape. These molds are quite a bit larger than the ramekins, so for me, this recipe only yielded 5 servings. Chocolate Sauce 1 cup heavy whipping cream 1/3 cup light brown sugar 1/3 cup light corn syrup 12 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or liqueur Heat the cream, sugar, salt and corn syrup in a saucepan over low heat. Bring to a boil, stirring often, until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Allow to stand a few minutes until the chocolate has melted, then whisk gently until smooth. Whisk in vanilla or liqueur.

Scraphappy - I have been thinking about your quilt ever since you posted it. And I have gone back may times to look at it. I have been trying to come up with the right words to say. I just love it! The idea if it is so wonderful and I love your wording on the label. It is a beautiful quilt that I will remember and think of. The rainbow of sashing is perfect to surround the story of your life. The whole quilt is so creative and moving! Nina

mickeymantle, you should just message Elizabeth Peters (or maybe her sister will respond) through the site on Grassy Knoll Exotics (http://gkplants.com/pages/contact). The site is set up now so sending a message is very easy. They are nice, helpful people, in Oregon City, OR, which I assume is also zone 8b. Elizabeth tends to be somewhat conservative as to her ratings of zones, but I imagine she is aware what people in her area have successfully grown outside. A lot of the Passifloras with hardiness past zone 9 are hybrids of P. incarnata or P. caerulea, so there are a lot with purple flowers, of some sort... P. caerulea 'Constance Eliott' is one variety that is hardier well past your zone, which is all white. There are others.... Wild Haired Mavens, you are lucky in that you are in climate where you can grow almost anything. The real exceptions are the truly tropical species (such as pure P. quadrangularis). You are actually probably borderline for some of the cool growers (like a lot of us). because you are not right on the coast. They thrive in places like San Francisco. Still, I bet you can grow must of them if given plenty of moisture, shade in the afternoon, etc. Most Passifloras can be grown and bloom in pots. Exceptions include P. membranacea, some of the biggest Tacsonias (P. parritae is one), and a few others. Unfortunately, it can be hard to find info on how big plants typically get. If you are looking for smaller ones, a good one might be P. elegans, which gets edible fruit (among the tastiest, I'm told) and is a nice looking plant out of bloom. I think most of its flowering is in the Spring, though. P. luzmarina, if you can find it, is another really nice, somewhat smaller plant. I assume the fruit it edible, but I also think it's not self-fertile. P. edulis has great tasting fruit, but the plant gets huge. Most of the Taconias will get pretty big. P. antioquiensis might be another one to try (in addition to its hybrid P. .'Mission Dolores') as it is not as big as some of its relatives, and it's self fertile (but not always self-pollinating--you need to help it with a paintbrush. Same is true of 'Mission Dolores'). For non-fruiting (or non-edible) plants, and interesting flowers and variegation, a couple really nice ones are P. 'Manta' and P.. 'Sunburst'. Both have very small, but very interesting flowers and interesting leaves, and do well in pots. Some people object to the smell of P. 'Sunburst', although I seems to be one of the many who doesn't notice it. There are a number with interesting leaves. I don't know if you can grow P. boenderi outside there all year--I would guess maybe not. P. trifasciata might be more likely . For fragrance, I understand P. mooreana, which is a smaller plant, is one of the best. There are related species, which are also supposed to be nice. Apparently the hybrid 'Chambord' (Jim Nevers, Passiflorista on Ebay) has a great fragrance. Eric Wortman and Crystal Stone have a hybrid 'Godiva' which they say smells like chocolate. That one is not in wide circulation yet. There are others. 'Preciosa' and a lot of that type of Passiflora have pretty amazing scents as well. If you don't want to just kill the caterpillars, a lot of people just have a plant they transfer all of the ones they see to. There are a lot of Passifloras that are really vigorous growers and can be used for that purpose--take your pick. You definitely don't want a caterpillar devouring a cutting--hopefully it's not too late.