Hi Cocomo, Sorry your feeling under the weather. I'am interested in your Pink velvet banana, Hawaiian red Canna and the Spider lily. I have a few seeds of the following to trade,Cantaloupe "imperial 45", Melon "green nutmeg", Puya pepper, Fish pepper, Narinjilla fruit, and Melon "charentais" a french heirloom. Let me know hope you feel better soon. Katie

Welcome to Garden Web! I thought you might like to know that there is no way to email you the way you have your preferences set. I suggest you go to the bottom of any page here and click on 'Member Pages'. then Edit Preferences. Then using the drop down box, set it to show your email addy to Members only. then check the box to allow others to email you via the forms here at GW. That will place a link on your member page so folks can reach you. You might also want to (while you are there) fill in your gardening zone, and your state abbreviation. The state abbreviation goes in the same box as the zone. Happy Gardening and trading. Also member retsec cannot be reached, so you two it seems are at a standstill until at least one of you set your prferences so you can be reached. Sue

We've had so much rain that I haven't been able to do much gardening until Friday and Saturday. Late last week we got a break -- three full days without rain. We've been averaging about an inch a day since we arrived in early July. Even after three days without rain, the ground was still saturated, and we got another half-inch this afternoon. However (and it's a big HOWEVER), we made full use of the sunshine and were grateful for it. I had contacted Sue Sill, the executive director of the La Cruz Habitat Protection Project, and she brought me some trees -- three Oyamel firs, the trees that the Monarchs roost in all winter -- and seven native pines. We got them all in the ground Friday and Saturday. They are tiny, but eventually they will provide some shade and high roosts for butterflies and birds. After planting the last four pines on Saturday morning, we took a hike up the ridge behind the house. I had intended to take only the camera, but Larry suggested taking along some collecting bags and a trowel. It was a great suggestion, because I found four types of flowering plants that I wanted to bring back for the butterfly garden. The only one I could identify was a begonia. All of the flowers were growing in profusion alongside a cow path, so I don't think I committed a crime against the environment by moving them a few hundred meters into my yard and away from danger of being trampled. Even better than the flowers today were the butterflies. Mexican Fritillaries and Texan Crescents danced from flower to flower just beyond the fence; three or four different species of Sulphurs attacked red tube-shaped flowers growing at one end of a mountaintop cornfield; a Gulf Fritillary floated over to investigate; and a Monarch (a big surprise this time of year) went by just above eye level, just passing through. The gigantic Tiger Swallowtails have been a little friendlier lately, but apparently I don't have any flowers yet that interest them. They come into the yard and wander around, but they don't stop. A pretty little hummingbird that has claimed possession of my lantana, but he's way too fast for me to get a picture. Mexican Fritillary Texan Crescent I have not identified the Sulphurs yet. They really like these red flowers. I dug up six. The flower is hard to see. The 2-foot flower spike grows out of a cluster of broad leaves like a tulip or a hyacinth. The flowers are pale yellow and shaped like 6-pointed stars. Only two or three flowers are open at a time. The seedpods and the leaves make me think this is a lily. A few ferns came up with the begonias, and I was happy to have them. The begonias I found are pale pink. About 10 days ago, we planted a pomegrante tree. I've been watching this bloom open. Spiderwort began blooming this week. It blooms in March or April in Alabama and is tall and rather leggy. Here, the plant is much more compact and robust. My prize find -- I noticed seedpods sticking straight up out of the top of what I was sure was a milkweed plant along the highway to Patzcuaro, and for two weeks I worried about how I was going to get my hands on them. In late July I saw the first fluff as we were driving by. Larry didn't hesitate or complain -- he just turned the car around and found a wide place on the shoulder to stop. I ran across the highway and found not one plant but three with mature seeds and I collected them all. The only thing I had to wrap them in was my checklist of stuff to bring to Mexico. I don't know the species of Asclepias, but maybe I can identify it once the seeds some up. geni

In our community gardens, a wide variety of milkweeds are offered to the Monarchs. Every year they are covered with cats during different times of the year. It's very common to find a chrysalis hanging from a garden border 2x6 or from horizontal vine supports or any number of different plant stems. It is extremely rare to find any of them on the host plants though, as the little cats seem to want to wander off to do their magic. I'm sure there are predations, but I've photographed any of the beautiful little encasinga and even had the privilege of watching the last instar unzip into the bright green chrysalis. Up until that point I wasn't sure exactly how it happened and it was amazing and surprisingly quick! It takes me a bit of searching to find them at this point because they are so well camouflaged.