Don't forget the 'Sun visor' or slant the roof. In any case make sure the plants don't get misted otherwise they'll get a grey film in time. Keeping the unevaporated water on the ground prevents that. The wood stays wet all the time and probably will fall apart somewhere between 5 and 10 years. I know of some one who built one out of plastic and fiberglass materials. Can't take a picture of it but this thing is blasting out a stream of cool air that is just as good or better than any swamp cooler. Das is alles, good luck building it. Nick

Oh brother, WisconsinTom, I have studied extensively on Monsanto, their products, their GMO crops and you have no clue. But keep after it you are getting paid well by Monsanto I'm sure. But as you try and pretend to be the "reasonable" one here, I will remind the others that you are the one that named called with your post by starting out the "level of ignorance here in the above post" dated Sept 18. You were talking about me in that post, but you have no clue to my education on the subject or scientific research people in my family have done on the subject. The only knee jerk reactions are your own and I could school you on the subject but will not waste my time. I hope you are getting paid well. Oh and lastly Europe has totally outlawed all GMO crops, as has Hawaii except for the grandfathered in Papaya. But ignore all the recent scientific studies that came out this year on what's killing bees and monarchs among other insects and yes I remember the ads by tobacco companies that said their was no evidence that smoking caused lung cancer too....lol This post was edited by joeinmo on Mon, Sep 29, 14 at 20:14

Pam and Susan, You both are making me blush. ;-) Seriously, thanks for saying such nice things. It made my day. I've just always believed in helping people, and of course I'm trying my best to help the butterflies. Pam, I don't know what to tell you about the V. bonariensis. Have you tried wintersowing? I guess when I planted mine several years ago, I hadn't been aware about it being hard to germinate. Actually, when I sowed my seeds, that was before I found out about wintersowing and I guess I sowed the seeds just like I had been sowing all my other seeds. I think I merely sowed them in potting soil in late winter and the plants came up. Since they are small seeds, I wouldn't plant them very deep, maybe just press them into the soil. I'd try various ways and see which works. I sure hope that you can get some to germinate because the butterflies sure do love those plants. Susan, Thank you and I think we're lucky to have you too. I've been reading here lately more than I've been typing. I do really enjoy seeing what other people are doing in their gardens, and I keep up with what you're doing. I remember your generosity to me and if there's anything I can do for you, I'd do whatever I can to help you. :-) I just looked at my profile because I didn't know exactly how long it has been since I joined here. It was in August of 2006. I started my butterfly garden the previous summer and it included several swamp milkweed plants that I had bought at a local nursery. I didn't get Monarchs that first year, maybe because it was so late in the summer when I got the garden underway, but I was thrilled in 2006 when I found some cats on the milkweed plants. I don't remember exactly when I first found the forum (reading but not yet posting). I guess I read enough here to pique my curiosity and to become interested enough to start a butterfly garden but didn't post right away. I suppose I felt an urgent need to post when I didn't know what I was doing when I found the first Monarch cat but didn't know the details of raising one. So I guess you could say that when I first found the forum I probably read just enough to become dangerous. lol Thank goodness that there are such nice people here like you, MissSherry, CalSherry/aka tdogmom, and others who didn't discourage my questions or I really would have felt beside myself. I suspect I'm not the only one who starts into a project only to feel like she got in over her head. Well, I think when I first started planting for the butterflies I didn't really have any intentions of raising caterpillars; however, then once I found some I felt the need to protect them. All of a sudden it became urgent to me that I not let anything get to the cats. If I had been told by people that I should go read first, I probably wouldn't have been able to save those first cats because till I had read enough to feel like I knew what I was doing, I'm sure it would have been too late for them and they'd have perished. Because of the generosity of you and others I've learned a lot and raised many cats over the past 4 years and have been trying to pay it forward ever since. Thanks so much for opening up another world for me and enabling me to help another part of nature, which I love so much (I've been into birding for 20+ years and have online birding friends too). I think my butterflying and birding friends are some of the nicest people that I've ever met. I really did get to meet many birding friends in person about 5 yr. ago when we were at a get-together in TN, but that's a whole other story. Yes, that would be too cool to celebrate people's birthdays and join dates. I noticed that your birthday is just 4 days before my husband's. Cathy

Sherry, Well, I think you can plant them and have limited success. Onions have to be in the ground and achieve a certain amount of growth before bulbing is induced. Since bulbing is induced by a combination of daylength and temperature, it is going to happen when the daylength-temperature combo is achieved, whether the onions have been in the ground for one week, one month, or whatever. So, that is why we have to plant onions so very early--to get maximum growth before initiation of the bulbing process begins. Most onions needs to be in the ground a minimum of 90 to 100 days before bulb initiation starts in order to size up fully, and some need 100 to 120 days. Short day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength (hours of sunlight) reaches about 10-12 hours in combination with the right temperature. Intermediate day-length onions need 12-14 hours days to bulb up. Long day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength is 14-16 hours and the temperature is right, which is why the long daylength onions are not grown in our part of the county. (Our daylength here maxes out around 14 hours.) So, if the onions go into the ground late, they will grow and they still will bulb up once bulb initiation occurs. They'll just be smaller when bulb initiation occurs, thus, they will be smaller at maturity than onions that were planted earlier. One reason that short day-length and intermediate day-length onions planted in the southern third of the country get bigger than those EXACT same varieties grown in the upper 2/3s of the country is that our weather allows us to plant the onions up to 5 months prior to bulb initiation, and the northern states' colder weather does not allow them to plant until approx. 75 days before bulb initiation. So, if you plant late this year, you'll get onions that are "northern-sized" instead of "southern-sized", but you'll still get onions! If you don't mind knowing you'll get smaller onions, go ahead and go for it. It would be a good learning experience if you've never grown onions before. Some commonly-sold short day-length onions are TX 1015Y (aka Texas Sweet or Texas Supersweet), Yellow Granex, White Bermuda, Southern Belle Red and Contessa. Some commonly-sold intermediate day-length onions are Candy, Stockton Sweet Red and Superstar. Some commonly sold long day-length onions (and these should NOT be sold in our region) include Borrettana Cippolini, Red Torpedo Tropea, Ailsa Craig (there's also a tomato by this name), Copra, Big Daddy, Red Burgermaster, Red Zeppelin, Walla Walla, Yellow Sweet Spanish and Ringmaster. I've already planted my main crop of onions, but I do continue planting onions in various spots around the garden as companion plants, and I will, probably through mid-to-late April. Of course, I don't care if those companion-planted onions bulb up or not. Sometimes I leave the companion plant onions in the ground until the following year, and let them bloom in the spring. Their tiny flowers attract a TON of tiny pollinators and beneficial insects, and are quite attractive as well. Dawn