Hi--Up here in zone 5 there is plenty of downtime from butterflying. I enjoy the first couple of months of no gardening stuff, and then in January I start to go crazy waiting for spring. Since I'm new to butterflies and especially caterpillars, I spent a lot of time researching cats and butterflies--and then started to order seeds for nectar and host plants. I am dead set on getting buckeye cats and viceroy cats and finding frit cats that must be in my yard. I think just need to start looking for them earlier too--beginning in May. I got the Burriss' book (just so beautiful and wonderful to read--we need more books like this!) and also read a bio of 17th century woman who broke the mold of expectations of what women were supposed to do and decided to leave husband and home and study the life cycle of butterflies at a time when people still believed in spontaneous generation. That's what I've been doing to keep myself occupied in snowy NH. I am so excited for spring to arrive and can start looking for cats!

depends on what "bottled water" is. bottled water like dasani is a NO NO, it must not have any of the harsh mineral salts that normal water has. You have 3 options, R/O water from a R/O unit (I purchased a Nimbus WaterMaker Mini unit that fits any USA tap socket for $80.00) or Distilled water (must say distilled, albertons sell it, costco should to) or rain water. I would avise atleast a 40 watt flurecent bulb for your light, VFT's LOVE light, as long as the bulb is not incandesent which can burn them. It does not have to be a grow light, full spectrum bulbs just give more natural light which help the plants grow, verilux bulbs are only about $15.00 per bulb ( I buy off amazon) I have hardend off my plants, so they no longer have any humidity dome. They grow indoors on a shaded window sill with those 2 40 watt verilux bulbs hanging overhead on a timer in a light fixture. I used distilled water from albertons to begin, but this got to expensive with the purchase of my american pitcher plant outside, thus I found out about the affordable WaterMaker Mini R/O unit. I fill up my 2 gallon bottles and then clip the R/O unit off my tap and put it in the fridge until its needed next. I also foliar feed my plats with Epiphytes Delight that I purchased from californiacarnivores.com. I do this since they dont really get bugs indoors. They are honestly growing healtheir, stronger and better out of the humidity dome. You can read the topic here called "HARDENING CP's" to see how I did it (how it was suggested to me) I live in Salt Lake City, Utah. My plants are in the basement which has a day temp of between 60-70 F, with the furnace running you can imagine how low the humidy is. Hope this helps, you are welcome to ask questions here or by email at: necro1234 at yahoo dot com Cheers Sheldon

I am someone who did the science degree at 45 years (my first degree) and then ended up an academic - I ended up sad at the mess that our Universities are now in and walked out at 60 earlier this year - on the spur of the moment, after having lunch in the country town I now live in and love. I sold my city house to the man next door the next day and bought my dream (seen after the lunch the day before for the first time). So, after 20 years of sitting at a computer, I now look after 4 ducks, 2 drakes (I love them), a Silkie rooster and I think now 8 hens of different colors and sizes - they all live together with no pecking order (maybe because they are spoilt?), 2 dogs, and I am now looking after a friend's dog as well, and 2 ponies whom I absolutely adore. And some wildlife, I have had to learn so much as I find it hard to do all the right things, but I have a teacher about the horses one morning a week, and I am getting better. There is so much to do with all these animals, it takes me hours each day and of course I enjoy them all so much. I am now going to learn to ride so that one day when he grows up a bit more (as he is only 2 yrs) I can ride the larger pony as he is 12.5 hands and very stocky. I walked them down to the village showground today and as often as I can and we "talk" to the other horses down there and anyone else who likes to talk to us - I will get a reputation as the lady who takes her horses for a walk. It keeps me busy - I buy papers and never get to read them. I have also opened a small B&B which is booked on weekends and so one day a week I am flat out making it all beautiful and then I try to keep a low profile on the weekend so the guests can have as much privacy as possible. That's when I go shopping as the shops are all a long way away so I head off to look at nurseries with the dogs in tow. Life is truly wonderful. Granville44 - if you ever need a treat for some kids who would like a few days of country life and who would be kind to my animals, I have a 3 bedroom B&B on 5 acres just 2 hours from Sydney and would be happy to offer this to a church or charity group occasionally - I once had a teenage son who had some serious problems so now that I am older, I would always like to be able to put some joy back. Email me if you wish Kevarose

Don Juan is not your usual climber. It starts blooming right away. Its kind of like a pillar rose in that it blooms all over, not just on lateral canes, so you can train it up a pillar and it will still bloom. It will bloom even more however if you "peg" it (train it as horizontal as possible). I don't know how cold hardy it is, because I live in South Florida, but I do know that it is one of the best performers for our heat, so that makes me believe that it does not like the cold. I once asked the owner of a local nursery why she didn't sell roses and she said it was because it was just a "slow death" for them here in SoFl (my rose garden would beg to differ) and that the only rose she knew that did well here was Don Juan. Well, there are many roses that do well here, but Don Juan does not only do well here, it thrives. But many others just perish in our heat or succumb to disease no matter how much to fuss over them. Save yourself alot of heart ache and get yourself a rose that is KNOWN to do well in your area. It will be worth your time and money for many years of beautiful blooms and alot less work to get them. You don't want to be fighting an uphill battle, especially when there are SO many great roses that will do will in your area. :)