Today I was outside close to the big batch of false nettles and saw a red admiral flitting around them. So I watched as she laid an egg on a stem, not the top bunch of leaves, and then I cut off the branch the egg was on and brought it in to raise - it is SO tiny! I stayed outside in the intense heat - why do butterflies lay most of their eggs in the middle of the day? - for as long as I could stand it, then went in, because she went under a magnolia leaf and hung upside down there for so long I couldn't stand the heat any more. Does anybody know how those awful braconid wasps lay their eggs? Do they lay them on the leaves or directly into the hatchling cat? Do I need to remove the leaves on the branch, get fresh ones and wash them good? I think I'll do that anyway, but I'm curious as to how they do their damage. I've brought in quite a few hatchling red admirals recently and found a lot of them had already been parasitized - I squished the cocoons or the tiny larvae, whichever was there. I also watched a cloudless sulphur laying eggs in my garden on the Cassia bicapsularis and the volunteer, weedy C. obtusifolia that's coming up in places - I left it because I know the sulphurs like it so much. This female was very pale, nearly white, so in that respect, cloudless sulphurs are apparently like little yellows. Sherry

From what I've read, Moro's bloom earlier in the season. My Moro has only put out new foliage growth this year. The first flush was uniform, like yours, but another flush of growth is starting at specific sites now. I actually pinched off this flush of growth because it's focused on one side of the tree (and I'm trying to encourage balance). Josh

I often make gifts ahead of the baby, nodakgal. Socks' example above would do as well for a boy or a girl. I even make pink or blue sweaters and booties and hats and just set them aside for the next baby. My kids and their friends seem to be having lots of babies these days. Babies are going to be popping all over come fall. We're kind of hoping for a girl in the fall as we just don't have a granddaughter yet. Once I know the sex of the baby in June, the needles will be flying.

once heard a speech at hosta college between the difference between urban and rural deer ... urban deer.. when hungry.. will eat just about anything ... especially under stress ... rural deer ... as babs notes.. have a lot of production crop to feed on during a big part of the season .. out here.. most damage.. comes in really bad winters ... after that speech i noticed the same effect with rabbits ... in suburbia.. with lawn warrior grass being pervasive.. rabbits go after your garden ... but out here with a former horse pasture that i call a lawn ... the rabbits browse the pasture buffet ... clover.. yarrow.. plantain ... rarely do they bother my gardens ... dont get caught up in your Disney/bambi world ... vermin are vermin ... no matter how cute and fuzzy they are ... and no matter how big they are ... if those two drop a youngin.. then next year you have 4 ... then 8 .. then etc ... if the golden is trained to the property.. let him chase them off next time ...no way he will ever catch them ... but they will get the idea he doesnt want them there ... enjoy looking at them.. on someone elses property .. lol ... ken