Sandy, I know you've been having trouble with the knees, but I also know you're not looking forward to the surgery. Think of all you'll be able to do with that "robotic" knee, LOL! You'll be even more of a Wonder Woman than you are now! I wish you would see some of the Nessus. They are diurnal. I see them off and on during the day, but mostly at dawn and dusk. You will fall in love! Had a Red Admiral female today, feeding on fruit and laying eggs. I have some kind of little black bug on my False Nettle this year, though, and I think they may be eating the eggs and tiny cats. I try to squish them, but they are incredibly fast. Once you nab one of them, they are on the lookout for you. I have so many different kinds of critters this year. I have these large dragonflies every year that hover over the garden. Since they are predators of butterflies, etc., I imagine they choose my garden as a home base! Today I saw a very long-legged wasp, or what appeared "wasp like" to me. The thorax is striped, longitudinally, with brown and yellow - it's pretty small. The wings, at rest, are tucked and folded over the abdomen. I have no clue what it is. I have another thing that looks like a modified, short, stumpy dragonfly, too. I need to take photos, but I am so unhappy with my camera, that I don't even want to bother. I have these gigantic black wasps that nectar as well. They are beautiful, but kinda scary. They are so black, they look blue in different light and different angles. The thing I have the least of this year, thank goodness, is the milkweed leaf beetles, the round, fat ones. I have found very few. Jeanie, my Cardinal Vine is not blooming yet either. First year I have grown it. Also have Cypress Vine that is not blooming either. I have what I know would be gorgeous blooms on a JP morning glory, but they won't open. They just bud up and stay that way. It's been really tough trying to water the garden adequately this month, with Jess having been in the hospital, and taking care of her and the kids several days a week. I hope I get some time this weekend to play catch up. I like to use the bananas. I buy a bag before I am going to need it, and let it ripen to black, and then put it out. This can be hastened by putting them in a plastic bag and tying off the end, and putting out in the sun for a day or so, if you need it quicker than letting them ripen in the shade or indoors. I find 5 lbs of bananas cheaper than buying fruit cups, but I know some folks prefer those over the rotting fruit, or meat as Cathy does. Someone last year said that they put theirs in the freezer and then take them out after frozen and let them thaw out. This will supposedly hasten the ripening process as well. You just need to get those ethylene gases do their job. Susan

Steffie, I cannot believe they spray their toxic chemicals whether you want them or not, and then they charge you for it That is so wrong. Do you know what chemical they are going to use? I just hate that it is going to happen. Whenever widespread chemical spraying occurs, so many beneficial insects are killed, and of course, the birds, frogs, etc. who eat those chemically-treated bugs are at risk of dying also. When we had a horrendous grasshopper problem here in the early 2000s, a lot of ranchers, farmers and residents sprayed chemicals quite heavily. These same people then complained mightily about how we didn't have any bluebirds (and other songbirds) for the next 2 or 3 years. Gee, I wonder what happened to the birds at the exact same time the bugs were nuked? I know you will lose many of the butterflies and moths you have been enjoying and that is so regrettable. A lot of insects (INCLUDING adult mosquitoes) will survive the spraying, though, if they seek shelter before the chemicals hit them. Many organic activists insist that the spraying is not even that effective. The truth is that mosquitoes have a short life cycle anyway, so you will see a natural decrease in their numbers about 4 to 6 weeks following the kind of major population explosion you see after an extremely rainy period. So, even if the city wasn't spraying, you would see a population decrease.....and the city will say it was caused by the spraying of course. The organic gardening community in Fort Worth fought to prevent widespread spraying in 2000 and they WON! Actually, Fort Worth had not done widespread spraying since the early 1990s, but was under considerable pressure by residents to 'do something' about the mosquitoes in 2002. I am proud that Fort Worth chose to go the least toxic route. I've linked a page that has their mosquito-spraying philosophy on it in case anyone is interested. It takes city officials with courage to stand up to the unenlightened members of the community who are screaming for mosquito spraying. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: A Common-sense Approach to Mosquito Control

Hanging butterfly feeder plates: THEY REALLY REALLY WORK. Posted by mcronin Making the hanging feeder plates I drilled three holes in the edges of plastic plates (or metal tops to containers), strung wire through each hole, connected the three wires at the top of the plate, and used wire to hang them at least 10 feet below small branches of trees. The long wire is to keep squirrels and other animals off the feeders. Hang them far enough from trees, etc. so animals like squirrels can't jump to them. Mine hang about 10 feet off the ground and I use a stepladder to reach them with butterfly food. Hang them in an area that you can SAFELY reach with a stepladder and where they will get enough sun to encourage butterflies to visit. Butterfly food recipe I use a pail with a tight lid to hold the butterfly food. I cut up a dozen over-ripe bananas into chunks, add two cans of cheap beer, one or two bottles of molasses, and a pound of brown sugar. I mix it up in the pail and let it ferment for about a week; then fill the plates. You can use other fruits such as mangos, watermelon, etc. Experiment with what you can get ( sometimes for free if your grocery store is discarding spoiled fruit) and what works best for the butterflies that you want to attract. Tips on using the feeder plates I cover my plates with regular fiberglass screen and secure the screening on each plate with 3-5 big paper clamps. The goal is to prevent unwanted insects from getting UNDER the screening . The butterflies can feed through the screen, but unwanted other insects usually can't ( they will collect on TOP of the screens, but the butterflies generally ignore them ). I try to remember to put plastic plates face down on top of the screens on the plates if rain is expected. I do this to prevent the butterfly feeding mixture from being too diluted from heavy rains. Hopeful results Butterflies flock to these plates including anglewings, red admirals. red-spotted purples, painted ladies, and mourning cloaks. This system provides us daily visits by our "winged jewels" on sunny days in spring, summer, and fall. It is well worth the limited effort to attract these types of butterflies which seldom, if ever, visit our flowers for nectar.

Well, a photo will follow later. I am having trouble uploading so here is the rundown on this super duper butterfly prize. First a Little Butterflies stained glass coloring book. When you color these transparent pages with whatever medium you choose they appear like stained glass when hung where sunlight reaches them. So pretty! Glitter Butterflies stickers, really special ones. Two very sophisticated coloring books: Butterfly Alphabet and Exotic Butterflies and Moths. These are wonderful. A few years ago I bought the first one for my mother and she loved it. There are so many things you could do with these. One of them I will share with Allie and Sophie. We will work on it together when they come for a visit. Thanks Shirley. It was a fantastic prize. I don't often win "stuff" but in March I won a FBS gift certificate and then this cool prize. If I had known it was my month I would have bought a lottery ticket. ;>)