Thanks again all: Boa is doing much better. She is eating like a horse, but still doesn't want to be left alone. I can't believe the difference in her since I stopped the antibiotics. She demands food now, and her catmilk. Her and Bear got into their first fisticuffs in a long time when I was taking too long to get the food in the dish. She got a huge dish of whipped cream yesterday (her favorite) and didn't leave a smidgen in the bowl for Apache to finish. She is back on the tapazole now for the hyperthyroidism and doesn't even know it's in her food. I am breathing a sigh of relief. I know nothing can live forever, but I can hope. Think she will be with us for a while longer. Praise God for answering my prayers. Jenny

In my area, nepeta is ubiquitous. In most places it is used, it gets horrible soil, no care and no supplemental water. And yet most clumps are in full bloom for 5 months+ per year. Is it the plant's fault it is overused? It is so fast-growing, easily transplanted, easily multiplied and so compact and pretty in nursery pots that I am not at all surprised by its popularity. Still, I resisted for as long as I could before adding any to my own garden. I now have 'Joanna Reed' which already almost 4 feet wide by a little over two feet tall after being planted from a tiny mail order division last July. Close up, the flower spikes are much longer, denser and with larger individual florets than either 'Walker's Low' or 'Six Hills Giant', but from a distance the overall garden effect is much the same though the flowers are a bit more on the blue side. It is also supposed to be sterile was given a perfect 5 star rating in the Chicago Botanic Garden nepeta trials. The first flush shows no signs of fading and yet the plant is already producing secondary buds that will ultimately be taller than the primary flush. The plant will probably build up to 4 feet tall or more by summer's end. I also have some Nepeta nuda started from seed which have not yet flowered. They are growing well but are not nearly as vigorous as 'Joanna Reed'. Is nepeta my favorite plant? Not by a long shot. But I have come to love its abundant display of blue-violet flowers and ease of care. Many are also enjoyed by pollinators but most of our insect friends will overlook the nepeta if something more appealing like an allium or calamintha is in bloom nearby.

countrycarolyn: I won't give them a haircut then and leave well enough alone. The main thing is to get them planted, will give them a month for the roots to work on down although it sounds like they're tough and could just have stuck them in the ground without repotting. ladyrose65: You confirmed the dianthus, too. Where did I get the raspberry seeds? I've been all over everything, search engine here, google advanced, my old computer fired up twice and got into my mail but it hangs now. I can't post real names and didn't find the raspberry trade, know it was somebody on this forum. In my mail I did find mastergardner2003 but she sent me the currants; I found conniejw who designed that beautiful space in front of my garage with some special software she has. I know it wasn't they. This name sticks in my mind of having corresponded with, brandmulvaine. It might have been she but I couldn't find the trade emails. Also I traded with Carol (hosta) but know it wasn't raspberries. It will be prob 3 yrs before I get any seeds. Was going to buy some at amazon but they wanted $9.95. But I'll post a link where the plants are much cheaper because I might have bought from there if I hadn't found mine. Oh yes, I'll keep the sprout pics and may take more later if they look promising. northerner_on: Strange error, not so much here but what I went through trying to find that raspberry exchange. I'm not sure I sent anything in return; if I did it might have been alyssum and lupines I had a ton of that I bought. Now the lamium, that is not a pleasant prospect because my yard is a total mess. It's already worked it's way through that small garden space and may smother some of my plants and working north into a bare spot. I've got a terrible invasive behind the garage and want to cover the fern and do roundup on the whole mess. Then I'd like the lamium there if I knew how to transplant it. Evidently it roots easily, grows a ways, puts down roots, then more with more roots is how it travels. Yes I have two other lamiums, one variegated and one plain, I think, with pink flowers. They haven't been such a problem at all. I just ripped them back a little when they were threatening my new brunera, have had several years now, haven't gotten into the lawn, seem to want to move toward more shade. So thanks so much everyone for the help and advice. Now the hard part. Getting them in the ground in the right places. My backyard is pockmarked from tree chunks falling last summer, and I shouldn't even walk in it but do very carefully. Am 69 and fell when the lawn guys were here but easy fall. The tree people last year wanted $800 to fill the holes, nothing doing after spending $3000 to have the tree taken down which was cheap for that. One of the best tree companies wanted $10,000 included stump removal, no way. but if I break something, maybe I'd better get some topsoil and pay somebody to fill them in. I want to be able to enjoy this again without all this other stuff to mess with, and just because things are difficult now, I don't want to give in to a sense of futility. Here is a link that might be useful: Bristol Raspberry Plants

Isn't it great to be able to recognize them. The Downy Woodpeckers are really lovely birds. I wouldn't worry too much about the Brown Headed Cowbird at this time of year. The only birds that are laying around this time of year are the Goldfinches, and Cowbird chicks almost never survive with a sead-eater like the Goldfinch.