Hi Rose, are you actually in New York City proper? I'd be really interested in the butterfly bush and Monsieur Tillier. We moved into a house 2 years ago, built in 1915. It had pretty much no flowering bushes to speak of. I added several last year and this spring roses are going in (9 total so far). The butterfly bush would be wonderful to have; it's something I've been thinking of purchasing and I think that Monsieur Tillier would be a great addition too; considering that it's been around so long. The blooms remind me a bit of another one I ordered (Gertrude Jekyll) but not so much that it will be too similar. Besides, one can never have enough pink roses in my book :) Feel free to send me an email. I work downtown NYC, in the Financial District. If it isn't too complicated for either of us to meet, perhaps I can give those two a new home :)

If your African violets take too much of your time, then you are giving them way too much attention. Honestly, I barely acknowledge mine and they are gorgeous year round. I think too many people want African violets to seem like they need special care. They don't. I have dropped, crushed, over-watered, under-watered, drenched in hot sunlight, left in the dark, and failed to re-pot my African violets for years at a time. They still reward me with blooms whether or not I deserve it. I have heat intolerance from multiple sclerosis, so I keep my apartment cool (most would say COLD) year round. I drop everything, including the African violets. I might take the dust off their leaves once a year. In the winter I hardly ever turn on the heat, so it's normally at 45-55 degrees; I tell people I keep it warm enough in the winter so the African violets don't freeze. In the summer the temperature cannot go higher than 70 degrees or lose my right leg, right hand and most of my cognitive abilities; at times the air conditioner has the apartment down to 60 degrees all day. I don't provide them with any special lighting. I water them when I am physically able to lift the jug. I always add food to the water, because with my short-term memory loss can never worry about a feeding schedule. I have mine in pots with holes in the bottom sitting on top of a tray of aquarium stones. If the stones look dry, I water the stones. My African violets LOVE living here! They have healthy foliage and gorgeous flowers. In the wild, no one fusses over them. They get gnawed on and stepped on. African violets acclimate very well to many different conditions. They survived before people came along to take care of them. It's a shame to get rid of plants you have cared for. Just stick them somewhere and forget about them. If they look like they are wilted, water them.

I could probably have a lot more success in butterfly gardening if I devoted my whole yard to it. I have so many diverse interests, it's extremely difficult for me to choose between them, lol! Herbs are great because they do double or triple duty--butterfly food, pretty flowers, edible or drinkable products from them. I'm always looking for plants that have multiple good qualities. Originally I wanted to do edible landscaping, but I have found that the squirrels are quite a formidable obstacle. Not only do they tear up my tomatoes, etc, but they drag them around the neighborhood and leave the remains on my neighbors porches and lawns. My edibles are relegated to a few closely guarded pots by the back door. Just yesterday I caught a squirrel eyeing my cherry toms! Anyway, initially due to my experience at other sites, I thought the buddleia would be an easy thing to draw in the butterflies, but you can't draw in something that just isn't there. I had a large butterfly garden at one arboretum where I worked, we had all kinds of supposed butterfly plants in the garden and inevitably they would be ignored in favor of the buddleia. But that place was loaded with wildflower meadows, woods, etc. That's what originally gave me the idea of planting buddleia in my yard, I thought it would be an easy way to watch butterflies and only necessitate one plant's worth of space devoted to it. Other than the butterfly qualities it has, I am not a fan of the plant, up here it is invasive as my neighbor is proving. Although the fact that her above ground pool is a weedy mess in this urban situation I doubt is threatening critical habitat. We had all kinds of natives in the butterfly garden I mentioned above, and we were dilligent about removing the buddleia flowers before they set seed. But like I said, inevitably the natives would be ignored. It could be in that situation the buddleia was like candy, the cats had plenty of other sources of nectar, and most importantly, they were there in the first place because of all the larval habitat. Yesterday I was out on the front porch and I saw a monarch flying along the street. Perhaps I shall plant some milkweed. I like the plant, it does look kind of cool and smells heavanly. They have a good selection of varieties at the native plant nursery I frequent. I'm not that crazy about the orange variety, but I like swamp milkweed's flowers. On a serious note, if one was to design a butterfly garden for an urban site, it would probably be best to figure out what butterflies one could even remotely expect to foster in an urban situation, and then plant larval foods for those species. Frankly I could care less what those cabbage butterflies like, they seem to be quite able to fend for themselves without my help, :) Swallowtails might be easier to please, I like the plants in the umbelliferea family (dill and the like) I already have two plants in that family in my yard, dill and bishop's weed (although I hate the bishop's weed). I love fennel so that would be easy enough to stick in a pot. I've already mentioned monarchs. Not sure what else. There is a lot of grass and common weeds around there but I don't seem to see meadow or woods loving species. A meadow-type garden is not feasible for me due to the space competition. No room for willows, (love the corkscrew variety but I love my other shrubs and trees more) but I have wanted to try lupines. Even if they don't draw in the butterflies. Hard to grow in this zone though.

For clothing we try to put one item away for donations per every new item bought. I usually give my nicer clothes to a divorced gal with kids down the road. She isnâÂÂt exactly poor but there is not much money left for her after bills and kids. SheâÂÂs great because she takes only what is needed and passes the rest on to others in need or makes a donation to her church. The gal usually leaves a note in my mail box stating where the rest went and a thank you. Due to my casual lifestyle my dressy clothes have little wear but do not wear well on my changing figure. I donâÂÂt want to keep them so long as to become outdated and where they are of no use to someone else. My husband donates his clothing to a few different charities or a particular individual. Sometimes we do a drop off at goodwill. A few times I left a big bundle out near the road with a sign that says âÂÂtake meâÂÂ. I do this on a day when there are several Guatemalan lawn maintenance people next door. There are always a few items I have a hard time letting go of though⦠but I must as I am moving. I will never sell clothes in a garage sale again; last time (several years ago) I was ripped off with a do you have a bag trick. I will give but you canâÂÂt take!