What a gorgeous picture!

Oh, wow!! What a beautiful butterfly! It's so very UNcommon. :) GREAT pic, Leslie!

Brenda

I thought he was very pretty too and showed up against that color excellently. He's a couple inches big and I've been seeing him for a couple of weeks now. Yes from his wings he was just settling down on the alyssum. I could have cropped the pic making him larger but the color fades some in doing that. I thought this was more striking.

Leslie, you take the greatest pictures, this one is outstanding. Love the butterfly, but I want to get some of that lavender alyssium. it's so pretty.

Hey Pat, thanks:) Buy a 6 pack in early spring and it'll spread on it's own. I think the breeze/wind is blowing it all over the garden now, I'd claim the birds but with 5 cats out there laying around in the cool mulch, I highly doubt that, LOL* Maybe I can figure out how to get seeds from it for you, I've never tried that before, what you think when it all dries up? The grasshoppers have been eating on it why it's getting a little thin in places, that and I think the 100's.

I hope you're staying inside and only going out early am...Way too hot. DH caught me outside at 2pm today at the roses and said on the car temp it was 107 driving around town.

Oh my,yes I'm staying inside during this heat, hope it cools before I get a case of cabin fever. Hope o get up to Lowes and see what they have in their nursery, but mainly looking for seed for that lavender alysium!

Definitely not as hot here as it is for those of you north and south of us! But...I'll cry about it, too, ok? LOL 101 here yesterday, which is as hot as it's gotten this year (one day of 101 last month). The worst almost seems to be how it doesn't cool down much over night...much meaning into the 60s (or even 70!), rather than into the 50s. :D

For the sweet alyssum seeds, you can try holding a piece of white paper under a stem that seems to be done blooming, then shake the stem. Maybe you'll catch some seeds on the paper, and you'll know what to look for or if those little buggers are even possible to gather without getting too flustered. :D I've never tried this, but I hope it works!

Brenda

That would work Brenda, everytime I water it 'stuff' drops off:) Haven't paid much attention, it's either blooms or seeds. I've got a large patch now in front of one of my mini climbers. It's white though not purple. How long does it need to dry out then to mail it? I've got a patch of purple though over in a long section by itself that the grasshoppers have been working on I can try.

Hey Pat, want some purple seeds?? I think for just a few seeds they want $5 or $6 for a pack. I looked when I wanted to add to the dragon when I planted him. I had some free that had come in the mail and had thrown those down. See I don't plant, I just throw them on the ground and they grow, LOL*

That's why you'll have to tell me how to plant the Hollyhocks in the spring Brenda:)

Out of curiosity I'll try this today.

I think the pack of Ferry-Morse seeds I got from Home Depot was something like $1.79, but I gave the packet with leftover seeds to Mom, so I'm not sure. :D It looks like Pat posted over in the Discussions area that she bought some plants, though! That's quick and easy for when you want something NOW. LOL

I think letting them dry about week would be fine, Leslie. That's the basic time frame I've used this year, anyway, for the hollyhocks...and those are big suckers!

It sounds like you won't have any problems at all growing the hollyhocks! You have volunteer alyssums and Lantanas! All your hard work paid off on that soil. :) A couple of mine are still blooming - a double yellow and a single crimson! If I can grow them, ANYone can. LOL

Brenda

Ahhh, you forgot the forget me nots:) The volunteer violas. They're still out there struggling in the heat, it's 106 again today. I'll do that though to get it to spread more in the spring, my own seeds..I think it'll all germinate on it's own though with fall and the breeze blowing the seeds all through there. Well maybe that's all the cost of the seeds was, I thought it was a lot for a few seeds.

Actually on the soil it's a lot to do with the mulch I put out several inches thick. Instead of encouraging all the weeds, it's working down pretty well with the clay soil. I hope I can afford to buy some more in Oct for winter. That and I need some stepping stones through out the large garden. Nothing fancy, just some bricks. I think that will be my craft this fall/winter is making some of my own.

I still have a few daylilies blooming here and there. I need to find out which they are and get some more of these repeat bloomers.

I'm afraid to walk into Lowe's, at 106 there is nothing I can do right now. I'm having a tough time with what I have now in pots I don't need temptation, I'd be as tempted as Pat:)