Stasi, Mine is still in a 3 gal nursery pot. It was too small to plant last year but I'm going to plant it this year. It's about 30" tall and wide. It is leggy and octopus-like, by no means graceful... quite an ugly bush in fact, but I love the flowers, so it's a keeper. :) I'm surprised to hear some of you say it has no scent because I found it very fragrant for the first morning of each bud's opening. The blooms seem to last about 4-6 days for me. The bush had more than one open bloom for about a two week period and as of today it's down to the last unopened bud. :'( As far as winter chill goes... I'm not sure what our chill factor in scientific lingo... but our first frost is usually late Oct. to early Nov. and last frost from mid Apr. to mid May... coldest temps can be down to -30º for a few days, -10º for a week or so, and can hover around 0º for months at a time. Our milder winters may never drop below 20º. I don't know if that's the info you need to calculate winter chill, but feel free to ask any info you may need to accurately calculate it. :) Disease resistance... disappointing... After all the talk about it not being disease resistant, I went to examine mine and discovered quite alot of early Anthracnose symptoms, so I sprayed it with Bayer for disease, and it is clean now. It's VERY early for me to be spraying for disease this year, but my two biggest indicator plants are 'L.D. Braithwaite' and 'The Prince'... and they went all lights and sirens about three weeks ago with BS, so I guess I'll be on a regular spray schedule this year. Last year I sprayed once in August and all was well. I feel it was worth the wait... but other than my Faith and family, gardening and roses are my life, so there are very few that don't find a way into my heart and a permanent home here. :) Rob:)

I did start them in spring Tina, but I'm not sure they were supposed to elongate. I believe if I would have waited until late summer/early fall they would have remained rosettes and flowered the following spring. As they are now the stem below them is about 2' tall and they haven't flowered yet LOL! Here is what they look like when they do flower.... PS. These are labeled as kale but they really are cabbage :D Here is a link that might be useful:

Hopefully, the article you read about removing them recommended that you remove the silk that the chrysalis is attached to - when you pull it off, the chrysalis will come with it, and there will be no danger of tearing into the chrysalis itself and killing it. I don't reattach chrysalides after I've removed them - the methods I've seen recommended look too risky, like you could easily puncture the chrysalis in the process of reattaching them. I just put them in a butterfly cage, that is, a rectangular shaped frame with a mesh covering, put foam rubber on the bottom, put a paper towel over that, and lay the chrysalides on the paper towel. They emerge just fine that way with no danger of me accidentally killing them. If you don't have a butterfly cage, you can use an old aquarium or even a plastic (clean) bucket, with foam rubber or something soft on the bottom with a paper towel over it. Put mesh or bridal veil type material on the top - I secure that with clothes pins. Also, put something that the newly emerged butterfly can climb onto and then hang upside down on for about half a day or so, depending on the size of the butterfly. Aquarium and other glass sides are too slick for them to climb. You can take a left-overs container, add some rocks to weight it down, punch a few holes in the top and put sticks in the holes. As long as the butterfly can get a firm grip on it and have room to hang upside down, it'll do. Then when the butterfly has hung upside down long enough for it's wings to harden properly, it will flutter around the cage, wanting out. Keep the container in a shaded, protected place outside, so the butterfly can respond to the sunlight. Wait until the butterfly's flutterings are strong - my butterfly cages are big enough that they can actually fly around inside them. Small butterflies can be released in just a couple of hours, but big swallowtails take about a half a day or more. Good luck and congrats on the mourning cloaks - I'd LOVE to raise some myself! Sherry

Lynne--I keep hoping the morning glories will flower and look something like yours. Your arbor is beautiful. Krystine--Under the granite is just plain sand. We dug down about 6 inches. Made a frame using wood or metal edging (for the curves), put down landscape fabric then filled with about 4-5 inches of sand. Rented a tamper and watered well then leveled and did it again. We laid the granite then swept sand in the cracks. It seems very solid. We do periodically need to sweep in more sand...just a shovel or 2 does the whole patio.