This may or may not help you... I live in Vegas. We created a "wash" that goes through part of our backyard. This wash starts in an area where I am growing cat tails. My husband found a "patch" growing on the side of the road in an area where they would have been dug up anyhow and brought them home. We just stuck them in the ground and trust me... this is not dirt here.... they get water from the in-ground system everyday and are growing like crazy...It's been 100+ since late early June. They have came up in a few place inside the wash and in my flowerbed, but I just lop them down and go on....bottom line, if they can grow here under these harsh conditions, they can grow anywhere... Hope this helped some...

Susan, I wasn't sure if the buckeyes preferred the V. bonariensis everywhere or not, but you probably read here more than I do. I'm sure I miss a lot of people's comments. I can definitely say that they prefer it here over any other nectar plants that I have. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw all of those buckeye butterflies this year after years of either not seeing them at all or only seeing one briefly and then it was gone. I think last year was the first time that I actually got a picture of one. I tried to take a video of them this year with my digital camera, but they move too fast and the quality wasn't good at all, so I deleted it. This is the third (or is it the fourth?) day that it's been raining here. We don't need it at all, and I wish we could send it down to you and people in Texas and other places that need it. PA had a lot of flooding a few weeks ago and thank goodness for sump pumps or there'd have probably been water up to the ceiling of the basement of this old house then. Because of all this rain and the cooler temps, I think I've seen the last of the butterflies for this year. I was still seeing some up until this rain started, but after it ends the temps will be way down from what they were when the butterflies were flitting about here less than a week ago. Oh, my snapdragons aren't real close to the V. bonariensis but not real far away either. I'd say it's about 20 feet from them to the start of the verbenas. I say "start" because when you have them, you don't just have one or ten; you have a plethora of them! lol I don't think I ever have to worry about running out of that plant! I wouldn't be without it though...so many butterflies love to nectar on them. When they get out of hand and start galloping into other areas, I have to corral them back into their own "stall". :) Cathy

I could use mini cat tails for myself,for a small water bowl. But I am primarily interested in the seed heads of full size cattails right now to spread the ripe fluff around my daughter's pond. thanks

My baby (age 9 months at the time) decided to open our screen door (didn't know he could do this) and bolt out of the house to chase a bear cub up a tree (first time seeing a bear cub in our yard, doors stay closed now). Anyways, Bear cub wasn't having any of it and before i could reach him, bear had swatted him out the tree. He fell on the base of his tail, let out a horrible scream and bolted back for the house. I ran in to see him struggling to walk in our kitchen. The impact must have created an abcess at the base of the tail as well, which i flushed and treated with antibiotics. Took a little over a week and a half for him to finally lift his tail again. He was on pain meds as well and i kept him secluded so he wasn't so active. I use to be a Veterinarian nurse, so thankfully i knew what to do since i live about a 50 min drive to the closest Vet clinic. He regained most of the feeling in his tail but I can definitely tell his tail had been slightly dislocated. Sometimes his back legs can be all over the place when he runs and he walks heavy footed now. But is doing much better now. He's 3 years old now and likes to chase the deer in our yard. (They get outdoors time only when we are out with them. So i can be sure to keep a close eye out. The deer love playing with him. But i definitely don't let them get close.) And unfortunately, Due to our forest fires in the area this year, we haven't seen many wild animals come through. Keeps them out of trouble i suppose. Good luck with stray kitty. Glad he has someone in his life to show him the love he deserves!