Thanks! I'm thinking it's a twinkle as well, but I'm curious to see if it's pink, yellow, or white. I'm hoping pink, as I already have a yellow phal. Someone told me this one was an easy one to get blooms on, I'm so glad! Bob, that's exactly how the cup is configured: a few holes a short way up from the bottom. Unfortunately I cracked it a bit one day, so the cup sits in a small ceramic planter with a little bit of water in it. The roots don't reach that far down, so I'm not worried about rot. What I do notice is that the sides of the cup, and even some of the roots, get a film of green stuff. I don't know how I feel about mystery growth in there, but then, the plant is healthy, so why mess with it? The psuedobulbs are smooth and fat, and there are several more forming. It's clearly happy. I still want to put it in a small basket or vented ceramic planter, because I like the look, and I think it will be easier to monitor and water that way. But it can wait! :)

There are lots of good field guides out there jlk, but one of my favorite and most used butterfly ID books is one titled "The Life Cycles of Butterflies: From Egg to Maturity, a Visual Guide to 23 Common Garden Butterflies." It is a VERY good reference for someone who is learning to ID the butterflies. The photos are wonderful, and there is a lot of good info there. It can be had at Amazon for about $13, but you may find it for even less elsewhere if you look. The authors of this book also have a website which is nice. You can see it here: http://www.butterflynature.com/butterflies.html My advice is to read as much as you can from many different places and look at loads of pics. I would be happy to send some nice sites to you if you'd like. Just drop an e-mail to me. :o)

chazparas, I'll throw in an extra .00001% I am positive now this is an Aster. I would of never put this together myself, I have always thought that every Aster had a daisy like flower Another sort through my seed packets and I have planted Aster azureus, Aster shortii and Plains Aster (which is an annual) So now its just waiting until next year to see what happens and it is entirely possible that I have planted New York Aster which this most closely resembles but I haven't found the seed packet. I don't know how I got mixed up with the tall and short of the plants but what has happened is I got an ID 2 for 1. Over the past year I have tried to photograph and identify every plant that has bloomed in my yard, be it a native, a weed, pretty ugly whatever, I have also tried to figure out how and why it has arrived in my yard. If I have another question I know where to come and I am sure I will get another lesson, so thank you to everyone for your help. When I get everything online I will share.

I found the other name tag. I usually make a name that sticks up and bury the nursery tag with the plant so if I have to I can dig it up and get the ID. I couldn't find this one until this am. It is Silver Gem. (My Grand girls 'helped' pull all those little tags up one year so now I do 2 and bury one.)