Maryann - I understand what your mother was feeling, but please tell her it is a very natural feeling. For many years every time I first went to a new country to do the butterflies I had a little nervousness about the new species of dangerous critters I might encounter while there. But once I ran into my first on a trip and it all ended well, they were pretty much forgotten the rest of the trip. I soon got over being nervous when going someplace new. A little story on myself... I well remember my first trip to another country specifically to do butterflies many, many years ago. I was nervous after hearing all the stories about the numerous species of poisonous snakes, spiders, scorpions, tree frogs and plants in Costa Rica. Having a friend who was also lep smitten that was born and lived there would help a lot though. First day out I went hiking in a rainforest alone as Olaf couldn't get away from his finca until the next day. I was tip-toeing around looking for a specific bug in very thick cover that I just knew the countries entire population of Terciopelo (Fer-de-lance) probably lived in, and that they were all just waiting there for me to get close enough. I had plodded along for hours not finding the bug I was after, and luckily also no "Ticos". Then I finally caught a glimpse of what I was looking for flying along the ground in a small glade, Cithaerias menander. I know of no common name other than to lump it in with the Clearwings. They are on the small size of medium and don't fly fast, but the are very difficult to see in the dark dappled light of a rain forest due to their all clear wings except for a splash of red on the hind wings and flying close to the ground darting around plants. They seem to appear and disappear with every wing beat and are very easily lost sight of. I stalked at first trying to intercept this jewel, and then ended up running full out when that failed and I spooked it to finally net my first example of this bug. I had run in leaps and bounds for a long way and had completely forgotten about the Ticos. After realizing that I never worried about them again. I had plenty of encounters with them later on that trip (and other nasty things), but with the insight of Olaf I learned and kept out of trouble. BTW, a later trip down there with Olaf to do some specific backlighting was always referred to after it by us as The Night of the Jaguar (and later always saw a blank stare in Olaf's eyes when we talk about it). But that's another story. LOL L.

Sue, No, that isn't what I meant. By the time I got around to taking this picture the tree was well past its peak of pushing out healthy new leaves. We had had some rain, and some of the leaves had already dropped. Some of the remaining leaves had lost some of their crisp colors. A few weeks earlier it was just a more beautiful little tree. Your question raises the concern I've thought about (and people here have commented on). Will the leaves gradually lose their variegation? Time will tell. 2008 was my tree's second full year. When I got it around Jan., 2007 it was a tiny rooted cutting. As of this year it showed no signs of weakening variegation. I'll be watching it next year for this. One limb (a lower limb) from the beginning has had normal leaves - with no variegation. I've got more notes on this topic, and I'll post more later. Henry

Well, here's my hope that everything in your yard survives! I missed this post originally, but I like it. I'm still not growing nearly as much as I know could be grown in my climate, but my little plot of hardy arugula makes me happy every time I have a salad, knowing I'm eating more greens because I'm growing it, and consuming less petroleum for the same reason. Healthier for me and the earth. And each time I eat one of my own tomatoes or cucumbers or beans, I'm happy about that too, for the same reasons. I do that less, because I'm still learning and nothing is quite as easy as arugula. Another great book for gardeners, in this vein, is Animal Vegetable Miracle. Though I found her tomato sauce recipe bland, the rest of the book was great. Susannah

The really tall ones in the planters with the variegated leaves and the soft pink/orange flowers are Canna "Stuttgart", The ones with the Orange Flowers in the middle of the garden are Canna "Orange Crush". The ones in my front yard red with red flower are Canna "Australia". The Stuttgart's were advertised at 6' tall total height, the Australia's were advertised at 5" total height. I had both of them pushing almost 10' in some instances more. I owe it all to Milorganite. I also used Milorganite with heavy feedings on my Banana's. The Musa in the front yard was potted last year and I planted it this spring. It started out as a single stalk roughly 3' tall. At the end of the season it was pushing 12' with roughly 7-8 stalks. I also had the "red" Banana in the back garden that started out as a single stalk, 3' tall and grew to almost 9' with multiple stalks. The Picture I`ve attached was taken June 28th.