The Frits usually stay around here all year - not in great numbers but its not unusual to see them on warm winter days. Earlier this sprung they totally disappeared. I couldn't believe it. Then I would see one occasionally. It has only been the last couple of weeks that I am finding multiple cats on my Suberosa. I can't post pictures now - DS's network I use isn't cooperating for me so he will have to stay another for me. I had gotten a Virginia Snakeroot from Loess Roots(?) a couple years ago and really thought it had rotted away in the winter. Never saw anything last year but this year I found this vine that when I looked up the Snakeroot, sure looks like it. It has spread and is going up my oak tree. I think I will put a couple of the Pipevines if they hatch on it to see if they will eat it. My white veined is really small and wouldn't last for more than 1 maybe. My Orange Dogs look good. I was really sad that the wasp got the others. i had only brought in two since I knew they might eat each other. Thought I would get another cage set up and then bring in the others but I was too late. Now I just need to find a small Sulphur to bring in. I find eggs but seldom do they hatch if I bring the Cassia in. Usually the leaves dry up. They still prefer my Christmas Cassia over my Candlestick or Pride of Burma.

Leava, The watering issue always will be with us so I try not to stress over it when I have to stop watering and let plants die, which generally happens about 1 out of 3 years here. Unfortunately, it often happens 2 or 3 years in a row, but then after that, I know it likely won't happen for a while again. It is excrutiating to leave our lovingly-raised plants to suffer, but that's just how it is when you live and garden in an area prone to drought. It is a shame that some years we have way too much water and other years we have way too little, but we sure can't do anything about it. Succession planting sounds harder than it is. If you know you're planting broccoli, for example, and it matures in 60 days from transplant, just look at the calendar 60 days out from your transplant date and ask yourself what grows well if planted in that month. I usually start seeds of succession crops in tiny bathroom-sized paper cups with the bottoms cut out about 5-7 days before I expect to harvest the in-ground plants. Then, with harvest in the morning and transplanting the new crop (cups and all to lessen transplant shock) in the afternoon (or evening if the weather is very hot), that bed doesn't stay out of production long. You also can plant many succession crops by direct-sowing the seed in the ground, but with each crop you have to know your soil temps and air temps and make sure it isn't too hot for the succession crop to sprout. I just like starting mine inside in cups so I'll have an "instant replacement" and fill up that space and put it to work right away. I hate sowing seed in summer, waiting a week or two for it to sprout, and then having to thin or replant in areas as needed. I'd rather have the sure think of plugging in a growing plant into each bit of available space. Really, if you're replacing cool season crops, you have to replace them with a warm season crop so that narrows down your choices a lot, and it shouldn't be tomatoes or peppers (unless they're a new batch for fall) since they already should be in the ground before you're harvesting something like broccoli or cabbage. It can be harder to decide on succession crops for fall because you can choose from both some shorter-season warm-season crops or some of the cool-season crops. For fall, I try to plant more of whatever we have put up the least of or whatever we like the best. I don't necessarily succession crop after mid-summer if it is a very dry summer because there's no point in planting something that will struggle with a lack of water. Dawn

Thanks Devon, next to roses Hydrangea's are my favourite plant - brings back memories from home of tea plantations and good times with family :o) Thank you Leslie, Niecey & Jean - you are kind. Adrienne, thank you, you are welcome to come visit my garden any time - must warn you though - the pictures are better looking than the actual garden :o) - I've crammed in so many roses it's a jumble - but actually I like it that way. The heatwave is easing around here, though we live close to the Bay so it does not get that hot for us. Aprille

Thank you for the advice Bob. I got my Onc maybe a month ago and of course lost the bloom spike within the first 2 weeks (no telling how old that spike was before I bought it). The very first thing I noticed was that it came from the grower in this charcoal chunky mix that doesn't seem to retain hardly any moisture at all. Hence the bulbs wrinkling and the new leaves accordioning. As I have had great success with rePotme's phal mix I looked to see what their Onc mixes looked like to see if I could get a better idea of what I should be transplanting mine into. They have 2 Onc mixes, one is coconut husk chips, perlite and stalite and the other is pine bark, turface and lava rock. So that gave me a starting ground but I usually play a little conservatively with new plants so when I re-potted it I mixed equal parts of the stuff it was already in with coconut husk chips and maybe 15 strands of long fiber Spagh. (the good stuff, New Zealand long fiber, nice and clean) The roots on that poor plant were horrible! It was in a black square plastic pot with several drainage holes at the bottom but none on the sides and the roots were literally wrapped around and around and around the inside of the pot and most of them were dead.Not rotted and mushy, just dead. The velamin was all dry and just pulled away from the obviously dead roots (strings galore) So I cut away the dead roots, put it in a smaller orchid growers pot, (clear with slits in the side/holes in the bottom) with the above mentioned mix. However if, from a fellow northern grower, I get advice of straight sphag then I am inclined to listen. Alyssa, what do you grow your Onc's in?