I get those yellow/orange aphids on my H. linearis any time I put the plant outside. I have only ever seen them on H. linearis and on nothing else in the yard - at all, so I don't know where they come from and why they like H. linearis so much. A little Ivory or Dove dish soap in a spray bottle of water should kill them on contact. You could even add just a bit of alcohol to the mix and I would think the buds would be OK, and not damaged by the treatment. I think I read that none of the systemic insecticides go into the flower buds so treating with a systemic won't do anything to keep the sh!ts at bay. Good luck, it's never fun to find bugs of any kind, although, aphids are one of the easier bugs to control. Mike

Someone told me that thistles are one plant that you don't want growing on a prairie or meadow. Where thistles grow, nothing grows around them and they will crowd everything else out. It is like what walnut trees do - some sort of chemical in the plant doesn't allow other plants to grow close to them. Then they put out thousands of little seeds and every single one of them (or so it seems) germinates. But, the pictures are pretty and the color and shape of the flowers are pretty. I just wouldn't want them growing in a pasture or meadow if it was my land.

Depending on how long I cross my eyes to make the layers separate, I can see four layers, but none is the complete shape of a starfish. I can also make just a starfish appear, and make a square, with the concave the starfish inside, stand out on the page. I can get the Magic Eye Tuesday image to have one peak or three, depending on how I focus. I'm going to have to find that book and try them again. Anyone tried inserting her hand or finger into the image standing out on the page? Weird!

Am thinking this is the guy who caused me to finally wave the white flag here regarding my 2 1/2 year struggle to grow my beloved beefsteak tomato's. Tomato's that I had grown successfully for years in my two previous homes,..NW New Jersey and The Upper Keys, ( Islamorada ), - with only minor pests that I had no problem dealing with. However, after 2 1/2 stressful years outside in my raised bed here, fighting more pests than I ever had in the past, in desperation, I moved my 1/2 dozen plants onto the lanai bordering the SE side of my home. Hey, got's ta be an ideal spot, right ? Plenty of sun, AND a screen to keep out most of the tomato-crazed gluttons. Well, I naively hovered smilingly over my transplanted large green treasures as they slowly ripened, - they seemed to finally be free,..at last ! On about the 3rd day I went out to check them in the early AM as usual,..a believer in the old adage, " the best care a plant can receive is to have it's owners shadow pass over it every day ! " Content with what I saw, I began to turn away,...but wait ! Did I see a slight movement in there ? Turning back, leaned in closer and saw the slowly repetitious up and down head of this two inch long, fat, green ( what looked to me like ) caterpillar,..methodically and silently chewing away as he slowly crawled along, creating a trench that extended another two inch's behind him ( her ). It's green color blended in with the green tomato completely,..very hard to detect with only a casual look ! I was speechless (Hey, I'm a NYC transplant, OK ? ). I looked at the other tomato plants and spotted another one. I've been referring to them as " caterpillars ", but could easily be this " worm ? " YUCK either way ! lol That was it, threw all the plants into the garden trash bin and gave up any further ideas of growing tomato's in this part of Florida. The thing that surprised me most was that in my previous home's, I grew these same beefsteak tomatoes for years without any trouble ! Sooo, are these ugly green guys territorial ? Just my curiosity ! Content now with my bananas and mango's,.. life is much simpler ! ( smile )