Thanks, John. I have a thyrallis. I like its color and it is a perennial in my garden. It doesn't seem to attract butterflies or hummingbirds though. I had a California Daisy before and it got very big with little attention from butterflies. Thanks for the heads up regarding the possible nematode problem. I will plant the Black-Eyed Susans in very rich soil and hope they make it through one season at least. It's not easy to find yellow plants that really attract butterflies.

Great list of questions! Thanks for the general framework to think through my decisions here - super helpful. We have a very small backyard in which I am constantly tinkering - the back fence is a pretty prominent feature because of the size of the yard - and right now it's still dry dusty dirt mostly except for the two veggie beds, and the giant orange tree. So, to answer your questions: -I am very "into" gardening (borderline obsessed maybe?) though new to it, happy to trim a couple times a month; - I don't need flowers all the time - seasonal flowers I think are appreciated differently/more in fact, but either is fine; - flower debris is fine (I would probably just let it fall into the beds and become mulch around the other future-plants if possible? Also happy to sweep them - orange tree drops loads of debris it turns out); - our yard backs up to a concrete garage pad and concrete walkways at the backs of the other properties, so I don't think it could creep anywhere really - as long as it doesn't shoot vines 20 feet underground; - I am concerned about invasive plants generally and invested in native plants in our front yard - so don't want to plant anything that will get eaten by birds and dropped into Griffith Park (Pampas grass, tree of heaven, ice plant for instance are all terrible) - I am also somewhat impatient - less so in my front yard where I've planted for the long-term and happy to wait - backyard is like an extension of our living room.... in the pic you can see the fence and the orange tree and patio relationship - I also need to be mindful of orange tree roots too... you can just barely see the dichondra, salvia and penstemons I just bought and am trying to place in front of the fence....oh and the lovely view of the neighbor's garage...;)

We have a lot of them, so I just wait until their flowers are all dried out on the plant and the flower stems are dry. Then cut off the flowers and catch them in a plastic ziplock box and shake. The seed falls out and I dump the rest of the deadheads in my black-eyed susan patch so that any seeds I missed will direct sow. I leave the seed (in the box) out in the sunshine on my porch table for a while to make sure that any buggies present wander off. Lynda

Since I do not like blackeyed peas, I would eat only 2 for luck on New Years day, and only ate those because my mother insisted. She said that when she was "expecting me" she cooked dried black eyed peas often as they were a staple during the post depression years, and that she had to hold her nose while opening the lid to add water because of morning sickness. I still do not care for them, but like crowder and purple hulled ones.