the first couple wouldn't swallow a house but perhaps one side of a garage 'Crepescule' can grow to be 20 feet tall and more, and unlike many climbers it has excellant re-bloom. It's an apricot-golden color with red at its' base and quite fragrant. The foliage is attractive. If you love yellow roses; 'Marechal Niel' is a marvel to behold and deeply fragrant. It re-bloom well and is in full bloom today on April 5th. I'm growing mine between two purple 'Royal Robes' it blooms more often than an average Hybrid Tea, here. R. gigantea odorata at Berkeley Botanical garden in California blooms in early spring with several hundred charming saucer sized pale golden rose blossoms, , it is climbing a tree with great enthusiasm. I've espaleried a Mermaid to keep her within bounds, against a wooden fence in my back yard. I have an Albertine too, and it has splendid large pink and salmon blooms and c. 33% re-bloom in the autumn on mature plants. For Ramblers, I'm devoted to 'The Garland' with its millions of palest pink, tiny dainty roses with pert squared-off petals that offered a sweet pervasive scent that surrounds the plant like a cloud of bliss. I'd love a 'Silver Moon' but where to plant it? my neighbors backyard on a moonless night? White Lady Banks is one of my 3 favorite white roses, I once lived where the rose garden was surrounded by a low fence where those beautiful white roses bloomed all over it in spring. Oh what joy. there is such a variation between bloom shape and character between white roses, and this one thrills me down to my toes. I was at Berkeley Horticultural nursery today and took a whiff of 'Snowflake', another member of the Banksiae and was pleased with its' sweet and moderately strong scent. I don't know how big this gets. Lux

I just now came to the forum to ask this very question. I watched what I believe was an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail BF deposit eggs on my large Rue plant this afternoon! Is this possible? I've found two eggs; one is pictured below. Does this look like one of their eggs? Most of the time, she was laying on the blooms and I've not been able to spot the eggs because the blooms are various shades of yellow and with rough surfaces. I took photos of the two eggs I found and I pinched off the leaves and put them in a container, as I don't want the wasps to get them. I so hope this is what they are as the little cats are so cute. I've only seen one little cat at a native plant nursery and at that time, I didn't know what the mature butterfly looked like. Most of the host plants mentioned are the trees and I don't know as I've ever seen it mentioned that this butterfly would use Rue. She was huge and so graceful. I watched her checking out plants in our neighbors yard, then she came to our yard, testing the plants until all of a sudden, she began laying eggs on the Rue. Mary Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Egg on Rue?

Thank you all! I was taking a little break, meanly too busy with too many things. >>I have tree swallows that like my purple martin house that fell down to about 6' above groundOh dear...everything still OK? >>How far away from the birds were you when you took the pic? About 2 feet, this picture was done with a cheap, second hand point and shoot camera Sony P43, about 4 megapixel, ....and was shot by itself by means of motion sensor/controlboard, camera needed to be hacked, 3 wires soldered inside and hocked up to motion board, this can be programed on how often pictures are taken. Camera and board is put inside a Pelican case/ sealed. 3 holes are drilled, one for flash, one for lens and one for sensor, glass is glued over for the lens and flash hole. Then all you need to do is put it up, in this case there was another tree beside the box, strapped on. Here another one, this one with a Sony P32...3 mega pix. Konrad

The last couple years I had Bluebirds nesting in snags in the back yard (both snags have since fallen over). I cut way down on the food in the feeders, which I usually do anyway in the summer, because I didn't want to attract House Sparrows. Would put out a little BOSS, but only put out the home-made suet nuggets if the Bluebirds wanted some. This Spring, I had a pair of Baltimore Orioles nesting in a large Pin Oak right above the feeders. Did the same thing, cut down on the food in the feeders, because the Orioles were very territorial about the tree. They were especially aggressive towards Blue Jays, Grackles, and Crows so I stopped throwing any tidbits on the ground (like old corn chips, which the Jays and Crows like). So I would favor the security of the nesting birds. During the summer and fall, there are normally abundant natural sources of food, so feeders are not critical. Birds eat a lot of insects and feed their young insects, so they are unlikely to starve if you aren't feeding them.