A guy that lives two doors down came over tonight to show me a picture of a moth which he had found on his house. He thought it was a weird Cecropia but I wasn't buying that because the body had none of the colorations of a Cecropia. I suspected it was a Tulip Tree Moth but since I had never seen one before, I grabbed my Covell book and found out my suspicion was correct. I planted a Tulip Tree last year with the hope that Tulip Tree Moths were in the neighborhood. Now, I have more than hope :D KC

Well, Peggy, if you say so too, then it must be true! I'm very glad I only grew one plant. I can't believe there's such a thing as a home-grown tomato that isn't even worth bothering to eat, and I grew Celebrity for several years, before I learned better. As for variability, the much-praised German Red Strawberry and Green Grape are ok, though nothing to inspire any excitement -- but I am holding off on judgment for these varieties until we get some decent tomato weather, or maybe I'll even try them again next year before deciding. (Of course, even in a bad year, Arkansas Traveller is always good.) But why on earth would a company send out free seeds for a yucky variety, thereby PROVING that their catalog descriptions are hooey?

Ilene, I've been wondering where you'd been! I agree with you. I do think there is a big climate difference between extreme southern Oklahoma and northern Oklahoma, especially northeastern Oklahoma. For starters, we are are the 'sunny side of the Arbuckles', though you can't tell much difference this year! I think we get a little hotter, perhaps, in late July and early August of some years. Our first year here we had a string of 110 to 115 degree days in early August that lasted about a week, and I was ready to pack up and move back to Texas, where it 'only' gets to about 105, maybe 106 on very hot days. Most of the time y'all have higher humidity and higher rainfall. Y'all also have generally better soils and colder winters. We have earlier springs most years, and we have occasional days in January through March where the temps spike up into the 80s and even the 90s, which will make us think it is spring even though it is not. I don't know if your winter temps are as erratic as ours, or if they are more consistently winter-like? I think our frost-free growing season is a few days longer than yours, but not much. We do get away with pushing the envelope as far as planting early, because our late cold spells tend to be briefer and not as cold as your late cold spells. If you are familiar with the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and its weather, ours is very, very similar to theirs--only slightly hotter in the summer and slightly colder in the winter. As far as whether you are a Yankee or not? I don't think so! I have to admit though, that when I was growing up in Texas, it was generally accepted that everyone who was NOT from Texas was, in fact, a damn Yankee! Now just find a single person in Texas who was even born in Texas! The Yankees have all moved south and become Texanized. Ilene, I was pinching back the lemon and lime basil earlier today because they are trying to flower and I am trying to stop them. I could pinch back basil all day--it smells so good. I have a big pot of tomatoes on the stove boiling down so I can make spaghetti sauce for dinner. In a few minutes I am going to run out to the garden and pick some Italian large leaf basil and some parsley to use. Yum. I am just like you--tired of the rain but afraid to say so out loud for fear I will jinx us and the rain will totally stop. It has happened to us before--we have gone from a VERY wet spring to a July and August where virtually no rain fell, and it is amazing how quickly the moisture in the ground dissipates! I hope they are careful with their water releases so your area doesn't have to deal with more flooding. Your little old lady friends sound so precious and sweet--I always liked the Baldwin sisters. When I was growing up we had a lot of older ladies like them and they got me addicted to gardening. I remember them working out in their yards and gardens wearing cotton housedresses in lovely floral prints, and very sensible shoes, and big straw hats, and very proper gardening gloves of course. I may be more comfortable in my jeans, T-shirts, baseball cap and hiking boots as I work in the garden.....but I don't look like a 'southern lady gardener' the way they used to! We've been fighting the grass too as it attempts to take over the world, especially in the beds where all the 'prety' stuff grows. It seems like all we do is mow and weedeat lately, in between rain showers, of course. I hate to say it, cause I'll jinx us, but not a drop of rain has fallen at our place today. There--I went ahead and said it--now it will probably start pouring down rain at any moment. :) I need to go gather some herbs. Talk to you all laer. Dawn

Same here, grown hank one year. Small, pink, seedy and was very productive. Yeah I am repeating what Neil said because I had the same results. ;) One extra note, I thought the flavor was more acidic than average and maybe slightly bordered on bitter at times (although that was subtle). Not bad tasting but I didn't like how seedy it was.