Mary, great picture!!! I really like the gold better than the red...it doesn't seem to get as infested with aphids here! I currently have a ton of both colors of tropical milkweed just waiting for the migration! I hope the predators move on out before they arrive in numbers! I have a plant of what the Texas Discovery Gardens sold as Swan Flower... not sure if it is the same as A.physocarpa but this is the second year to grow it with no flowers! The queens have ignored it as well as the swamp milkweed I have planted. No flowers on it either! The foliage is tall & green but I haven't seen any interest in it by monarchs, queens or even any predators on it as well! I also have some common & some showy out in my BF bed that is in full sun that looks totally bedraggled because of the sun & heat! I think I will cut it back to see if it will put out some new growth for fall...the leaves are all yellowed & dry!!! I didn't realize that showy & common both put out runners & small plants are coming up all over the large bed! I don't mind but it is really invasive! I had dug up some A.viridis last year & planted it out in another bed that is covered with Cowpen Daisies that I occasionally water & there is new growth & one plant has a large flower on it! I have been trying to wash all the plants to keep the aphids down & squishing any Milkweed bugs I see! I have gotten a ton of both Yellow & Red Tropical seeds if anyone wants some as well as seeds for A.asperula & viridis from earlier this summer!!!???

I've linked a picture of my rearing box. I just brought home 4 GF cats from a local nursery that was almost out of plant leaves to feed them...I use a clear small file box with small $1 vases I bought at 'Wallyworld' to keep the cuttings alive for the cats. I've raised cats of all kinds for the last 5 years in a couple of these file boxes & I use plastic screening you can buy & cut between the lid & the top of the box to prevent escapees! I usually don't bring in eggs unless the wasps are every where! This was the first year I brought in eggs as well as very small cats because there were so many wasps! Hope this helps! Contact me if you want to ask about it! Take care & Happy Butterflying! Lila Here is a link that might be useful:

I live in Central Alabama, and moved to a new house 4 1/2 years ago. I have seen this couple every season in my small backyard, and at first didn't know what they were. They are so beautiful, and larger than the photos in any of my bird reference books. I am so happy to know that they have actually chosen to nest here in my yard. The shrub the nest is in is an abelia, and I have several of them. They get very dense, and I thinned out the foliage and removed several of the branches. I hope the towhees don't decide not to nest with me again because of it. I'll have to be a little less vigorous with my cutting and pruning next season. I found an empty nest in another abelia and I'm thinking that they may have used it last season.

Nancy, We all seem like we have cold symptoms down here, but it is just the standard spring allergy crap we have every year when the trees are pollinating. I'll be so glad when it is over! The funny thing about frost blankets....when I first read about them in Dr. Sam Cotner's book, which I guess was around the mid to late 1980s, I scoffed at the thought of buying any sort of special textile to cover up plants to protect them from the cold. I thought it was a ridiculous idea, and they were so new (and we didn't have the internet for research) that you couldn't find any info about them from people who actually had used them. To be fair, I lived in zone 8 and we really didn't have that much cold weather after February, so late cold weather really wasn't much of an issue. Then we moved here.....and now I think they are essential. Jennifer, A blanket or sheet would be less damaging. Plastic conducts cold to any plant part that touches it, so I'd only use plastic if it was the only option and if I could wrap it around a cage or stakes or something so that no part of it touched the plants. I don't cover up cool-season anything....only warm-season stuff. Rebecca, I'm glad the tax refund will cover the car repairs. Nancy, I saved the plant shopping for tomorrow. Today the wind was blowing so hard down here as and after the cold front rolled through, and the wind chill was in the 30s, which is not conducive to walking around in outside garden centers looking at plants. We ran a bunch of errands and I hated getting out of the vehicle every time we stopped somewhere. I would have plant shopped (and frozen and then regretted it) but Tim said it was too cold and couldn't we just do it tomorrow, so I said OK. Larry, Hang in there. The cold and the wet soil have to clear up eventually, though it is hard to guess when it will happen. Moni, It sounds like you're staying really busy! Jennifer, I only covered up the tomato plants, and did most of that prep work yesterday. Late this afternoon, I went out to the garden, picked up the fence poles that were lying flat on the ground to hold down the row covers, pulled the row covers over the hoops to completely cover the beds, and then laid fence posts on the southern edges of the row covers to hold them down. I attached the row covers to the hoops on the south side of the beds with zip ties so they wouldn't blow away in the strong late afternoon wind. I was so relieved I had gotten the hoops and row covers in place yesterday when there was substantially less wind because it would have been hard to wrestle with those row covers in today's wind. I don't cover up cool-season stuff or any of the perennials....they all have endured much colder weather than the 32 degrees in the forecast for us for tomorrow morning, so I know they can handle it. Most chickens start laying before they are 6 months old, and a lot start at 5 months, so it seems like Stormy actually is a bit late, but blame that on winter and daylength. I doubt this weekend is the last gasp of cold weather and I just want to get through it, get it over with, and get on with planting more warm-season stuff. Warm season volunteers are sprouting in the garden again, so I know our soil is plenty warm---it has been hitting the 70s by about noon every day so technically I can direct-sow any seeds and expect them to sprout pretty quickly. It is annoying to have to cover up anything, but I had it so much worse before I invested in row covers and started using them. I used to have to gather up every bucket, flower pot, basket, box, etc. that I could find and then I'd through old textiles over them....blankets, quilts, sheets, table cloths, curtains, etc. My garden always looked like an odd redneck yard sale was going on by the time I got everything covered up. Now, at least when I have to cover up plants, the row covers go over the low tunnel hoops and it is easy to put those things out, and then to put them away. And, it no longer looks like I am hosting a yard sale in the garden. This year when I was getting out the heavy Dewitt row covers to use, I came across what was left of my Reemay and Agribon from many years ago...old, shredded, literally falling apart in my hands, so I bagged it up for the trash. It all lasted much longer than its stated life but it all was in poor shape and it was time to dispose of it. I won't miss it---the heavier weight stuff is so much stronger and I won't miss that lighter stuff. Our younger granddaughter is at her dad's house this weekend, but the older one is with us, so we took her shopping and out to eat lunch at her favorite restaurant and then tonight we went to see the movie, "Dumbo", which she absolutely adored. She said she can't wait to go back to see it next weekend with her mom and little sister, which means she really did like it a lot. I am not a huge fan of going and seeing a movie again after I just saw it, but some people like watching them multiple times, and she surely does. The bluebonnets are gorgeous in Texas right now and mine are substantially behind them, but that's okay---mine are still early, it is just that theirs were even earlier. I cannot get over how many trees are leafing out. It is happening in the blink of an eye---except for the pecan trees. Mother Nature rarely fools the pecan trees, and this year is no exception. We'll see if they start leafing out after this weekend cold spell ends, or if they're holding out a bit longer. I cannot believe all our fruit trees are done blooming already and it isn't even April yet. I hope all our plants come through tonight and the next two chilly nights with no damage. Dawn