My neighbor has a beautiful plant that blooms profusely each year. I harvested seeds back in late October and WS a number of milk jugs. Germination was slow and unreliable unlike my Stokesia 'Klaus Jelitto' that I harvested seeds from. Those germinated really well and I've several healthy WS plants waiting to be planted. The cream colored 'Mary Gregory' didn't have many flowers last year so the seed supply was limited. This year there are quite a lot of buds so I expect to expand my stokesia display next year and in years to come. I'd give a lot for anything like yours Christie. The photos are spectacular and an inspiration to me to keep trying until I can post a similar view. If all the seeds I WS had germinated, I'd have dozens of plants. At least the few I did get are sturdy and growing stronger every day. Healthy plants = healthy flowers = plenty of seeds. Thanks so much for showing off your pictures!

Our bluebirds usually fledge on day 17 or 18, so it won't be long now! The parents might stop feeding them, or bring food and not let them have it, hovering in front of them and teasing. They will get hungry, and the parents will call to them. Eventually, each one will get up into the entrance hole (or window LOL), and peek out more and more, often going back in, while others take a turn. When you see toes on the windowsill, they are very, very close. Once I watched a little boy try to take off, but he would not let go of the box. Then he had one wing in and one wing out. It took him about a 1/2 hour to figure out what to do next, but he eventually made it to the trees. The parents will then guide them to the safety of the trees, either by calling them or leading them. Our best hope is that when they go, they can really fly, otherwise, they are vulnerable to predators; hawks and cats and such. Enjoy the show. And don't blink. We set up a video camera once, to try to catch one bluebird fledging. The whole 8-hour tape was absolutly nothing--no peeking, no toes, nothing. At about 7 hours & 45 minutes into the tape, a blur went by. That was it! BlueBars

Thanks so much everyone! Hazie, I did think about grouting it, but decided that I liked the swirly copper clour of the ball showing through. I have another plain black one that I will do with grout when I get it done. Barb, I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. All my new treasures have my head spinning with ideas. As soon as I decide on one I'll be sure to post pics. Cindy

Wow! I love it! What brand, and color of stain did you use? I am working on an antique table and have the grime and old finish off of it. I went to Lowe's and HD yesterday for GF gel stain and finish coat just to find out that neither store carries it. I am so frustrated. I really wanted to at least stain it this weekend. I was looking at using the GF candlelite finish but that may be too light. I really like the java stain also but IMO it will be darker than I want. Your table looks to be about the shade I was hoping for.