Runmede, that is a pretty sweet setup! I don't think I have the room for a big tent, but I really like those big tubs of milkweed that you can swap out. I may have to come up with a bigger enclosure so I can try tubs like that outside. The enclosure I have now has a curved zippered door and a little threshold that I have to lift the pot over and kind of tip it in at an angle, which is not too easy. I had tried using my enclosure inside to move the chrysalids to so that when they eclose I can just bring the whole thing outside and release them. The only problem was that it wouldn't fit through the doorway! I had to carry each butterfly outside in my hands. Here is a picture of the enclosure. From 2009_08 These enclosures get pretty nasty after being outside for even a short period of time unfortunately. Plus being exposed to the heat means the pots dry out very quickly. Last year I set it up outside without enough bricks in the bottom and the whole thing blew over! I'm wondering if I should get some smaller versions of this type of enclosure to use inside and have several extra smaller pots of milkweed growing outside that I can rotate inside for each fresh batch of cats. Does anyone do this? How long can a pot of tropical milkweed survive indoors with the lower light? Right now I am doing the floral foam wrapped in plastic wrap to hold cuttings in clear rubbermaid containers. Living plants are a lot easier than doing cuttings. It is hard to gauge how much they are going to eat before the next cleaning. Last week I found myself outside at midnight during a thunderstorm getting more milkweed :) Oh well, the neighbors already know I am a nutball after seeing me moving around my 200 milk jugs in the snow for my wintersowing!

Friday I went out to the nursery again and bought Portulacas and Zinnias. Yesterday I got all the two flats of Portulacas planted. I think they are going to look extra nice as I put most in the terraces garden by the kitchen door. In the first terrace. The rest I put way out front around a sedum plant. They are budded up but not in bloom yet so I will take pictures once they start blooming. Got the Sundail Mix. Then I had bought two flats of Cut and Come Again Zinias. Got one flat planted between the middle of the second of those same terraces garden between daylilies were I had left room and the rest out front in the topmost of the two belgium block mini terraces. Still have the bottom terrace to do. But not today as I instead finished the planting of the last flat and a half of violas I had sitting here. Was raining this morning but trying to clear up some now. Enough for me to plant at any rate. So I have lots of zinnias this year. I had already planted a flat of State Fair Zinnias in the backyard, above the daylily terraces garden. Back to the main subject, the violas were harder to get planted as I planted them in that Columbine garden, more out front in between the tulips that are in there. I had to work around the tulips. I had the violas for weeks but had to wait, couldn't get them planted. I was afraid I would break off the tulip blooms. Now that they are almost done, I am not worried about breaking off blooms. Most are done anyway.

It is a treat to come in when time is available, to see what is happening with other gardeners around the world, not just here in our country. It is the dang hot humid month of August down here, and is really miserable. We still have Sept to go through yet too, so summer is here for us yet awhile longer. Yesterday I worked on my website, and that took all day up until almost 6 pm. I still have more I want to do, but after looking at html code all day, reworking things and uploading everything, it was most definitely time for a break. Thanks everyone for posting. It's what makes this a great forum. Solana ~ You are welcome, although I was mainly just a cheerleader as I am still learning the ways of my camera also. Do post your blog addy when it's up and running for that trip you took this summer. It will be a mini vacation for all of us without having to leave our homes. FlowerLady

I've been really frustrated with weeding too, living on 2 acres with lots of grass to invade beds and lots of flower beds I kept up with until I was gone for the whole month of June one year and all the grasses went to seed. I spend a lot of time I don't want weeding, but I've seen progress in a few beds that actually don't need weeding this year. It's largely due to groundcovers but sometimes to just having the perennials close enough to each other to really fill in. I like Pulmonaria for that, they have lovely spring bloom and then nice variegated foliage and self-sow, but are low and complementary to other perennials. As Hortster points out, gc that really fill in are by nature invasive. I use some invasive things that still don't overrun perennials. Herb Robert is one that helps, probably regarded with horror by most, but it is very easy to pull out and really covers ground. Then I have a little wild violet with heart-shaped leaves that spreads fast and is very low. I also use some variegated Vinca Minor, Acaena saccaticulpula "Blue Haze", Acaena inermis purpureum, Ajuga, and in the fall I sow corn salad in beds, at least here it grows all winter and is edible, then makes tiny white flowers in spring and self-sows, then disappears. It helps occupy ground so the weeds can't in early spring. Another wonderful plant in that respect is Anemone nemarosa, a rhizome that makes a nice clump 3" tall, and is covered with flowers in early spring, shutting out weeds, then goes dormant by summer and disappears. I'm marking where I have nice clumps and digging in late summer and spreading them through my beds. I'm spreading a couple of other gc's in one bed as an experiment, Lamium maculatum "beacon silver", and the tiny wild lawn daisy Bellis ? that blooms a lot, clumps up, and self-sows. I have Columbine sown from seeds (and they self-sow) that sometimes I regard as a weed, especially when I have to trim off all the spent flower stalks, but I have a dwarf form that stays low. They are blooming now and make all the beds look like fairy-land. I'm planning to collect all the seeds and spread them all over one very weedy bed that has come up solid grass, in hopes they will shade it out over a few years. The foliage is nice, a blue green low clump. Anyways, that's my current strategy. Nancy