Hi nuttshell, we also have a zoo garden! My daughter will be 6 next month and she loves it. Some of the plants we have are: toad lily, teddybear sunflowers, lion's tail, alligator shoes hosta, solomon's seal, pussytoes, pigsqueak, canarybird vine, redfox veronica speedwell, foxglove, porcupine grass, songbird series columbine, agastache honeybee blue and white,sheep's bit, firefly coralbells, elephanthead amaranthus, lambs ear, turtlehead,bunnytails grass, oyster plant, cat's whiskers, spiderflower (cleome), zinnia-polarbear, zinnia-red spider, tiger-eyes viola,yellow tiger lilies,catchfly,monkey flower,rocky mountain bee plant,cardinal flower,whirling butterflies (guara), bear's breeches, butterfly bushes,hens and chicks, hens and chicks poppies,rabbit ears(spanish lavendar) and purple horsemint. We also have edibles like canary melon, green zebra tomato, walking stick kale (like the odd bug called walking stick), baby bear pumpkin, blue-jay blueberries and tiger melon. We even put in a white flowering dogwood tree. Whew..I think that is everything. We have been very busy with this. We started it about a month ago. We connected it to our shed with one of those small white garden fences. I made a path to circle around it and then put in lots of statues and stepping stones. We also put a bench in there. Maybe this fall the two of them could exchange seeds for animal named plants from their gardens. When we have finished with ours I will have to post some pics. We both hope you have a wonderful time in your garden.~Heather

I've seen this type of thing fairly frequently. Sometimes a pollinated tomato blossom will sit in a "dormant" state for as long as a month or more before actually growing. I've never been able to pin down what the exact cause is, but it seems to have a connection with how much "extra energy" the plant has. In other words, if my plant has tons of fruit already on it, the newer blossoms seems more likely to go dormant until some of the tomato fruit ripen and come off. Then - when the plant has more juice to spare - the sleepy buds awaken and start growing. Kevin

For those who have said that rabbits will not bother tomato plants, or that tomato leaves will poison the rabbits that eat them, this is not true. Rabbits will eat young tomato plants right down to the ground and live to eat more tomato plants the next day. So will deer. I don't know about western deer or rabbits. I'm talking about cottontail rabbits and whitetail deer in the east. And I've seen this when gardening in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Indiana. It seems that young rabbits will eat the young tomato plants more frequently than mature rabbits. Nonetheless, I lose a few tomato plants every year within a week or so after transplanting them. This year I watched from a window as one little rabbits nipped a plant right off at the ground and ate the entire thing. He died, but it was from lead poisoning. I also had to dispatch two of his kin who were feasting on my wife's impatiens. Two other little bunnies I was able to catch were relocated to location with a more appropriate rabbit buffet. Later in the season, after the tomato plants have grown taller and the stems are stiffer or "woodier," the rabbits seem to just nibble a bit on low hanging leaves which doesn't bother me at all. But still, I've seen them eat all the leaves off a tomato or pepper plant when the plant was two feet tall. They stand on their hind legs and "walk" the plant down and chomp off all the leaves one-by-one. You can tell the difference between rabbit damage and deer damage because rabbits nip off the foliage or stems in one clean diagonal cut while deer nibble in such a way as to leave a frayed cut. When I first transplant tomatoes, I try to protect them with some sort of surround like salvaged 1-gallon black plastic buckets with the bottoms cut out or a little cylinder of chicken wire or wire fabric. Deer will tomato plants and will eat them even after they have grown taller and become less tender. Deer also are rather fold of green tomatoes and will pull them off the plant and munch on them like apples, leaving half eaten tomatoes several feet from the plant. Anyone who thinks rabbits and deer won't eat tomato plants or that their eating tomato plants will result in poisoning them is in for an eventual disappointment. It might not happen this year. But it will happen some day. And it has nothing to do with the animal's need for water. They will eat tomato plants and tomato fruit even when there is water standing in the furrows.

"Blossom-Drop" is a condition suffered by tomatoes, peppers, snap beans, and some other fruiting vegetables where the plant blooms but fails to set fruit, the blooms die and fall off. It may be caused by the use of excess nitrogen fertilizers or dry windy conditions, but the most common cause is temperature extremes. Tomatoes, peppers and beans are especially picky about the air temps when it comes time to set fruit. If the night temps fall below 55 or rise above 75 or if the day temps are above 90, the pollen becomes tacky and non-viable. Pollination cannot occur. If the bloom isn't pollinated, the bloom dies and falls off. Control: Water the plants deeply once a week, mulch heavily to maintain constant soil moisture levels, establish windbreaks as needed, avoid using excessive amounts of nitrogen fertilizers, and wait for temperatures to moderate and stabilize. Earlier timed planting can help attain fruit set prior to the on-set of high temps, and the use of protection can compensate for cool nights. Some recommend attempting hand-pollination with an artist brush or a gentle shaking of the plant/cage/support prior to the hottest part of the day will also help. Fruit set will resume when temperatures moderate. Hormone sprays, such as "Blossom Set", may prevent some blossom drop due to LOW temperatures. However, the resulting fruit are often misshapen. But studies prove that hormone sprays do not prevent blossom drop due to HIGH temperatures.