Open-pollinated daylilies may or may not come true to the parent, depending on if there are other DLs nearby, which would create a hybrid unlike the parent. Stellas are vigorous, and will spread for you quickly- making a nice sized mound in 2-3 years, which, when they start looking REALLY nice & full, is when you want to divide it. Daylilies are hardy & tough; you can throw them over a cliff and they'll root. If you WANT to grow those seeds, wait until the pod is dry & brown and opens on its own, then collect and sow them. Another variety if you're really fond of stella is Black-eyed stella, which has a lovely little orangey-red ring (eye) around the middle of the bloom. And if you're REALLY looking to get hooked, head on over to the DL forum for some real eye-candy. Have fun!

Hey there, Gang! Our dark eyed Juncos showed up here in S. Wisconsin early this week (much to my surprise)! I took it as a sign that winter is on its way. I can always tell the Juncos from other birds because of the very dark back and that big, fat WHITE belly! In fact, my first winter I called them flying snowballs because I didn't yet know what they were called. I must confess that I never noticed the tail feathers, striped or otherwise. Ken, do you remember seeing the fat tummies on your mystery birds? Char

Well I think I've finally made my decision for what to buy. (lol - Got about 1 more week before I need order bulbs so a change is always possible, but not likely.) I've been reading up on aquarium lighting. No disrespect to the many knowledgeable people within the gardening online community, but on the whole, the aquarium lighting community is way more sophisticated than the terrestrial plant lighting community. The sales market is pretty much like the plant market, doesn't provide much data and prices of bulbs similar but a little cheaper. But the user community never talks about lumens; they talk in terms of PPFD, which we know is the best photosynthesis related unit of light measurement. I'm going to start a new thread about the great data you can get through the aquarium community and raise the question of why can't the land gardeners do the same. I'll leave my discussion of their data to the new thread so let's meet there if you interested in that. Aquarium folks like high color temps, so for HID, they use metal halides, probe and start. So you can find lots of great info on MH but essentially none on HPS or conversion bulbs. Some aquarium experts have generated spectral data for 900+ bulbs and it can be accessed through a site I'm naming over in the new thread. They have also written bulb comparison articles based on the same data. Based on their data I've decided to get two EVC (brand) 400W 10000K probe start metal halide bulbs ($57 ea), which run optimally on a M59 type ballast. The EVC bulb gets a very good PPFD (205 umol/m2/s) and a broad spectrum on the blue end (remember I'm focusing on vegetative growth). I'm going to get Magnetek M59 ballast kits ($83ea) because that was the one used for the testing of that bulb, although several folks said any ol' m59 should work fine. I'll gut one of my Sun System I housings and install a new ballast kit. Since probe start doesn't require an ignitor, things will be easier for me as a very novice electrical guy. I could have gotten slightly higher PPFD's with a few other bulbs but you had to start getting into HQI ballasts which cost a lot more. The second EVC bulb & ballast I'm going to install in my Sun System II fixture (self-contained). Thought about getting a 250W bulb instead of second 400w but decided against that. If I was going to get a 250w I would have gone with the XM 250w 10000K probe start MH and a M58 ballast. I will be starting seeds all along so by April my plant area might be too big for the two 400'ers to cover. If so, I'll kick in my spare 600W Super Hortilux system to get me to frost free outdoor conditions. Might even do that anyways if some plants look like they would benefit by more red light. If you match up the spectral curves of the EVC MH and the Hortilux Super HPS, you'd see that the combined light makes for a decent full spectrum although a bit weak in the desirable 640 nm peak area. Other HPS bulbs could do better I'm sure. A combo with the Philips Mastercolor 400w CMH HPS-retro might be a really nice full spectrum. I know the MH bulbs have shorter lifes and are less PAR/watt efficient than HPS, but that is just the cost of business to do what I want to do. If in the future suitable 600W HPS S106 compatible bulbs come along, I can put my old ballasts back in. I stopped considering the reg terrestrial plant-light bulbs because I could not get good data on them. I have more comments along that line which I'm going note in the new thread.

Holcombee: What kind of wren? I'm guessing maybe Carolina? I doubt she would fix it, but I have no real reason to say that. It just seems to me from observation that birds are more fixated on feeding the babies than anything. I don't know how she'd be able to fix the next from the top with the babies in it. I also wonder if she would notice that the bottom of the nest was in need of repair and/or have the sense to do anything about it. Having said all of that it is merely speculation. If the babies do fall out, the parents will still attempt to care for them if they are healthy, but they are likely to become the prey of another bird or cat or night predator. I guess if you do decide to shore up the nest somehow, you should make a solid plan and have a helper ready to hand things to you or run for something you may need. The parents are likely to be somewhat upset, and you want to be able to work as quickly as possible. I have used a deep bucket in which to carefully place the babies (I pick up the whole nest and babies by scooping it up with two hands). I cover the bucket with a towel so that the babies do not become prey or get overheated by the sun. Then I have fashioned nests out of similar materials making sure to try to work the materials into a cup by putting my thumbs into the middle. I just try to get it as close to the old nest in shape and materials as possible. Once I have the new nest in place, I then replace the babies carefully. In the cases that I have done this, they have always been in a nest box, so it is easier to be sure the babies will stay put afterward. The real danger here is if the babies are of an age that they could jump ship and you cause them to fledge prematurely out of fear. Can you tell about how close they are to fledging? Are the eyes open, do they permanent feathers yet? If they are close to fledging, I'd leave nature to her work. This is not an ideal solution, and I'd only use it if absolutely necessary. I think if you are able to add anything under the nest, that would be the best thing. This is one of the reasons that there is such mortality rates in songbirds under one year. Good luck and keep us posted.