Greenhaven--seems fitting that Mr. Lincolns should be $5, but it's too bad they don't show him the respect of proper care. ;-) I avoid the whole garden section of walmart in the summer because it either makes me depressed or mad. Angelcub, my Pat Austin is tall and bushy enough that the bunches of blossoms look like small bouquets, and don't really droop. I will try to get some pics on photobucket and post a link later. Yesterday I went to buy a Peter Mayle and and SKy's the Limit, but came home with Elizabeth Taylor and Polka instead. Also a Centennial Star jumped on the wagon with no advance warning! I passed on 3 I've really wanted--the Peter Mayle, Shocking Blue, Sweet Promise. They were 9.95 in 3 gallon pots but they really had not grown much beyond the 15 inch canes they started with in the spring. Look like they had lost their leaves and were starting over, also. We have a long warm fall here, but then a sudden freeze usually, so anything I plant now has to be pretty healthy, I think. Should I go back for those? Is that a good price for the chance I'm taking? They have been sprayed and fed and watered. Also saw a Lasting Love with a beautiful bloom. Full price here in great shape early in the season is between $17 and $21. To me a good buy is $5 or less, on a healthy plant. Oh i also walked by some vigorous Topsy Turvy bushes because they looked awful after rain. They hold on to petals and they just don't weather well. On a nice day, I might have bought one. cindi

Phil, the term F2 is usually used to mean a hybrid that has been self-pollinated. This rescrambles the genetic material from the various species that make up its background, so the resulting seedlings will not be identical to the parent. The more complex the parentage of the hybrid is, i.e. the more different species involved, the more diversity you will get from the F2 generation. With a species, on the other hand, there is no diversity in its background, so a self-pollination should produce a fairly uniform population. A selfed seedling of B. vittata is still B. vittata, so there's no need to add F2 to the name. Domingos Martins is a cultivar of B. vittata (not a hybrid), so theoretically it should come pretty true too, but none of my seedlings look exactly like the parent. Pretty close, but I would be disappointed if I bought one expecting it to look exactly like the original. That's why I add F2 to the tag so people will know it's not the same clone. I don't know what the official rules are in cases like this, but a cultivar is supposed to be a distinct and recognizeable clone that has been propagated vegetatively (by pups), so it doesn't seem right to call a variable seed-grown population all 'Domingos Martins'. They're still all B. vittata, but there are other forms of vittata too, so that didn't seem like enough either. If anyone here is fluent in the rules of botanical nomenclature, please chime in!

Good points, trianglejohn, and in some respects I agree with you. We'll never get rid of all of this. But I guess the following is what I think about/do: - support efforts to eradicate populations in protected natural areas (volunteer efforts, helping state/federal employees learn about which plants are invasive); I feel it is important to try and keep some places as free of infestation as possible. - support efforts to educate people about what plants are invasive because the average person does not know/recognize these plants; if the person does know then they can help stop the spread on their own land and in turn help to educate others. - support efforts to stop selling the worst plants - did you know you can still buy chinese wisteria and chinese privet (as well as the japanese versions of both) plants in nurseries? - support efforts to do a better job of screening new plants for invasive potential and for presence of invasive pests/diseases that hitch a ride. - support efforts to make the public aware of invasives that move into new territories - like garlic mustard coming into Georgia and Cogongrass moving north and inland; we have a good chance of reducing the spread of these if we don't let them get a foothold into new areas. And yes, you can pick and choose which invasives you support like dottie says. If more people would at least try to get rid of something, that would be better than doing nothing. Chinaberry hasn't gotten to my area yet, but I know it is less than an hour's drive from me. If people would at least cut off and destroy the berries - even if not all of them - that would help too. Maybe one day pests will arrive to take care of some of these things - mimosa wilt supposedly kills some of them, but not nearly enough!

Ants hate molasses for some reason. Can use the powdered kind from plant store or use the Black Strap Molasses from the grocery. It will fertilize and increase bio activity too. I keep some of the liquid thined in a mustard squirt jar and jot the pots. Then water it in just a bit. Just use own judgement about amount used depending on pot size. The ants will begin to swarm out Immediately and will be angry. Usually they dont come back. If do repeat. Ants in containers do seem to weaken the plants. Have added orange oil in past to get more killing punch but just use molasses now.