Konrad, Yeah, I wondered that too. You read about the old-time uses and then read the modern warnings on a lot of plants and it makes you wonder if more people died or got sicker from remedies in the old days than the ailments they were trying to cure. On the other hand, there's much good to say about herbal medicine, and most of the modern pills and such have so many warnings about side affects that I don't take anything. My sisters, on the other hand,literally pass around the advil bottle like they were handing out M&Ms. One took some because a bee stung her on the finger and she said it really hurt. but I'm getting off track. As for the bees, there are lots of plants that we can't touch or eat but produce perfectly fine honey such as poison ivy. I didn't see tansy listed with plants that produce toxic honey. Konrad, I'm looking foward to seeing you post some more of your great photos.

Great! I just ran across this and see that it is an old post, any new developments with your aviary? Funny because I keep some host plants in the pool cage to protect cats from wasps, etc, and often have butterflies trying to get in!! Of course I have plenty of larval plants outside the screen too so they can find a spot for their eggs. Anyway, nice pics!

I enjoyed looking at your photos! I can't say that I like those robber flies. I saw one with a Monarch cat one time. It had consumed half of it, and it flew off with the other half when it saw me (I think that's why it flew off with it anyway). Grrr! We try to save as many as we can, but we can only do so much. There are so many predators out there just watching and waiting for them. I also have trouble with wasps getting to my BST cats if I don't bring them in. A few years ago the last four "butterflies" to eclose were actually wasps. They had overwintered and I was really disappointed when those came out of the pupas instead of the Black Swallowtails. I think it was the very first year that I raised them. After that I have become more diligent at watching the host plants and bringing them in as soon as possibly, preferably in the egg stage. Cathy

ineffable: The metal doors have a whole story (not good) about their manufacturer. I don't even want to name them because it ended up not working how I thought. They were incredibly delayed, they don't function 100% and they were crazy expensive. I couldn't recommend them if they paid me! Thanks for the nice comments...as always, it has been a journey and it includes the comments and knowledge of many GW people along the way. Where would we be without freedom of speech and websites??? Where would I be without the input of Romy, jellytoast and CEFreeman and others who I follow religiously to gain knowledge, design ideas and creative input? Two more weeks....as you all know, the last few weeks are a huge "leap" from not done to done!