Cindy: When your SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS blooms, do post a pic. I've got that one too from Curt but it is not a star performer here yet. Debra: This many blooms this late has to be due to the amount of rain we got over the past month. I don't recall this much showing at this late date. Mantis: yes, earlier pics of GEECHEE were better but just shows how much a late opening with cool temps can do to a daylily. Celeste: I've admired your pics of COUSIN SUZANNE. The race is definitely on here too! Linda and Kay: I'm so thankful to get these blooms this late in the season. I'm always on the scape hunt because I just never know what will show itself. KIOWA SUNSET has always been a favorite of mine. It is registered as a EE but here, it doesn't start blooming till early July and the scapes are taller than 23" as registered. Well, the weather turned and we are already up at 60 degrees F here this morning. Rain, rain, rain so I guess that is why our temps moderated. Julia

Hi everyone. Thank you for looking and commenting. I love the trees, but they would destroy our house if they were uprooted in a storm...and you know how these storms are here. The house is a decent size, 2000 sq ft, but the trees really dwarf it and the one nearest to the house hangs all over the roof. We just have to find someone who has the courage to tackle these big trees. The Hot Lips salvia is three years old, and the Navajo salvia on the right is about 10 years old. Behind the Hot Lips is a huge clump of Black and Blue Salvia, and I have a couple of others in the butterfly garden. They are all blooming right now. Ellie, weather is always a question in regard to blooms, isn't it? Judy, Leave a few pictures of big trees that have fallen on houses around...that might encourage the removal. Jean, I love the look of Magnolias, but they are messy. Celeste, the daylily blooms actually opened today, and the salvia, Lantana. and zinnias are blooming away, but the roses are what I am enjoying. They are happy because it is cooler. Linda, I am enjoying the retirement. We do have a row of mainly big oaks on the back of the property that we intend to leave. Rita, I had thought you had gotten Hot Lips, but I guess that was last year. Once something gets started here, you have to work to kill it, and that isn't always a good thing as you can imagine. kay

No fair Stu, yer sappozed to say what roses they are!!! Inquiring minds want to know! Especially on that second one!

hi jen! in rereading what i wrote, i can see i wasn't being clear at all--sorry. i made the marinated mozarella on sunday because i think it's best after it's had a chance to sit around for awhile. i don't like tomatoes after they have been refrigerated (our tomatoes always sit on the counter until we are ready to eat them...) so i took the marinated cheese out of the fridge wednesday morning and added the tomato halves to the dish of marinated cheese then (the olive oil is sort of firm--needs some time to warm up). then i just skewered a piece of cheese, a basil leaf and a chunk of tomato onto the toothpick. you certainly could use long skewers and put multiple pieces on but this just made a perfect little bite and the fresh leaf was a nice bit of some crunch in an otherwise rather soft bit of food... there were lots of dishes to choose from but both this and the stuffed ricotta pie went very quickly!