hi folks, I hope I'm not sticking my foot into a bear trap here but there really is some basis to NOT planting a whole lot of butterfly bushes. First let me say a few things. I have a BF bush, I took cuttings last year and hope to have a few more this year... also I have seen them reseed here in PA but only a few and only when the seeds fell on bare ground (even though on a trip to WA/OR I saw them growing thick along the highways as a weed). So I guess I feel safe growing them here and will most likely always have a few in my garden (and I deadhead for more blooms, not because I'm worried about the seeds). I think the point for not growing too many is based on something that I would guess almost everyone on this forum already knows. When you grow BF bushes you are attracting them to your yard but you are not really giving them a home. In order to give them a home they need host plants to lay their eggs on. Here's something from "Bringing Wildlife Home" by Dr. Tallamy from the U of Delaware: "...not one species of butterfly in N. America can use buddleias as larval host plants. To have butterflies, we need to make butterflies.... Instead of building a butterfly garden with aliens (plants) that will make no new butterflies, use native species that serve as hosts for butterfly larvae as well as a supply of nectar for adults." He also goes on to recommend buttonbush, "butterflies fight to gain access to its nectar, and it serves as a host plant for 18 species of Lepidoptera in my neck of the woods" (Eastern Pa I think) So I guess I'm planting BF bush in order to SEE more butterflies..... I'm planting milkweed and violets and wild cherry so that there will BE more butterflies..... and I think I want to add a buttonbush.

Carol, What we need are little foot-sized Jetski/boot combinations so we can zip around the garden and work without having to slosh through the muck and mud. Heather, Isn't it exciting that we get to plant beans so early? I've already got the first four varieties of bush beans in, and am getting ready to plant pole beans next week just as soon as the soil is dry enough that the seeds won't rot. It might not be too early to sow squash seeds, but I'll likely sow mine in paper cups. Squash is really sensitive to cool soil temps and cool air temps. However, if your soil temp is at least at 60 degrees at planting depth and doesn't drop colder than that at night, you probably could do it. I don't usually plant squash until my high temps are consistently staying above 65 degrees. If they get too cold, even for just a day or a night, they can stall and refuse to resume growth until they get over being mad about being too cold. If the warm-up that begins tomorrow for most of us catapults you into warm-enough temps that you think are likely to last, there's no reason not to give it a shot. Sometimes early plantings do indeed manage to produce a lot before the SVBs show up. I have found SVBs to be very hard to predict. Last year I didn't see a single one. If you familiarize yourself with the appearance of the moth, you'll know when they arrive and then can cover up your plants or protect them in whatever way you choose. Larry, For me Yukon Gold almost always emerges later than Red Pontiac. The potatoes I have in a raised bed in the Peter Rabbit are loving the rain. The plants I have at grade level in the main garden are one-fourth the size of the ones planted in the raised beds. I just hope the ones in the grade level beds don't rot. Dorothy, Tim and I drove back from Texas on Tuesday and came across at the Taovayas bridge at the far western end of the county. We have been so green and lush here, that I forgot the western part of the county had been receiving less rain than we had. They haven't had nearly as much green-up and their fruit trees are blooming later too. We have plenty of rain for March now, and I wish it would stop. (I am so hard to please because back in July I would have given my left arm for 10" of rain...or for five inches or three inches.) I was thinking for most of this month that I was getting your rain and Carol's rain and that y'all were getting mine. It looks like your half of the situation has improved a lot, but we are still getting now-unwanted rain here today. It is very, very light but any rain is too much rain at this point. In June or July, I'll rue saying I wanted the rain to stop. Leslie, It is wonderful you have had so much more rain this year already and that it is falling early in the year. I am always mindful of the fact that we have gardeners here who face very diverse soil and weather conditions. What some of us consider "too much" rain likely doesn't sound like "enough" to others. If the rain keeps falling, maybe your rainfall this year will end up being higher than average. Wouldn't that be great? Larry, We've had leaf-eating pests all winter. I don't usually see a lot more pests in a wet year, or even earlier pests. What I usually see is an early arrival of some of the worst pests in a hot winter or spring. It seems like the early arrival of hot weather always brings me spider mites and grasshoppers at destructive levels by May instead of July. Dawn

This thread began as a means to discuss the issue of Sunset zones. The secondary motive was for me to try to explore the notion that elevation is a factor to RMG but not the only factor. Over the course of looking at climate data, I discovered that annual precipitation and the time of its occurrence may be a defining feature for the RMG region. Aridity cannot be the only determinate or wed all be over in the Southwest Gardening forum. Previous and somewhat naively, I had thought that these evergreen mountains here and there indicated that there were areas with rather high rainfall amounts - what hadn't quite sunk in was that while that is true, these areas were all at elevations where gardening becomes impossible. I began wondering if a particular native plant species was representative of the broad RMG region. I'm no expert on native plants so this was a fun exercise even if it doesn't appear to be absolutely successful (perhaps, an impossibility). It seemed to me that the Arrowleaf Balsamroot was most broadly representative. I'm hoping that other gardeners are giving this some thought and will comment. By way of encouragement, my question now is - what the heck is this plant whose image is used here on GardenWeb to represent Rocky Mountain Gardening: Steve

Hi all - thanks again for the great feedback. For ventilation, we are going with a Best 54" hood and 1100 or 1500 (I forget which) remote in-line blower with silencer... I saw that mentioned somewhere, read up, and was convinced. I also saw a gunked up VAH, and was totally turned off forever. As an update, we've decided on Miele dishwashers, I think the Futura Dimension (I think the plus only adds more quiet...which I won't notice). Dissenters welcome. For the fridge, I don't think we can swing a SZ now, and the Liebherr is, indeed, way too tall for comfort. I think we are going to go with a Samsung with the dual evap. Can't find a good, large FD model with inside water, but we're working on it. Seems you need to downgrade cubic ft. Our final major issue is this: Wolf vs. DCS (I really can't seem to find the benefits of Wolf other than "reliability and history", variable simmer, and no yellowing problem with the top). We are really torn. Everyone who doesn't sell DCS says they're crap. Everyone who does says they're awesome, but that Wolf is better...because they also sell Wolf? Also, dual fuel vs. all gas. We are definitely getting an additional wall oven, and I can't decide if it is nicer to have the option of two types, or to stick to one type and brand?) for consistency with large, multi-oven batches. What I really can't figure out is how much more inconsistent baking will be in an AG Wolf or DCS oven (ie. 3 sheets at once, without tons of turning). Obviously, AG saves quite a chunk of change, and then we could really get any wall oven...considering the KA convection with micro over it, honestly, to not only save money, but to have a reliable, and just fine oven that will still be leagues better than anything we've ever had in an apartment. Then, we can always replace with something fancier down the line. We just really don't want to skimp on the range at this point. I am open to KA slams, if anyone feels we absolutely must stick with a Wolf or DCS oven for some reason or another (the price difference isn't entirely prohibitive, and we can work it out if anyone thinks that quality and/or features are worth it). So to sum up, we really can't decide on gas vs. electric ovens, and DCS vs. Wolf. I think my wife may throw out my computer if I don't stop reading on it soon!