Gary, you were correct when you wrote, "Humans have crossed and recrossed until the names are meaningless anyway." At least, that is substantially true with the two Phaius species, wallichii and tankervilleae. When, for decades, no distinction was made between the two and the suggestion was that they are the same species, it is reasonable to conclude that finding the "pure bred" species will be more difficult in the future and that's a shame. Your tag labeled "phaius" tankersville x flava hybridus is a good example. Phaius Hybridus was registered in 1892 by Jewett as a cross between wallichii and grandifolius, according to the RHS, The International Orchid Register. Simultaneously, Jewett registered Gravesiae as a cross between wallichii and tankervilliae, presumably to cover his bum! OR, were there noteworthy distinctions between grandifolius and tankervilliae that are lost? I guess that we need to find some obscure writings from Jewett to know for certain!! :-) --Stitz--

Thank you everyone for the excellent feedback. I will spend lots of time studying the UF bug identification pages. And thank you for the encouragement Silvia. I didn't let my initial foray into vegetable gardening daunt me too much. I chalked it up to learning and even got 12 pints of roasted habanero salsa, a few pounds of sun-dried (dehydrator, LOL) tomatoes, a few quarts of pickles and a few pints of hot pickled okra before the whole thing crashed and burned. I read as much as I can as often as I can and try not to bug people with too many questions. I was the person in college and grad school who everyone hated because I was always waving my arm wanting to know how and why. So this morning I had a Hitchcock moment. Every morning I walk through the yard and carefully inspect everything. I noticed lacy leaves all of the way down on the bottom of some tomato plants. I can't bear to throw a seedling away when I thin, so after everything got potted I had about 12 plants left. I stuck them in the new in-ground veggie bed I put along the back of the house. I plucked a leaf off and turned it over. It was CRAWLING with dozens of almost microscopic worms/caterpillars. Like I said, I'm Mrs. Magoo even after implant surgery. I could see they were greenish and had some kind of stripe. They were so small that I didn't think I could squash them with my foot or roll the leaf up and squeeze them. I ran to the bird bath and shoved the leaf under water. Then I went back and carefully combed the bottoms of all of the plants. I found 5 or 6 more leaves like that and drowned them too. Now I'm curious about whether moths lay dozens of tiny eggs at a time or if the eggs hatch multiple caterpillars? It's time for another Bt spray anyway. I try to do it after irrigation nights. Today is dark and overcast and looks like rain so I may have to wait until tomorrow. I figured I'd let the babies drown good and proper and then change the water in the bird bath later. I should have taken a picture but my phone was in the house. I should throw them in a jar with mesh over the top and add a few leaves to see what they turn into after a bit. Snakes, worms and caterpillars gross me out so badly!

We had a problem with the computer, and my son had to run several checks to clear it of problems picked up. Everything seems to be working now except spell check. I went to Word (not OE)and typed a sentence with errors. A window came up that said that MSSpell check could not be found. After that I typed another document with spelling errors, and it came up that the spell check was complete, but it did not pick up the errors. I guess my spell check got deleted somehow, so maybe I need to reinstall Word?

I have two sayings that irritate me. One, which I have only ever read or heard from Americans, is 'I could care less' which clearly means the opposite of what the person is trying to convey. The other is 'the proof is in the pudding' which is meaningless. 'The proof of the pudding is in the eating' clearly means you can only tell how good something is when you use it for its intended purpose. I would also say orientate - many of these things are Commonwealth usages, and what sounds right is directly related to what you heard growing up. 'In back' sounds weird to me, but 'in front' is fine. And I had a hard time stopping my two boys saying 'wait up' when I felt the 'wait for me' I'd always used to sound much better :) I would never use plate as a verb in my conversations but I think it is acceptable in a professional kitchen.