Tiffy, those milkweed just seeded in that one spot about 15 years ago and i never got around to pulling them out or moving them. Then my son and daughter who where 15 and 10 at the time, spotted the caterpillars on them. 10 year old daughter knew what they where and that was the end of moving them. I have just left that clump to seed and do as it pleases every year. and the monarchs sure love them. If my poppy seedlings, from seeds from the one in the pics, turn out half as beautiful, i will have nothing to complain about. Karen, I can't wait till end of July or early August either. I want home grown toms so badly right now. We've just gone into some heat and humidity again so it's hard to tell if they really will be later than past years yet. On the other hand, I have no complaints about continuing to pick ripe tomatoes when those that bought their plants are pitching them after labor day. I'm still in heaven picking mine. Last year the fall was so warm I picked my last ripe toms on halloween and then took off all the green ones and brought them into ripen indoors. booberry, I've been companion planting marigolds with my tomato plants both in pots and in the ground for 28 years and my grandfather did it with his 100 tomato plants on the veggie farm and he never had a bug problem in his career and I have never either, except for last year. One little tiny tim didn't get a marigold because of the tiny pot i put it in. that poor plant got the dreaded tomato horn worm on it. non of the others did. Didn't make that mistake this year. tiny tim is in a bigger pot and has it's own little marigold in there with it. I also companion plant 4 o'clocks around my plants that are favorites of the japanese beetle and I've never had a destructive season with them, the 4 o'clock leaves get nibbled and the japanese beetles die. the leaves are poisonous to them. i find tons of dead ones around the leaves they nibbled and i guess the message goes out to the others to leave my yard alone, it's a death sentence. Everyone I know that uses marigolds with their toms and 4 oclocks with their JP loving plants have no problems with bugs with them. Fran

ROFL!!! I get the full-bed-vibra-massage when we have thunder too, bernergrrl... Here in the North Central Valley of California, we aren't likely to see any serious rain for a few more months. The bees are at their lowest level EVER here, and while I've had quite a few buckeyes floating around, there are just a few western tiger swallowtails (what are those again, Larry? Papilio something.) and even cabbage whites are kinda thin on the ground. A few Red Admirals that have hatched out after growing on the Urtica diabolica--er, dioica...but that's pretty much it. Considering that there is an entire FIELD of yellow starthistle across the road, perhaps they're all over there...I sure hope so. Larry--when you go out there, make sure you have dry clothes for when you come back in! :)

We got them Friday and Saturday. (I'm in NEPA.) Friday's were terribly violent, and a tornado touched down 15 miles from here. Four buildings flattened, a swing set ripped out of concrete and twisted up, etc. Fortunately, the buildings were empty. No one hurt. I heard the storm from my house, and it was frightening. Never heard so much continuous thunder in my life. Nice to have the heat broken, I agree, but I'm in no hurry for another t-storm.

rockman50, this if the first time we've lived in NH that it truly feels like the south, so I imagine your southern plants are loving it. Granted, it gets hot here a few days during the summer, especially last year and this year, but the big difference is that once the sun begins to set, up here the temperature drops. In the south the sun can set and it will be 3:00 a.m. before the humidity allows for any noticeable drop in temperature. And, let me add, noticeable doesn't mean COOL! It means you might notice that instead of a sauna you have downgraded to a hot wet bath. We love it up here when terribly hot days end up with a nice evening several degrees cooler. This heat wave, however, is different. Same southern feeling of never cooling down, being stifled. I hope your plants have a wonderful little holiday and grow a few inches during this ideal spell for them. Would be nice to think that something benefitted from this heat! I'm hoping my zinnias welcome the Mexico-ish temps and really take off, too. Very nice that you can have southern magnolia and crepe myrtle here. Southern magnolias as a tree were OK, but I sure did love the scent of those huge flowers! Really intoxicating, in a good way. Buy some gardenias. If our summer start looking like this every year, they'd love it, too!