Rosemarie -- thanks, I will go introduce myself in "The Face Returns" thread once I get myself organized around here (gotta find a good mug of myself, hah!). And the overgrowth and spiderwebbing happens to my plants all the time, but I do love a good "spring cleaning" now and then where I pick out the weeds and repot and give my plants a nice trim. Pennyhal -- oh, I know all about the "I'll just buy this one plant" because I get sucked in all the time! I'm more of a "growing things from seed" rather than buying ones from a store, but I always, always end up with way more plants than I can take care of. Unfortunately, that usually means that they don't do so well if I get busy:(. I'm in the process of rebuilding my garden, so hopefully I'll be able to share pictures in a few months once they get going.

Glad to try to help! I'm in 8b too. "Nectar are the flowers for the adult butterflies & hummingbirds and hosts are for the cats to eat, right?" Yes. I usually do Basil, Zinnias, Coleus from seed since they do well in such a short time and much less $$ that way. Milkweed (Ascleipas) is also a host plant for monarch cats. Yes, Coleus makes flowers later in the year which are much loved by the BF's and hummers. Pentas, not pintas, a tender perennial usually sold as an annual, unfortunately usually individually (more expensively) than 4- or 6-packs. Generally, any flowers with a small, tubular shape, or similarly formed to sunflowers/zinnias will likely be attractive to butterflies and/or hummers. Yes, Cannas are tall, and need a spot where they can't creep into other plants. Alone where they are surrounded by mowed grass (thus controlling their spread) is pretty common for these. Most do bloom for a long time, especially if occasionally dead-headed, like bi-weekly. The FAQ at the butterfly forum can answer your questions about nectar plants, which would apply to hummers in general also. Host plants are species-specific. Not sure from what you said if you are aware or not that particular caterpillars will only eat a few types of plants. And it's not the same plants for all caterpillars. You might want to google something like "perennial butterfly host plants" and compare the list to your zone to find the appropriate ones. Also, different areas have different types of butterflies so if there are no butterflies of a particular type in your area, there's no reason to use space on a host plant for that type. So getting to know the common ones in your area is also something I'd compare the list of plants to. The hummer forum's FAQ has a good article about other factors that can influence hummers to visit your yard.

Bill- Hosta, to paraphrase Ken from this forum ....will live on the driveway with little or no soil.. forever ...the only way to lose a hosta..is pay $100 for a rare one..and it will die on the way home.... In general, hosta grow very well with little help. They like some morning sun if they can it, grow well in light shade, but in deep shade most will struggle to thrive. Water is the one thing that seems to help the most for my zone 4 garden - leaves are bigger and more of them with regular water. Here is a pic of Gold Standard after years of ignoring and again after regular watering Check out the link below for hostaholic gardens from the 2010 American Hosta Society garden tours - quite a variety of garden styles. BTW, the 2011 tours will be in New England this June. They rotate and it will likely be 10 years before back to New England again. Bill, this is a very active forum, especially as things get a growing. Welcome. Paul ps Phil, sorry for highjacking your thread. Here is a link that might be useful: AHS Garden Tours 2011 pics

I like your project. After your child gets older, you could make a book of place names listed in alphabetical order. You could fill it with places from A to Z, or use only places both of you have seen. And then, you could make a family album including all photos you have of relatives. This would be a great way to keep your children in touch with relatives. Then, there could be a book of foods, then animals. Come to think of it, you do not have to wait until the kids are older. Start your books now and then introduce those to your children at appropriate times. Maybe you could entice someone to write bed time stories to go with the illustrations.