There's nothing quite as cool-looking(temperaturewise) as BLUE flowers. I grew Phacelia a few years ago, best blue i ever saw, next to cornflowers. The bell-shaped blue flowers with icy-white anthers were beautiful, and stirred up images of cooler weather. They do have a short bloom time, hot weather just about stops the show, cutting back helps somewhat. Give 'em a try, i believe there are 2 or 3 varieties. Good luck, and enjoy.

Jammie, My purple podded beans have produced sporadically in little waves. Beans are affected by the extreme heat too, just like tomatoes. I tried extra hard to get my bush beans in the ground on time this past spring (I tend to focus too much on tomatoes and then everything else gets planted only after the tomatoes are in) and it paid off. I think last year I planted them a touch too late and it got hot before they produced too much. Then the grasshoppers showed up and ate them down to the ground. For your girls, you need to plant Tanya's Pink Pod Bush Beans. The pods actually do turn pink, and the beans are tasty as well as pretty. (When you cook them, they do turn green just like the purple ones do.) Last year and this year, Tanya's Pink Pod have produced better in the heat than any other bush bean. You know, for the girls, y'all could put in a pink bed or a purple bed. Think of all the veggies that come in those colors: eggplant comes in both pinkish-violet and purple, there's pink tomatoes (including a pink bite-sized one called Sweet Treats) and purple tomatoes, pink podded bush beans, purple podded bush beans, purple podded pole beans, purplehull pinkeye southern peas, purple carrots, purple broccoli, purple cauliflower. I bet there's more pinks, but now that I'm trying to think of one, I can't. Oh, I am pretty sure there's pink popcorn and there is a pink kale, but it is ornamental and not edible. There's a pink swiss chard and, of course, pink-fleshed watermelons. I think y'all could have a whole bed or row of pink or purple plants or plants that produce either pink or purple foliage, flowers, fruit or veggies. Another fun thing with kids is to dye easter eggs using plants for natural dyes. For a couple of years I planted a "rainbow garden" in my veggie bed, where every raised bed was one color, and I had a bed in every color of the rainbow, in the same order as the colors in the rainbow. It was a lot of fun, even though it was quite a challenge to find fine some things in some colors. Every bed had a mix of veggies, herbs and flowers in that bed's designated color. Another fun thing we did when our son and nieces and nephews were younger was to plant them sunflower houses and also big teepees covered in a mix of pole beans, ornamental gourds and mini pumpkins. The kids could play in the sunflower house or teepees like they were playhouses or forts. For a sunflower house, you plant your sunflowers in a square box shape so the flowers form the 4 walls. After your 'walls' are 3 or 4' tall, you plant morning glories or black-eyed-susan vines or any other annual vine to climb the sunflowers' stalks. By the time the sunflowers are 5 or 6' tall, you can run twine back and forth from sunflower to sunflower like roof rafters, and then your vines creep along the twine and form a room over the house. It is the cutest thing. Just be sure to leave a 'doorway' area so the kids can go in and out. Gardening with kids is tons of fun! I grew up in a gardening family, so always have been a gardener. When I went to college, I majored in business....and even laughed about the fact that our local community college had a horticulture program. I remember joking about "who would want to major in horticulture?". lol To me, horticulture was just something "everyone" did, and I couldn't imagine anyone would want to make a living at it. I shake my head now and imagine that studying horticulture would have been right up my alley. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Tanya's Pink Pod Bean at SESE

What other "method" is used? I distinctly remember the "Palmer Method", and practicing the, "push, pulls, and ovals" (most fun was using the fountain pen contained in the mahogany desk that belonged to my grandfather). Penmanship was considered very important in our home. We were repeatedly told there was, "NO excuse for poor penmanship!". My father ( a "leftie") was actually forced to use his right hand (about 1932) to hold the pencil. He was in tears in second grade when it was time for writing drills. His teacher, quietly asked him if he wanted to try using his left hand to hold the pencil. He repeatedly wailed, "I can't, they won't let me!". His teacher calmed him, telling him it was perfectly OK to use his left hand since she'd been doing it for nearly 50 years. The "trick", she told him, was to TURN THE PAPER AROUND! His penmanship was gorgeous, the envy of many "righties", doubtless! In the time before ball point pens, learning to turn the paper instead of cocking the wrist, made for writing angled correctly WITH NO SMEARS. This forum interests me greatly, and it is one to which I will return frequently, I'm sure. I represent one half of a "child-free" couple. There are a lot of "us" out there. My taxes are sky-rocketing and my frank questions about budgets/curricula are frequently met with derision at local meetings(obviously, I represent the minority!). I hope you will help introduce me to some of the terms/methods/theories with which I am unfamiliar.

Hi Lynn, I was wondering what your baby Candice looks like? Is she all pink? The very first bloom I got last September, shortly after the plant arrived from AZ was mostly pink. The next bloom was very unique, I've never had this form again, and the colors are very muted. I've gotten mostly shades of medium pink in the first and second flush, but the other day I got this very pastel one. Then today I got one with a lot of orangey pink which I kinda like! Hang in there Lynn! It takes time for these roses to develop. Candice seemed to handle the last couple of days very well when temps were over 100. Ann