It is a strange bloom season. MA, with cool temps and very little if any sun for the entire month of June. July starts and we have a couple of days with sun and then Bingo back to cool temps and pouring, pouring rain. Plants blooming? Not much in that department for sure and my WS seedlings have been stunted at the tiny, tiny stage. Course the store bought ones that my neighbor bought, look more dead than alive after all this rain and cool temps and no sun. So what makes the gardens strange this year? For the last couple of years have noticed my well established hostas, no names for them, just divisions of a neighbor's 25 years ago, have gotten their flower spikes earlier and earlier every year. Usually I don't see them till August and it takes till almost Thanksgiving to get the seed pods ripe. This year they where growing in June and starting to bloom before July 4th. Last year and the year before it is July when the stems started and blooms in July. Hydrangeas are starting to bloom before the 4th of July, not mid July on. Daffodils bloomed late, crocus where late, snow in summer where no blooms. Iris where early and didn't last as long. To top it off, the 4 legged critters are busier than usual. Exceptionally busy rabbits all over the place, very bold, actually digging nests and birthing offspring right in the middle of flower beds under perennial dianthus. Squirrels see to be collecting nuts early and they are on the ground early and the infestation of the neighborhood groundhogs seem to be very, very confused. They are either demolishing the gardens or just sitting outside a fenced in area and just doing nothing. And to make everything worse, the deer that we normally see only in the winter, feeding on my rhodies and my neighbor's spreading yews are having a feast on my hosta leaves, hosta stems and the daylilies. In 29 years, I have never had deer around in the summer and they've never touched anything except the rhodies and the neighbor's spreading yews and that's in the winter only with snow on the ground. Fran

I've had my betta for almost 9 months. When I got him, he wouldn't eat, and the pet store told me he was probably anorexic because of missed feedings from his previous owner, so I got him betta treats and he loves them. He's always very happy, approaches the glass when he sees me, is relatively active, and recognizes the feed jar so swims toward me when he sees it. It's been about 4 days now since I've seen him eat anything, treat or pellet. He's swimming around a little less than usual too. He's not interested when I move the feed jars, and he doesn't approach the glass. I thought he may be bored or need a water change, so I changed his water and his plant about 4 hours ago. Now he's moving a little more but has been flaring almost the entire time since the water change, still is not interested in food whatsoever, and almost seems slightly distended right in front of his 2nd ventral fin, maybe a little dull in that area as well. He has been moved to and from my dorm room 3 times in the last month: thanksgiving break, back, and now back home, but the not eating began before the move today. Any ideas? Could he just be stressed? Should I be worried?

Does the center look normal, Gonzer? Not damaged in any way? I dunno. In my experience the pups on fosteriana and its hybrids often come in sets of three, usually all on one side of the plant. You might get more if the central growing point got put out of business, but 7 at once is pretty unusual.

If the eyes and crown are exposed at all this can definitely be a result. Cold and freeze damage is a distinct possibility, but even if it never got cold or froze this could occur. The dormant buds on the crown should swell almost completely below the soil. On medium to large hostas those buds tend to swell about 2 to 3" before they want to emerge so the crown should be about that deep. Giant hostas (Sum and Substance, Elatior, Montanas) have even larger dormant buds. Those could be planted even deeper (3 to 5") and the eyes will become huge.