Collected the first of my seeds from Italian Sweet Basil which I have had growing right next to the African Blue Basil. The African Blue does not produce seed, but it flowers and flowers. I watch the bees go back and forth between the Italian and the African, hoping the African produces viable pollen and I might have some crosses between the Italian and the African. Worst case scenario is I end up with a lot of italian basil. The African is prolific, frost hardy, perennial and propagates easier from cuttings than most basils - but the flavor is only mediocre. I have some Dark Purple Opal seedlings and cuttings from Thai Basil coming along I will also try to hybridize with the African Basil. Not sure how to emasculate basil... if I emasculate the Italian, Thai or Opal, then any seed should have African parentage?

Yep.........and control of the adult is not necessary. They don't even eat in the adult phase. I am really fortunate to live in a place where we not only have the annual cicadas but several broods of the periodic cicadas. It's one of the most astounding natural happenings you can experience. The noise is deafening as millions of them crawl out of the ground after thirteen to seventeen years. You can hear the brood progressing from the distance, a bit closer each day until you are in the middle of it. My geese went crazy eating them, as did the dog, who would then barf them up and eat more.

hi caroline! i just saw your note on my blog. i didn't respond earlier because ours chairs are very different and when i first saw this posting, i was still nervous with my chair guts all over the floor. :) your chairs are beautiful, and i know nothing! i've done one upholstery job in my life, so please take that into account! the right way to do it would be to add that jute webbing stuff and sadly I know nothing about that type of upholstery work! since you said it's comfy with a blanket rolled up, here's what i'm thinking... our springs do look very similar, but my chair has sides that cover up all the craziness inside. on top of my springs i have a thick layer of dacron batting stapled to the lower part of the frame around the outside. then on top of that it's just thin drapery lining fabric - (it was closest to the fabric cutting counter and i was in a huge hurry!) i stitched that drapery lining fabric (solid white) to the patterned fabric that gets stapled to the footboard on the front. then i pulled the drapery lining under the arms and stapled to the sides of the frame. that all gets covered up by the fabric on the arms. and i have a box cushion on top of all that. so the construction of my upholstery doesn't work for you exactly, but you could probably adapt it if you're willing to try putting staples in those beautiful frames... my chair was a $20 goodwill special! IF you really wanted to do it somewhat permanently... here's a diagram to help explain what i'm about to say: i would try a thick layer of dacron batting cut a little wider than the frame of the chair to wrap around the top of the seat frame. i'd staple on each side JUST below the top of the frames along all 4 sides. (blue marks where i'd staple this layer) then i'd put another layer of that thick batting cut to the inside size of the frame and i'd just lay it on top of the first layer and not staple it anywhere. that'll give you a little extra padding just on the "seat" area. then i'd lay some muslin cut to just larger than the frame and staple all around just below where you stapled the batting. (yellow marks where i'd staple this layer) trim off all the excess fabric. then i'd lay your fabric of choice, staple it at the very bottom of the frame all the way around. (red marks where i'd staple) cover the staples with double welt or buy a coordinating trim or nailhead, but nail head trim has challenges of its own too! haha making the double welt SUCKS because i'm no good with a sewing machine, but it really does finish the project nicely. here's a pic of the stage of my chair where i had just the batting on top of the springs... here's after adding the white drapery lining fabric over the batting... an alternative is to ignore the springs that are there, and have a piece of wood cut to fit the top of the wood frame, then just add some batting and fabric, staple to the bottom of that board and set your board on your frame. you could screw in from the bottom if you wanted it attached permanently. i'm not sure if this helps or confuses you more, but i wish you lots of luck. the chair frames are so pretty!

Well now haworthia is crossed off the list. The irregularity of the leaves makes me think of adromischus, but the shape of the leaves makes me think of sedum/echeveria. It seems to be variegated a bit and possibly crested/monstrose. Whatever it is, when it grows out it will surely be easier to identify. Nice find!