Tropogem, this was one of my earliest crosses, from back when I would try any two things in bloom just to see what would happen. That means I've had it for somewhere between ten to fifteen years and it has never shown any inclination to bloom. If it ever does, the flower won't be much. Neos pull the flower of whatever you cross them with back down into the cup. This one I'm calling xNeobergia Beelzebub. I don't see it as having any particular commercial potential, it's just a novelty. I doubt anyone will guess the cross, but I'll let a few more try before telling you. Here's another picture showing what kind of markings it gets.

Yes; winds are the worse. I haven't been outside all day until now. I didn't realize there had been a lot of wind damage in town. Our block has three houses facing east,(mine's in the middle) and three facing west, just past the alley way behind my house. Our lots are large. The "south west" neighbor (Virginia) had a very large maple tree blown down. One of the huge main limbs hit the "west center" neighbor's (Patty) drivway, and the other limbs hit their roof. Thankfully, the roof wasn't damaged. Of course, Virginia is having the rest of the tree cut down and removed from Patty's house and driveway. It's too bad the tree didn't jump over and land in my kitchen. Between her insurance and my insurance, I could have a gleaming new kitchen! LOL Just joking. Sorta. Kinda. (and wondering if I could train my ancient maple to jump into the center of the kitchen???) Of course it has to leap over the 2 1/2 bay garage, and 12' wide patio to get to the kitchen.

My house and Purple Martin colony were on the Air Force Base. The housing unit (human) is sitting empty. In their wisdom, the housing department is having it torn down. It was built in 1952 and the quality was wonderful. It did have some cosmetic issues that would have been easily fixed. When we left, we had to remove all our personal belongings. Had I left the gourd rack, it would have been destroyed by the roving herds of kids. It was far to expensive to leave to that fate, so we dug new hole, set a new support, and put it up here in Larimore. I hope we both get flocks of PMs!

Glenda...it's my therapy! I love all the native birds, and the cavity nesters (Purple Martins, Tree Swallows, Woodpeckers, Bluebirds, Chickadees, Nuthatches, etc.) most especially. The PMs eat only flying insects. They have beautiful songs and calls. They are always on the wing. They are so sweet and gentle and nest only near humans. They have "imprinted" on humans since before the time of Columbus. He discovered native American villages up and down the eastern coast with long poles hung with gourds around the areas. Insect control, beautiful birds and beautiful song. Socks...Yes, I'm registered with the Purple Martin Conservation Association. They track "landlords" submitted information on arrivals, dates, eggs, fledges, departures, etc., and the migration back to Brazil. They actually use doppler radar to check the early and late migrations, too. For a native bird that was brought almost to the point of extinction to now have a migration mass large enough to track is wonderful. I also belong to three other private Purple Martin forums that collect data and share information. OakleyOK...I've never had a problem with wasps in my gourds. Of course, my gourds are kept taken down, cleaned, and stored in the basement as soon as the chicks leave, usually around Aug. 1. I set the colony up again around April 15. I keep duct tape over the gourds' entry holes until the PMs actually arrive. That keeps the non-native vermin, such as starlings and English House Sparrows out.