Forecast for N. CT calls for 6-12 inches before it ends late Friday. I'll believe it when I pay my neighbor to plow the driveway for what seems like the 50th time this year. The only thing keeping me from screaming is I found salvia n. sprouts-- GREEN ones--this afternoon. The soil in most of my containers is still frozen brick-hard but this one was sitting off the back of my breezeway where it got enough sun to thaw the growing medium.

Sandy, While Yellowstone has over 100 resident species of butterflies (including subspecies), being there at the right time of the season and in the right places is required to see very many of them on one trip. And many there are common species found in many other places in the west as well (although many of even those would not be found in OK). Surprisingly, not that many butterflies are seen along the "tourist" byways in the park, especially not the rarer or alpine species. To get the highest species count requires hiking into the back country to all the different ecosystems found in the park. For example, if I remember right there are 5-6 different types of meadow ecosystems alone in the park, and each has it's own group of resident species because of the available LFP’s. With a few exceptions, most alpine species are seldom seen in the lowlands. “Lowlands”… with an elevation of about 5,300’ to 11,000’ (average 8,000’) in YNP, some may not call a mile to mile and a half above sea level habitat a lowland, but us Rocky Mountain born and reared boys do. LOL Butterfly season there is mostly from June to August as on average those are the only three months when nigh time lows are barely above freezing. Those are also the three wettest months in the park, so the butterflies dive into the understory when a storm approaches and only come back out when the sun does. Can be several times a day sometimes, especially at higher elevations where you can also get snow storms even in July/August. So spring species in the lowland areas peak in mid to late June and all alpine species from about mid July to mid August. There are specific places and times for some specific species that won't be seen anywhere else except at those places/times. They are usually harder to get to and they are usually where the rarer species live. As you know I'll suggest, at least one day needs to be spent up on the Beartooth Plateau as a must do if you go to YNP and GTNP. It's a beautiful drive out the northeast entrance to Cooke City and up to the West Summit (11,011') at least on the Bicentennial Hwy 212 (that you can easily drive an RV on), as well as all the way to Red Lodge. Total road miles to Red Lodge is less than 70 miles, but the West Summit is only about 30 miles. You’ll see endless top of the world views up there with thousands of alpine lakes, waterfalls, more wildflowers than you can imagine, Grasshopper Glacier & Hell Roaring Plateau, etc. Mid July to mid August is the best time to be up there if you want to see millions of alpine leps all on the wing at the same time. But be prepared for snow any day during that time. If you want to spend more than a day on the BTP, the Top of the World Store (about 10 miles before West summit) has cabins they rent (at 9400'). BTW, if you’ve never been there do Grand Teton NP and Jackson Hole as well. And when in Jackson grab a meal at Jedidiah’s. The tropical regions of the America’s host the greatest diversity overall in lep species worldwide. So the possibility of 700 in Chile is not surprising at all. Is that at one location? Back when I was doing the tropics, a couple of colleges determined nearly 1500 at one small location in Tambopata, Peru, and 1300 near Tingo Maria. That fits though as Peru has the most lep species of any country worldwide with about 3800 (so far). Last counts I have records for shows Peru is followed by Equatorial Africa with 3600, Brazil, Columbia and Ecuador with 3200 each, Venezuela with 2300, Mexico with1800, Costa Rica and Panama with 1500 species each determined so far. Number 10 is missing from my list for some reason (and it was a Top 10 list). I’m not sure where Chile falls on the list. As for your ribbing: Since the lives of the Chilean people is so heavily shrouded in superstition turned folklore, I’d bet you’d hear a lot of tall tales there about butterflies, white or otherwise. ;) You’re getting to be quite a globe trotter with plans in the works for Laos, Mexico, Chile and YNP. Larry

Jen, WOW..WOW..WOW.. 2 posts in a row lol. Your on a roll, you must be on vacation, or maybe since your babies are getting ready for their naps you have more time lol... J/K ;P I was told by an importer and seller of Thai plumies, that no plumie in Thailand is an exclusive as there is so much theft as most of the growing fields are acres and acres of land, in some cases over 40 plus acres. Even if someone like JJ or Kukiat has a seedling that blooms that they own, a worker/random person/even friend of the owner may steal/get a branch or the whole plant. That is why you see so many plumies that are supposedly exclusive 1 of a kind plumies, being sold by another seller or a few from Thailand selling them on Ebay and other places and with different names. Example is Fireblast being imported and sold by BBB this season on Ebay, there is also another seller from Thailand that sells it for under 20.00 under a Thai name, not Fireblast. This seller sells legit items as I have bought from them in the past and has been on Ebay forever. A friend of mine bought hers 2 yrs ago or so from this seller in Thailand and her FB bloomed true for the past 2 seasons. With Thai Peach it was a JJ's exclusive in Thailand. Per John the Mother tree was either lost/stolen or destroyed. Since 2005, I have seen a few Thai Peaches being sold on Ebay from Thailand, but not sure it is the same as plumie photos from there look different than the ones grown here. All I know is that Sonia did more to market, sale/distribute JJ's Thai Peach than anyone else. In 2005 Sonia bought out all the Thai Peachs from John that she could find (5gal multi tipped plumies for 55.00 back then from JJ's). Sonia then resold the Thai Peach's and cuttings to other people. Thats how I got mine in 2005 (5gal was about 4ft, multi tipped) along with the Morgan's and many in the Inland Empire area. Sonia also sold stuff on Ebay, so I am pretty sure the one Lopaka has is from Sonia aka JJ's variety. As for Brads I am not sure if that is one of JJ's/Sonia's Thai Peaches. Sonia actually got the name Thai peach from the Thai Ebay sellers in 2005 as it looked like their TP, Sonia in the early years helped John with a few names for his plumies like Golden Ray, Thai Peach, Big Red and others. Since Thai Peach was a good seller and Sonia and other bought out Johns (jjs) inventory, John went to Thailand to replenish his inventory he stated that he could not find the Mother tree of TP. So since John could not replenish TP, and did not even have one for himself, what ever is currently being sold privately and @ Plumie Society sales are most likely recirculated JJ's TP from people who had it or got it from Sonia or a few who had it still. I gave a bunch of large multi tipped cuttings to Irene Jones a few years back as my tree blew over and had all these branches break. I do know that Irene was selling some at the SD Plumie Society sale recently. So again do not know if Brads is the same as JJ's. So as of current Thai peach is not commercially avail, so you will never see it at Lowes or HD. PHEW.... That was a long one..lol Hope that answered your question regarding Brads TP..lol Laura Thanks for the compliments. Cheers y'all

Thanks guys :-) Judy, I dug a bunch of my dahlias for the first time last winter to move them and so didn't have my normal bumper crop. I bought the pink and yellow one from Connell's Dahlias but I couldn't access their site to get the name and I'm not sure where I put the tags. Jim, That puppy has a whole bunch of color pop, eh? It surprised me for this late. Lovie Dovie Song ;-) I'm wishin I didn't have to say it was so, it seems like the first day of summer (July 5th this year) was just yesterday. I've done more than my share of whining about the lack thereof only to peruse my pictures from this year and query what the ?????? Was it like the previous several ? Not even but still a lot better than before I built it ;-) Pelican, I just cut them, fill the vase with water, start with the base of hydrangeas/dahlias for volume and then circle till done, maybe 5 minutes to build on average. I deflect all credit to the blooms ;-) Inga, a good garden is a gift that just keeps on giving.