Val, you said: "In zone 5 they say our last frost date is May 15th. So I'm curious to know why you "winter-sowed" them in pots or jugs when couldn't you have just sown them into the garden? I think I'm getting more and more confused by this process. LOL" Sorry, didn't mean to confuse. I think Karen is right - so many of us do things so many different ways, it can be intimidating. I am VERY laid-back about my WSing. I might decide on the spur of the moment to sow a few containers at any given moment I'm at home. Then, I decide while looking through my seed box what I'm going to sow at that given moment. Again, the only "rule" I follow is to do veggies later than earlier. Later is relative. I WS so much - usually about 225 containers - that I tend to sow my perennials and annuals first, and then my veggies (well, except for cold-hardy veggies like peas, carrots, beets, lettuce, spinach - those I will do early). So, yes, I sowed my warm-season veggies in May, but that is basically because that is when I got around to it, lol! I didn't say to myself, "I have to wait until mid-May to sow these". I was just still sowing and since those are things that I would sow "later" rather than earlier, they just got put at the end of the line, and that's when they got done. Nothing to do with calendar dates, frost dates, or anything else that practical or logical, lol. Just had to do with when I could get to them! Oh, and one last thing - I hardly ever direct sow (I think green beans are the only thing I do) because I like the control that the jugs provide. Seeds don't get washed away, critters don't get the seedlings, and I have more time to plan where things go. That's why I still use containers as late as May. So, yes! Stop over-thinking and jump in, for goodness sake! The water's fine! AJ and Barbie, glad my list was of some help. But - to everyone - remember, as Mr. Gibbs says in "Pirates of the Carribean", they're really more like guidelines! :) Dee

glad2garden, You are probably right! A few years ago Maman put some mulch in this area and never did anything with it. The soil underneath was great to begin with so I asked if I could start a butterfly garden in 2008. The Buddleia is the first thing I put in and then I put Echinaceas, Asclepias, Heliopsis, and Sedums. The Sedums were the only things not winter sown. In 2009 we realized how big this Buddleia was going to be. It is so full and so sturdy. Funny you should mention the Joe Pye - I have a spot with such soil in front of our house and a winter sown Joe grows to 9 feet every year if not taller. :O)

Okay, one more time, :)...actually I love talking about wasps. I know most of you will be horrified, but I am becoming enamored of them for different reasons. To start with, I used to think there was just the paper wasp and the yellow jacket. Since starting to study parasitoids, I have learned that there are thousands (probaby millions) of different wasps. Most of these have highly specific lifecycles. Some are really beautiful, like the blue winged wasp. It uses the green junebug larva as a host. The green junebug larva does major damage to your lawn and these wasps help control it. However, Chalcid is short for the superfamily Chalcidoidea. It is a group of wasps, not one specific species of wasp. Chalcidoidea is one of if not the largest group of parasitoid wasps, with estimations of around 400,000 species in the world. These wasps are not only parasitoids, but depending on the species, may eat seeds, utilize flowers, or are gall formers in plants. Parasitoid Chalcids may use eggs, larva, or pupas. These wasps are generally small, and metallic colored. However, there is a lot of variety. So, one Chalcid is not parasitizing all the butterflies, a variety are. Parasitoid is different from parasitic. Parasitoid means that the host is eventually killed by the parasitoid. As opposed to a parasite that depends on the hosts survival. Wikipedia lists 12 different parasitoid superfamilies. This is probably changing day to day. Again, depending on the species, they will use different immature stages of the insect. Many different insect species are used as hosts. Including many agricultural and garden pests, such as aphids, beetles, and grasshoppers. This is a major part of nature's pest control. In the butterfly house we cannot control all butterfly predators, just some, and the caterpillars still strip bushes and trees bare. I imagine a world without parasitoids as a world devoid of green. This does not include a description of the Aculeata(?) the infraorder that includes paper wasps, yellow jackets, and the like. These are the wasps that eat caterpillars and feed them to their young. They do not use them as hosts. So, that being said, bringing the butterfly eggs into the house as soon as you see them laid, is the best strategy. Which is why so many of us are considered goofy, as we follow mom around the yard trying to talk her into laying eggs! That is no guarantee as I have found parasitoid wasps on my window sill and wonder "hmmm, where did that come from?" However, it will help a bunch. Otherwise, you have to use fine screening mesh to exclude them. Once you have the problem in your yard, it may be difficult to eradicate it. I know someone who brought chrysalis home and transferred the chalcid problem to her yard. Whew, Elisabeth

I am not sure that I agree Rosewood, even though what you suggest is the direction most people are taking. I stand by my entries on this thread that I made on Wed. March 16, 05 and Thursday, March 17, 05. Scroll up. Please read if you passed over it, because I still feel the same today, ten months later. After hanging out in the step parent forum for awhile, my views on this are stronger than ever. Letter after letter talks about re-marriage after the divorce, and when many of these men re-marry, several of these new young wives on the forum resent and hate the children from the previous marriage...especially after they have new babies with the husband...and they want to have their own new little family, without the previous children, in fact, they want those children to just disappear! To some extent, I am now beginning to think that when we become parents, it is no longer about following our whims, or our feelings (which are fickle at best, and deceive us) but about what is in the best interest of the children we have brought into this world, and loving these innocent, beautiful children enough to fulfill our responsibility to them, by giving them the best possible childhood we can, whether we feel like it or not. IMO, when he made vows to love and honor his wife, and brought these two babies into the world who have their whole childhood ahead of them yet, he lost the right to chase after the new honey at the office. IMO, he has lost the right to whine and say he does not know if he is happy right now, and run around with the girl friend while he decides. It is such an incredible injustice to his wife and two babies, who trusted him to lead this family like a man, and put aside his childish whims. He is robbing his wife, by threatening her future, and the future of her children. It will affect them on every level, for years to come. He has robbed his wife of the ability to enjoy her new baby, and her two year old, because she must now worry where he is, who he is with, why hasn't he called, and the security of knowing their future is safe. Then, I imagine he will marry one of these honey's - and then, the step parent issues begin for these children. His new honey will hate money leaving her household, to his ex-wife, and his kids, and will resent her and the kids for this. It cheats his wife and children out of the future they SHOULD have had. A future with two parents who love them and strive to give them the best childhood they can. A family of their own, with two people who are willing to step up to the plate and do the right thing...whether they feel like it or not...with a smile for these beloved children. Giving them the gift of a family who loves them and are on their side rooting for them every step of the way. Parenting is hard under the best of circumstances. But we are called to do our very best, for these children, and not give up! There are days in parenting and life that we all will look at our spouse and wonder "what in the world was I thinking, when I chose him/her". Or we will look at them and may not feel anything at all. But on other days, we are so thankful that this person is by our side, and feel so blessed to have them share our life. Our feelings evolve over time, and can become so rich if we treat each other with excellence!