Michelle/Hostacats, as I expected you are much younger than my DH and myself. We could be your parents. :) Not a bad thought actually. My parents moved from a rural county in north Alabama when I was small, during WWII. Of course, my many aunts and uncles and grandparents during those years were scattered across the south and while my mom worked at a military base, we traveled with my railroad widow granny to visit the family during the summers. I grew up with one part of my life suburban, the other part rural. My DH says I had a foot in three centuries, because that county did not get electricity nor indoor plumbing until I was almost a teenager. Heck, they were very proud to have it all, and I loved being with my cousins. I helped with the canning, hoeing cotton, churning butter, picking cotton, shelling peas, following my beloved grandpa in the furrows behind his plow, barefoot and talking mile a minute to him. He grew his own tobacco and hung the whole plants upside down inside his barn. Don't know what kind of tobacco it was, but he let me roll his cigarettes for him when I was about 4 or 5 years old. He was a great joker and my daddy looked like him, tall, lean, dark skinned and black haired, with some Native American background. You might say that part of my life could as easily be called late 19th century, a much simpler time. Thanks, Irawon. I can grow the star jasmine as evergreen here, and that is along 100 foot of chainlink fencing. The single pot of Maid of Orleans jasmine (Joan of Arc) all by itself can perfume the air, but it is tender and I keep it in a pot to bring indoors during the cold season. I like to name places of the heart. That's why I've always named the places I live. My first home that I bought myself was MoccasinLanding. When I sold it, I moved into a small house owned by a friend, lived there for a year on the river and called it Riverhouse. When my new fiance (old flame from college) and I bought the river house destroyed by Katrina one month after we moved in, I'd named it Fahanlunaghta (the place his mother was born in Ireland). It means, I am told, "fresh milk."

Thank you everyone! :-) It is so hard with DH gone so much, no one to share the beauty with! Just me and my camera wandering around. :-) That's why I come here. Everyone appreciates the effort and time (and love) put into gardening! The rose on the stone wall is Green Snake. I just love it. Completely winter hardy here. Some canes are over 15 feet long. I occasionally just "hack" it back. It makes a wonderful ground cover, just wish it bloomed more than once. However, the leaves are beautiful throughout the summer, a deep dark, shiny green. Will link to it below. The roses on the fence are William Baffin and John Cabot. Again both very winter hardy. When choosing these I went for the hardiness vs. rebloom. They have been on the fence since 2002. However I have experienced RRD in the garden and removed one of the roses just yesterday. So for now I have a hole on the fence. Any future pictures will show an open area on the fence. Luckily the 2 neighboring roses had arched over into the area where the rose I removed was, so the panel is not completely bare. Also a clematis is planted nearby and I was able to move some of the growth over a little to help "fill in". I too love cardinals. This guy (at least I think it is the same one) has been coming to our yard for about 3 years. It is, however, the first time I saw him in that fountain. Here is a link that might be useful: Heirloom roses - Green Snake

They're all quite beautiful but I especially like Felicite Parmentier. When it comes to bushes there are few that look better than one of the rugosas, such as Pink Pavement. All of these must be deliciously fragrant.

Trail that article talks about other beneficial insects that eat the aphids, not Monarch cats. "If you can relax a bit and let nature take its course, just about the time the milkweed starts blooming, and your milkweed looks overrun with aphids, beneficial insects like ladybugs, lacewing and their larvae show up to go to work. These beneficial insects have voracious appetites and aphids are one of their favorite meals. Ladybugs, Lacewings, and their larvae can clean up a milkweed plant overnight." I have read anything I can find about them because they are SO destructive to the plant the cats need to survive but never saw anything that says the cats eat them - never saw cats eat them either and I've been known to sit and watch them like a total geek ;-) But I just went out to look and lo and behold I saw 6 or 7 cats, most appear close to pupating but saw one straggler. There aren't enough leaves to keep them all going so I'll be heading to the garden center to see if they have more plants. This will be our 3rd brood - amazing! I raised a lot of them in habitat last year. This year I let them fend for themselves! As I said, total geek here. Last year I'd sit for hours watching and videoing the eclosion.