Buford, Buford, Buford . . . Are you NEVER going to figure out how this works? Ofcourse they don't count, silly! Not only do they not count, but those four will occupy space reserved for roses that you DO want, so when you (finally) get the four that you do want, those four don't count either because the stress of delayed gratification PLUS the hassle of fitting them in cancels them out TWICE, see? So you're getting a total of nine roses, only one of which you have to count -- PLUS you then have a bonus of four roses that you get to add to next year's order(s). So that's an even dozen new roses that actually don't figure into your total. Now do you understand?

Updating.... I have found only 5 monarch cats...only 1 of them from my garden. The others were on the wild milkweed along the road in front of my house. I just talked to another butterfly enthusiast, Jane Kirkland of Take A Walk books, and she's found similar circumstances from Scotland and other parts of the world. For people reading who hate bugs...guess what? You got rid of the bugs, with all your pesticides, and now look what we have...no bugs. (Side rant)

Latex mattresses sold by the big "S" companies are rarely, if ever, composed of 100% latex. They contain layers of cheaper foam which tend to sag over time, and mattresses with pillowtops sag the worst. I once saw a chart showing specifications of big-name "latex" mattresses and you wouldn't believe the small amount of real latex. There might be five layers of different types of foam with one or two thin layers of latex. About four years ago I was looking for a latex mattress and did a lot of online research, including spending many months reading posts on a mattress forum. I learned about several online companies that sell real latex mattresses and provide great customer service. Specialty stores in some geographic areas (not mine) also sell latex mattress, some organic. But I was on a limited budget and knew I could never afford any of these (and I question the concept of organic latex but that's for another thread.) Based on suggestions on the mattress forum, I took a risk and made an online purchase from a web site called foambymail (the company is Foam Factory.) I purchased a 6" firm base, a separate 3" soft topper, and upgraded to a terry cover, which has a zipper around all four sides (a $20 upgrade.) The mattress comes shrink wrapped, shipped by UPS. Shipping is free. Latex is very heavy and a friend helped me lug it upstairs to the bedroom. We placed it on the platform bed before unwrapping it. As we cut through the shrink wrap carefully, it made a whooshing sound as it expanded. The 6" latex base had already been placed by the company inside the mattress cover, so we only had to shift it into place on the bed. We placed the 3" topper inside the cover and zipped it all around. Since I like cushy beds, I bought a separate mattress cover with its own pillowtop made by Cuddledown (from Costco). After four years, the bed is like new and it's the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on. If I were doing this again, the only change I would make is to get a 2" soft topper rather than 3". I might also substitute the Cuddledown cover with a wool topper since the Cuddledown is filled with polyesther and sleeps a little warm. I paid less than $700 for a full size mattress and topper; it would be a little more today. Here is a link that might be useful: Foam Factory

Recovery is in the wind...and just to help it along, I used all of Mr Campanula's beer money (which he can no longer spend due to antibiotics) and ordered a slew of plants to address the now defunct spring border. Previously, this little neglected patch has cowered beneath a vast honeysuckle, many dull hellebores and out of control japanese anemones so the wayward spraying really did me a favour by ruthlessly clearing a whole heap of perfectly alright but irredeemably boring plantage...and in a teeny tiny garden, all plants must pay their way. Eldest has aleardy gifted me with a little impatiens omeiensis (a complete unknown to me), along with thaictrum kiusianum (sp?), a gorgeous saxefrage fortuneii with sugar pink flowers and deep red foliage...so I added in a pulmonaria longifolia, another bunch of thalictrums, including t.diffusiflorum, a large flowered rareity, White Ness geranium, a little anemone White Swan, a couple of pale yellow hellebores and several alchemiilas. Have dug up the Elka narcissi, along with a few Thalia, a handful of cyclamen and I think I am ready to go. Oh yeah, taking Maisie's advice, have planted up a tub of purple verbena and scarlet begonias (with the Grateful Dead song humming away in my head). Illness still stalks the halls but I have just put my bike into the menders (such idleness) and am taking what remains of the summer into my own hands.