Sandy, the Black Swallowtails were all over the Maximilian Sunflower and my red sunflowers this morning! I didn't know they liked sunflowers??? I got one seedling from last year's Mexican Sunflowers, but boy is it a stunner! it is about 6' tall and I swear it is at least 10' in diameter. It is HUGE! I grew a bunch together in a rather small sf area last year, and they did well, but I guess they were planted too close together because they didn't look anything like this lonely one that is making a statement all on its own. I was worried about the Dwarf Red Porterweed after you told me that the blue and purple did better at attracting butterflies. I haven't seen any butterflies, but the hummers sure love it. I didn't raise the Monarchs, and they disappeared the day after I found them. I think I have too many predators in the garden this year. BTW, congrats on your Queens; haven't seen any of them this year either. I have had a cute little Funereal Duskywing that has been visiting daily for the last week or so. Gonna have to find out what their host plant is. Probably grasses of some sort. Found 2 big Tomato Hornworms (M. quinquemaculata) on my tomatos today, and moved them to the Datura, which they took to immediately. They are so pretty and these have very blue, blue horns. I usually get Tobacco Hornworms, but I didn't bring them in. They were 5th instar cats and not parasitized, so I just left them on the Datura. My Baptisia australis ssp. minor is just now beginning to recover from the invasion of those genista caterpillars! Geez, I thought they had killed it! Then, I read somewhere that you shouldn't cut Baptisia back or anything because it often does not recover and can die. But, it has new growth at the base that is about 3" tall now. Sure took its own sweet time. Re: Zizia - it is true they don't choose to lay eggs on it, but when the fennel in the front runs out, they readily eat it. I think it is more of a Northern region choice for a larval host than a southern. You do the same - stay out of this heat. Today was relatively nice in terms of the heat we've been having, tho. Susan

Thanks for the replies. I wonder if other people have problems similar to mine with their new sofas? To answer some of your questions: The sofa is only two weeks old, and the cushion I've been sitting on is showing a little more compression and the fabric doesn't look quite tight against the top of the cushion...all of this makes the cushion not look so new. Besides looks, comfort is important, and the cushion doesn't offer enough support. Gosh, two weeks is such a short time for a cushion to show this type of compression. My seat cushions are definitely spring-down and I'm 99% sure that the cushions on the model in the store are spring-down because that model comes standard with SD, but I can ask that the repair man bring one of the cushions from the showroom model for comparison, as I'm not sure if I will be able to make the drive back to that showroom. I'd like to go back to the store to figure out why their sofa fits me, but mine seems too deep. Maybe they had the back cushions at an angle when I sat in it. It's a Stickley sofa, and I believe Stickly stands by their products, so I'm hoping the issue can be resolved to my satisfaction. The other problem with the sofa is that some of the 8-way hand-tied springs in the sofa make noises...I don't know how this can be fixed. Thanks again.

Embothrium(Pugetopolis) I was not able to find where you are from. I am particularly interested in whether you are from a cool or hot climate as some of the rose viruses have a temperature dependent immune system such that the symptoms appear in cool weather but not in hot weather. https://sites.google.com/site/temperatureandrosemosaicvirus/home -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The National Rose Clean Plant meeting starts June 26. http://rosebreeders.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=55690 I am particularly interested if there will be a discussion of the following paper: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/davis-virus-report-no-date-of-preparation-given-dsvw-vd~5297887?n=3

If you are going to paint the door a bright color, paint the entire wall surrounding it the same color. A teal (or red or lime or puce or...) rectangular door with dark surround framed by a tan arch looks awful (like the current white. It all clashes--like the little rectangular windows in the arched openings. You need a new door, but not Craftsman style; that clashes as badly as the faux Victorian that's already there. You need plain, simple, subtle.