floridarose, I got my seed from a friend, but I always assumed they were something like Summer Carnival, but after being open pollinated for years, things can change. There is some variation in height, but most are a little shorter like SC, and do often bloom the first year. It's hard to tell if they act as short lived periennials or are just reseeding almost on top of the mother plant. I don't stake my hollyhocks, but grow them against fences and the house. I've tried the Madame Butterfly snaps, and didn't like them as well as la Bella. Not only do la Bellas live longer than most other snaps, when they are pinched back they promptly send another single thick shoot up. When I pinch back Rockets, they start branching off with floppy shoots, though they also live through winter here quite well. La Bella doesn't reseed like the other snaps I grow, though (darn). It's probably a hybrid that wouldn't breed true, anyway. Here is a pic of Rocket snaps. Off to the side are some pink la Bellas. Hopefully, my file isn't too large for posting here.

pbrr, hypochondria by proxy is one thing but if it slips into munchausen by proxy let us know and well arrange and intervention! ;-0 Thanks for the chuckle! A few miles away and I'm right there with you with the rose slugs. If it wasn't so disappointing it would be simply amazing at how much destruction they cause and and how quickly it happens. I remove the little buggers by hand from each leaf daily on my 12 bands and most of them are STILL pretty damaged. (Kim, the 2 ALM seem to have the most resistants to them so far!) My husband wanted to do something about the "damn chirping in the chimneys" and I told him absolutely NOT! That chirping is a family of 3 adults and a brood of swifts and supposedly they can eat as many as 12,000 flying bugs in a day and some of those might be sawflys. The poor hubby looked at me with squinty eyes and realized it was really the same reason he can't take down the wasps nests in the eaves over the garden. :-) But ann I'm crushed about the thistle. I've been hand removing them from the field in front of my house (this is NOT a fun job.) I hate thistle in my pastures and I don't think I can get over it...maybe a nice thistle feeder for the goldfinches is order? I even tried to get my daughter's chicken interested in eating the slugs--by trying to feed them to her as I picked them off my bands. I envisioned a trained slug eating chicken working her way through the garden. Unfortunately she had more interesting possibilities calling her. As funny as it might sound I was desperate enough to think seriously on this! Sigh. At least there is someone to commiserate with.

See other post.

Here is what mirabilis (4 o clocks) look like with Mystic Beauty. Blooms are show and last until fall. Self sowing, but easy to recognize and pull out. I originally got this two years ago because it was supposed to be poisonous to Japanese beetles, but the it blooms after the JB peak. I notice that JBs have become less of a problem especially this year but I am not sure if that is more due to my vigilant picking them every morning for two years in a row. I also have a yellow mirabilis but it has not bloomed yet.