Susan, It was the common orange-flowered one called buttefly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). I have grown it several times and it doesn't like ANY of my soil. My sandy soil drains too quickly, my clay drains too slowly. It did incredibly well (raised from seed) in a raised bed in the veggie garden a couple of years ago. There it got huge, bloomed all summer long and seemed perfectly happy, but it didn't come back the following year. (It was a dry winter, and I don't water the veg garden in the winter, so maybe it got too dry?) Ironically, it grow wild along the roadside on a country road about 1/3 mile south of us, growing up and down the fenceline. Turn onto our road, though, and you'll see one or two of them a short distance from that other road, and then no more. I think the clay just gets thicker and more dense once you turn onto our road, and the farther north you go in our direction, the worse the clay gets. Sometimes, if I break new ground, I'll get volunteers of the pink-flowered milkweed that has big, tropical-looking leaves, but I haven't broken any new ground lately and haven't had it the last few years. And in the pasture we have the Antelope Horns Milkweed everywhere. Ilene, We always have tons of Johnson grass too, and I pull it out of the beds all the time, but most especially when it has just rained. I hate the stuff and it is EVERYWHERE here...in every yard, every pasture, every bar ditch, and along every fenceline. Ironically, our land that we bought and built our home on was part of the Johnson Farm for many years AND, of course, it is on Johnson Road. (I need to ask the Johnson family if they got their family name from the Johnson grass that is so abundant here.) My common white datura reseeds in both clay soil and sandy soil, but the various hybrid ones with different colored flowers and double flowers are pickier and only reseed in sandier soil. The ones in sandier soil or in clay soil improved with compost grow larger, though, than the ones in unimproved clay. Here, the common white datura is known as jimson weed and often grows wild in pastures. I think you are having a pretty good garden year considering the rainfall you have experienced. You are very resilient and are quickly finding ways to work around the weather "challenges". Imagine how much fun it will be in an "average" year with normal rainfall! I do not think you are whiney at all. This forum is a great place to talk through ALL the challenges and successes, all the good times and bad, all the ups and the downs of gardening in Oklahoma. I honestly think that Oklahoma is one of the toughest places to garden because our weather changes non-stop. Where else in the USA can you go from ice to snow to rain to sleet to hail to tornadoes to drought to wildfire, etc......and all in one year or even in one month (sometimes it seems like it is all in one week!). I have seen rains so heavy that the roads flooded, and then the dry, dormant grasses went up in a blaze of wildfire a day or two later, and firefighters trying to fight the wildfires found their trucks stuck in the muds from the heavy rains. Living here is a challenge, and gardening is even more so. NO ONE understands it better than those of us who live here and garden here. I agree that the people on this forum rock! I have never seen a more agreeable, considerate, kind, giving and helpful group of people. On many forums you see a lot of "discussions" that turn into heated debates, and you see a lot of out-of-control egos that clash. We don't have that here, and I am so proud of our entire group of individuals on this forum. I think we can and do disagree with one another, but we are not disagreeable in the manner in which we do so. Sharon, I agree with you that we all are blessed to have our homes and gardens, even when they are giving us fits. I think we're blessed to have each other too. Susan, I had a lot of butterflies earlier in the season, but they have been fairly sparse lately. Maybe it is the wind....or lots of predators/diseases because we had a huge upsurge in population last year and that is always followed by predators/diseases and then a smaller population. (Just like the corresponding up and down population cycles of rabbits/coyotes.) This week I am beginning to see more, especially black swallowtails. Y'all our lovely day lasted until noon, and then the heat and humidity combined to make it miserable, along with the wicked mosquitoes. I've been inside for a couple of hours but hope to get back out in the yard after dinner. Dawn

You need to make a rain garden and move your current flower beds away from the roof runoff areas. A few pots -- or even a lot of pots -- can't effectively deal with roof runoff, expecially from the kind of storms & heavy rains we get on the coast. The longer you delay, the more erosion and related problems you'll have. I live near Wilmington NC and rain gardens are really catching on here. Fortunately, they are simple to make! Here is a link that might be useful: instructions for making a rain garden

Thanks for the responses. I live in the Everett area which I'm learning is in the convergence zone which means I get more rain the other parts of Puget Sound. I do have two plants (Pineapple)in SWCs that I purchased from Gardener's supply. I was able to move those under the covered patio and the plants are doing well. The plants in the garden are now covered with makeshift tarps, leftover plywood, and a plastic folding table. Still lightly raining but hopefully the warmer weather comes as forecasted. My fingers are crossed! I will look into using Daconil and spraying them. It's kinda disappointing to think about spraying them as I was trying to grow organic without the use of any chemicals. If anyone in the greater Seattle area uses fungicides I would be interested in hearing how to go about using them. Thanks.

This is probably a question for the Container Gardening forum, but: Did you use anything to cover the holes in the bottom of the pot? These are often so large that soil can run out, so covering them while still allowing water to drain is a good idea. You can use a couple sheets of newspaper, or place a piece of a broken pot over the hole. If you used a proper potting soil and have drain holes, the pots will not stay 'too wet' for very long. It does sound like you'll have to add some potting soil to top them off though.