Have 25 named cultivars of garden phlox in our own garden and half a dozen No Names that came from the local horticultural society spring sale and that worked out well. Have used the latter particularly in other gardens. Have only had over half of the names cultivars for two years or less, so not sure. Looking out there today, the 'Cosmopolitan', 'Flame Purple' and 'Flame Coral' clearly have new buds opening, half a dozen other cultivars to a less extent. As indicated, the most floriferous of all named cultivars I have, have probably been 'Peppermint Twist'; have had that with half a dozen others for five or more years. A lot of what's blooming now is site specific, e.g. the variegated 'Norah Leigh' in one location is still in flower, but finished flowering in two other locations. The Chicago Botanic Garden comparative study of garden phlox (2011) does include bloom times. I would be very interested to hear what garden phlox have worked for other gardeners.

WOW doris!! that is so smart!! i would NEVER have thought of that!!! last year when we had so much rain our basement flooded, the terrible thing was that just that spring i put everything from the attick (which it was safe) down to the basement, now i must mention that in the basement its like 5x8x6height. its a very small basement. well in the summer for some reason it flooded here, we are on a slope so we didn't get anything, just the creeks got so bad that they blocked us in town. funny!! . till a month later i went to the basement looking for something and OMGoodness i noticed that it had rings that would have been up to my neck on some of the crates, (thank goodness we were smart enough to get them switched over befor we put them there!! ) we lost alot of things, books from our youth, some of tabors baby books, some of tabors baby blankets, some of tabors baby clothes, some of our (i think my grandma's blanket she made she passed on ages ago) so you get the pic. so we had to clean that thing out big time!! all them crates, and then up went the crates AGAIN!!!! LOL i could NOT get that horrible smell out of the stuff either so they had to go!! wish i had known, but we thought our house was sound for some reason, dont know why??!! no sump pump. that would have been nice!! LOL ~Medo

Susan, Ha, yeah, I guess I must have reeled him in. :) Thanks for everyone here, I learned enough to pass on now and I sound halfway like I know what I'm talking about, I think. lol I guess I'm not the only one without many butterflies from what you say. Now it's supposed to rain for the next few days. That will at least make the plants grow from last year and the year before, but it won't do much for the ones that are already jammed in their containers waiting to be planted out. I was going to dig sod today but...RAIN! I can't wait for those southerly winds to come our way. Ha, I complain when we go straight from winter into summer, and now I'm a little mad that it's not warmer. Ha. Sandy, I think you're right about him liking the butterflies! Just today I had a BST eclose and he put it outside. He loves releasing them. I knew that he knew what those and the Monarchs are since I raise them here to release, but I didn't know that he actually knew those other things. Nice! Gee, I'm surprised to hear you say that you haven't seen any CW's yet. I guess I just assumed that everyone south of me had them by now. Yeah, I wouldn't doubt if it will warm up before long and be warmer than I like it to be too. A person just can't win, huh? ;-) I hope that you and I can get all our perennials in this year because I usually end up with the dilemma of rushing to get everything done all at once and yeah, it's tiring. My back suffers for it, but I keep pushing myself. I figure it probably won't get any better (DDD) and I'm trying to get it done asap. I'm far from wheelchair bound but I don't think any time goes back that it doesn't hurt. I've worked out a good system of laying down two mats on the grass in front of the flower bed I want to plant or the sod I want to dig. I sit down on the one for awhile until I can't reach of the stuff, slide over onto the other mat and then move the mat I was just on over to the other side of me to slide on after I get done with the section I'm just starting. It works out pretty good for me. Now if only I could afford to hire someone to do the push mowing, I'd be set! :) I know what you mean about the never ending job thingey. Yep, suffering at night is something I'm familiar with and wish I weren't. Sorry to hear that you're in the same boat. The butterflies are worth the work though, and I'm sure you probably agree. :) Miss Sherry, Haha, yeah, me too! Now I guess I can move on to the next lesson. :) Btw, I feel like I've learned a lot from you on the forum and wanted to say thank you! tdogmom aka Cal Sherry, aka Sherry, I guess both of our hubbies are good learners then. :) Sometimes I wonder if they're testing us or something when it seems like they aren't listening but actually are. Ha. That's a funny story about yours giving his 'expert' butterfly talk at the nursery. Hee hee. That's good that we aren't the only ones passing on butterfly info. I think I end up talking about it to whoever, even strangers on the street. :-D I never know who will take it to heart and who won't, so I have to tell everyone because I have to have hope for them all. You can't predict who will actually make a difference, so I say educate as many as possible. You're familiar with that. :) I sure am glad that you and others are willing to "take a chance" on people who come on here. You could have all ignored me that first year when I felt like a fish out of water when I found Monarch cats here, but you were so willing to answer questions. Thanks to you and others I raised 70 that year and 500+ last year. I've become a milkweed nut and have about 250 plants here counting the ones in the ground and the ones in big pots. :-O Wow, just think of all of the 'paper towels' who have absorbed the knowledge that you've passed along! ;-) It must really give you a sense of satisfaction...keep up the terrific work! bernergrrl, Yes, I think my hubby is pretty sweet, and I'll tell him that you said that...it should make his day. :) That's great that yours has been listening too. It certainly is exciting, huh. I don't know if I have a lot of butterflies right now. I think when my milkweed, butterfly bushes, and coneflowers are blooming is when I'll have a lot. I didn't realize that there's a lot of difference from one zone to another either. Hopefully it won't be too long before you and I and others start seeing more butterflies. I'm going through withdrawal. lol It sounds like you've seen quite a few. Yay! :) Ha, you definitely sound like me with the thinking in bed. I almost drive myself bonkers. Ha. Cathy

The top one is a Sachem. The key is the dark spot on the lower wing edge. Skippers are hard to ID as they look more alike than different! The plant looks like a thistle, but without leaves, I can't be sure. The second picture is a Dainty Sulfur. I'm seeing quite a few of these today also. They are cute little guys. I recommend the book, "Butterflies of Oklahoma, Kansas, and North Texas", which Susan also recommended. This book shows the 100 most common butterflies. Dr. John Nelson is a professor emeritus of ORU here in Tulsa and a friend of mine. I started out with this book and kept track of the butterflies as I saw them by making reference to location and date on the pages. After that book, you will want Kaufman's Field Kid. It's the bible of butterfly enthusiasts, and the one we refer to when we are out on butterfly counts. Be careful! I think you are being smitten! Sandy