300ga stock tank pond, 3/4 buried in the ground (5'x5'x28"). ~1000gph submerged pump goes to a 60ga DIY skippy-type filter with scrubbies, rocks, and lots of plants on top. Water flows out and down a small stream back to the pond. Six 6-8" goldfish/comet/shebunkins and 1/2 a dozen babies. Spring: Raise the potted plants from the bottom, re-pot and fertilize. Drain ~1/2 the water and clean out any debris on the bottom. Put the plants back in and start up the pump. Fill the skippy and put plants back in it. Buy new oxygenator plants. If the water turns green add prefilter of quilt batting or window screen to pump. Clean once a week for a couple weeks until the plants get growing and the water clears, then remove. Summer: Prune plants and remove yellowing pads as necessary. Remove string algae from the stream once in awhile. Watch so the watercress doesn't plug up the skippy outlet :) Feed the fish 2 or 3 times a week. Fall: Stop feeding fish when water temp Winter: Just before the first snow or hard freezing pull the pump, clean it and store it inside. Drain the skippy and flush it with the hose (this is the only time I 'clean' my skippy). Leave drain plug out for winter. Add air stone and tank heater to pond. This year I'm going to cover 2/3 of the pond with plywood or foam board. Fish stay in it. I have clear water except for ~ 2 weeks in the spring. I try to keep my fish load low and have lots of plants. I rarely have much string algae, my fish seem to like to graze it down. I have a 2nd pond a bit smaller with a 640gph pump and a 1/2 whiskey barrel skippy that I remove all plants and fish from and let freeze for the winter (it's a liner pond and only 18" deep). Otherwise maintenance is the same.

There is harly a nectar plant better, easier, and more persistent than lilliput zinnias or cut and come again zinnias. I maintain a small butterfly garden in a neighborhood wilderness park (south side for the sun, of course), and in Houston's heat and humidity the zinnias did very well indeed. Although the plants eventually succumb to fungal diseases and get pretty rank, nevertheless, I bring on successive generations on a monthly basis. Our growing season is around 8.5 months, and butterflies are around for all of that. I also notice a number of butterfly species' using the Asclepias curassavica for nectar. At the risk of going off-topic, I also advocate native plants for both butterflies and native bees. The native bees tend to be more targeted on particular plants as preferred nectar sources as opposed to the promiscuous selections of their European-honeybee cousins. I get leafcutter bees visiting my Gaillardia pulchras (my plants start out as native seed and are cultivated by me). Gaillardia is a long-season bloomer that will push out flowers even if not dead-headed. Gaillardia is perennial here, too. I also like the short but spectacular bloom of Centaurea americana, or Basketflower, which is a native annual that reseeds itself in my garden without intervention. The are butterflies and native bees all over it in the spring. I once observed my crop in full bloom only to find native bees were staging a bacchanal on the abundant and large blooms, something that I observed for the first time in 2005. It occurred to me that solitaries, which comprise most native bee species, need a place to rendezvous, and my Basketflower crop is one place where they do so. The clicking of chitin-on-chitin has delighted me when I have encountered small and large species pairing off for quickies. Since native bees need to get this done on an expedited basis, their reporoductive burst ends quickly, so regular observation is necessary for me to see this phenomenon in May here in the Heights section of Houston.

Honestly, yes, taft, just get it out any way you can. Seriously--you are in charge, not the stuff. That's my "Take It Out Back and Smash It With a Hammer" philosophy. Here's another one of my theories: I call it my "Stop Me Before I Kill Again" theory. It will all end up in the landfill anyway. Eventually. It will wear out, get broken, become so out of date nobody wants it. Everything. Seriously--everything. It all goes in the garbage eventually. Just like--we all die. What the end will be is never in question. It is just a matter of time. And, more important, it is a matter of how much good or evil we do (or the stuff does) along the way. Right now that stuff in boxes is evil. Remember your words: "I was feeling so hemmed in by the stuff in this house I couldn't take it anymore. " That's evil--that's what that is. That stuff is a little (or big!) piece of evil in your life. You can't move; your home doesn't feel welcoming; you look at it and feel horrible about yourself. That's evil. Seriously, it is. The stuff is crying out: Stop me before I kill again! So, you have two choices: rehabilitation or execution. If you can rehabilitate it (give it away to someone who will use it; get it into a recycling bin; sell it for money) easily, that's a sensible move. But will it rehabilitate? Will the cost--emotional cost, time cost--be prohibitive? Do you want to find someone who takes "stuff" and sorts through it to find stuff they can sell on eBay? (an eBay entrepreneur?) Do you want to give it to a thrift shop somewhere, so they can see if they want anything? Do you want to pay your college-age/teenage son/neighbor (or maybe your neighbor's cleaning lady) to go through it looking for stuff like money or photos? But all that sounds like a lot of work, with little guarantee it will be viable. Remember, the stuff will continue to work evil while you sort through it. So just toss it. If you're pretty sure you won't lose a $10,000 bearer bond, or something, just throw it out. (I found $40 in cash in a box I sorted through--but it was just one box of sorting. If I had 18 boxes, and someone said, "would you pay $40 to get rid of them?" my answer would have been yes. So you might not need to be that concerned about what's in them.) Good luck! OH! Here's one other option to consider: Let this forum be your discipline. If you want to, you could decide that every day you will eliminate one box. Every day. (Or, OK, every Saturday, you'll eliminate 3 of them, minimum.) Post here, and tell us how you're doing. (Or, make that a real-world situation, which will be more powerful, even: If you've got a good friend, ask her to come help you sort through 5 boxes every Saturday morning; you'll buy donuts if she'll help you. Even if all she does it sit there and say to you, if only by her presence: "Hey, I gave up my Saturday morning to help you get rid of boxes. Get off your bum and get rid of some boxes; don't waste my time." Don't have a friend? Hire a cleaning-lady-type person for a Saturday morning, several weeks in a row, and get boxes, trash bags, and directions to a donation place in place before you start.) Go get 'em, taft!

Maddison the female is the flower that is pollinated the mail is the flower where the pollen comes from you have to be careful when crossing two deferent flowers not to get the pollen from the female it is best to get pollen from a flower that is 2days old if you are lucky and get seeds one or two seeds will be what you are looking for most will be just common flowers you never know what you will get for me the female will control the color most of the time getting doubles and triples out of a triple female is about 5% go to Siam adenium there is Good information on cross pollination