Hmmmm, I just might have to check Home Depot for some buddleia bargains. I still have 2 monarchs on my white buddleia and 2 on my potted asclepias curassavica's. They've been for a while now (over a week); always 2 on the buddleia & 2 on the milkweed. I keep my buddleias (for the most part) deadheaded, so with all this lovely weather we've been having, I have some nice blooms for the late migrators. Next year I'll have to do more A. curassavica; it always blooms until frost for me, and I'm sure the late monarchs appreciate it ;)

Lakeside Park is just this side of the river from Cinci. About 3 miles would be my guess, off I 75. Very nice there. My daughter that lives in Mi is just across the street from Flint. Grand Blanc. I also have a sister-in-law who lives in Central Lake and our cottage is in Elk Lake. About 20 miles from Traverse City. So all you northern Kentuckians, send me e-mails and let me know where you live as I will be up that way July 4th week... My sister is in bed and I told her we are leaving EARLY in the morning. She is a slow starter so I will have to jump start her....Night All....Ellie

I know that it has been a lot warmer up here this year than in Colorado so this may just be some encouragement for some of you. And, I'm only going to make one more post on this thread because, it really felt like spring here today. The thermometer said 64°F, the warmest day so far this year. It has already started to rain so . . . it isn't all sun and lawn violets. But yes there are, at least 6 lawn violets blooming in my yard! And, in just about the warmest and most sheltered location hereabouts, I discovered the snowberry bushes were leafing out! Steve And life gets more exciting with each passing day And love is either in your heart or on its way. Don't you know that it's worth every treasure on earth To be young at heart. For as rich as you are, it's much better by far To be young at heart. And if you should survive to 105 Look at all you'll derive, out of being alive. Then here is the best part You have a head start If you are among the very young at heart.

Oakley, We did get some of the cool front, but not as much as folks further north. At least we got a little bit of it though. It was cool for two or three days and nights and I have loved every minute of it. Tomorrow our temperatures are supposed to return to average July highs, but we aren't expected to be in the 110-113 range like we were a few days back, so how bad can the upper 90s and lower 100s really feel compared to that hot mess we just came through? We're in drought, though, so the plants here are deteriorating really quickly, even if irrigated. There is very little green here, other than the trees in our woodland. My garden is still mostly green because I've been watering it a lot, but I've got to stop pouring water on a lost cause. I would like to get out tomorrow before it gets too hot and mow the grass in the pastures down really short. Usually I don't do that because the wildflowers are in bloom, but the drought and heat have dried up all the wildflowers, so I should mow things down short to reduce the fire risk (a perpetual hazard living in a grassland area, although at least our grassland is interspersed with woodland areas along the creeks). I'm just afraid I'll fall into the big cracks in the ground and disappear....and my husband will come home to am empty house and a missing wife. lol. Drought humor. It is getting harder and harder to find anything to laugh about here. A couple of nights ago, my husband shot a rattler that had gotten about 3' away from our old dog. They were near our back steps. That's the closest we've had a rattlesnake get to the house in a long time---usually they are a problem a bit farther out from the house. I guess the drought is driving them in. Today when I was out there watering periwinkles in pots near the steps, I was watching the ground very, very carefully. We keep the grass there mowed down pretty short because of all the snakes, but our 13-year-old dog still never saw that rattlesnake. If Tim hadn't been with the dog, I bet the snake would have bit him. I hate hot dry summers, and this one has been a pretty tough one. I wish autumn would come on and get here. Usually the rain down here returns in Sept or Oct in all but the worst drought years, so I'm pinning my hopes on an early autumn. Dawn