Ament, The porterweed and plumbago are annuals. If you'd want them, you could plant them and get seeds off of them and plant those next year just like you would with marigolds, celosia, etc. Oh, and I'm pretty sure you'd have to put the passionvine in a pot and move it in and out every year because I'm pretty sure that wouldn't make it in your zone. The false nettle would live for you (perennial), and the same for the Amorpha fruicosa (that gets to be a big bush, just so you know), and Lespedeza capitata. I just looked up Ruta graveolens and it's only hardy to zone 6. I don't know if you'd want that then. It's a beautiful foliage plant, but I don't know if you'd want to be bringing a dozen or bushes in and out every year. :) I forget if it seeds the first year or not. If it does, I was going to say you could just treat it as an annual (get the seeds off of it and plant them next year), but I'm not sure when it gives seed. I don't think the coneflower is hardy there either according to the USDA plant website. If you want to look these all up, here's the link below. Let me know what you decide. Here is a link that might be useful: USDA Plants Profile

Susan, The Hoary Edge has been reported in pretty many counties in PA but not mine. I'll have to keep a lookout for it in the future. BAMONA lists Desmodium, Lespedeza, and Baptisia for LFPs; I have the last two here, so I guess I'm prepared and didn't even know it. Like I mentioned, I also have the Amorpha. I think we're too far north for the Southern Dogface, darn it. I hope that you'll be able to raise Silver-spotted Skippers sometime in the near future. I agree about the skippers being so cute! I've always had lots of them in the garden every year, especially this year, and they really go for the Verbena bonariensis. I didn't raise any cats, though, before this year, thanks to the Amorpha fruticosa. We don't have any locust trees right here, but I know that there are some down along the creek, so I imagine that that's where they lay their eggs every year. Now they can also come here to start their families. I've always liked SSSs; they seem so friendly. Yep, I bet that they lay on your neighbor's wisteria. I used to have several of them here before I got into butterfly gardening. The darn things never bloomed, so we ripped them out...those things are hard to kill! Wow, you're way ahead of me with the seed ordering! I never tried Cosmic Red Cosmos...they sound pretty! I did have some kind of orange cosmos here. They butterflies liked it but it reseeded so much that I didn't plant it again after that and haven't had it now for several years. I just might try the kind that you mentioned. I also planted some heirloom tomatoes this year, Marglobe and Brandywine. I don't know why but the Brandywine tomatoes split so much, so my husband said to cross that one out for next year and not to plant so many of the ones that I do plant. We really had way too many of those and peppers. We gave the extras away, so they didn't go to waste, but it was a lot more work for me than would have had to be. I also like to plant for the hummingbirds! I plant Salvia coccinea 'Lady in Red' (same as you), Scarlet Runner Beans, Four o' Clocks (I plant red ones and white ones), and I have a plant in a hanging basket that I just love (and so do they). It's called Windberry. The flowers are red and look like small petunias. It flowers really nicely! I've tried fuchsias but never had luck with them. Now I wish I had planted the Aster oblongifolius. I always saw mention of the A. laevis and the A. novae-angliae, so that's what went in my garden and I've regretted it ever since they went to seed for the first time in 2008. More seeds than a person could plant in a lifetime! lol Maybe it's just me, but as I get older some things are becoming a bothering and deadheading certain plants is one of them. I'm glad that I'm removing them. If you need any TMW seeds, let me know. I'm sure I'd have enough to share with you. I didn't manage to get seeds from my red porterweed, but I brought it inside so at least will have it for next year again (cross my fingers it doesn't die on me in here). The flowers looked so pretty planted behind my Dusky Millers. I don't notice any places selling it around here. I had gotten mine in the mail from a friend when we were exchanging plants, and I really like it. It sounds like you really saw a good variety of butterflies! You get some that I don't get like Gulf Fritillaries. I wish I could get some of those southern butterflies, but I'm happy with what show up here. I have passionvine here, but don't ask me why. I don't get GFs, and I've only ever found Variegated Fritillary cats on it a couple times (I think that was either in 2007 or 2008). I do think the flowers on the P. incarnata are so pretty though. My tithonia was blooming too until just recently when the frost hit it. After a few frosts and especially when it got down to 24 deg. here the other night, that pretty much nipped everything in the bud. I got lots of seeds from it, though, for next year. I didn't get around to planting it last year and regretted it. Ha, I don't know about your last statement...most days I feel like I can't keep up with it. It would be so nice to have a work crew come and help me! :-D You and I will have to cross our fingers that our Purple Milkweed likes being in the pots. Here are some pictures of two of the Silver-spotted Skipper cats that I had here...

Yep, Baptisia is commonly called "Prairie False Indigo" - according to many places on the web and both my Audubon guide and *snork* Reader's Digest Guide to Plants and Animals blah blah blah... The white particularly. I'm a wool dyer so it's interesting to me as you can actually use it for that purpose - there's enough indigotin in it. Haven't yet, but I keep thinking about it! Just hit that link too, "Desert False Indigo" - that explains it... You know, that legume family is so huge... If you'd like some Baptisia seeds either white or purple - also there were tons of my seeds that went to the seed swap of both colors so bound to be extra starts out there - let me know! -Marie

Those pictures look like nutrient deficiencies to me. Compost has to break down before plants can absorb its nutrients. I would suggest foliar feeding with a complete formula that also contains micronutrients. Spray generously so that some of the nutrient liquid drips into the soil where it can also be absorbed by the roots. I use several commercial soluble nutrient formulas, including Miracle-Gro and Better-Gro. For foliar feeding, you don't want the stuff to be too concentrated, so I dilute it to about one teaspoon per gallon. If you will be spraying flower petals, which are extra sensitive, I would use only about one quarter teaspoon per gallon. You could increase that to one tablespoon per gallon if you were not foliar spraying, but just watering the plant with a nutrient drench. ZM