jasdip you are doing great with your orchids. Mine are doing the same, new spikes, lots of buds and mittens to. One plant that has open flowers is yellow and I don't remember ever buying a yellow one. I did have a beautiful blue one which I am sure was done with dye or food coloring and it could be this one. I currently have 4 plants in full bloom. Sooo pretty.

Jodi, that looks like Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa. Jasdip, yes, he's still fighting forest fires. This is his 4th year, his 2nd year as a member of the Gila Hotshots. Their base is very near that huge fire in New Mexico. There are only 2 roads into the base and both go through the fire. 250,000+ acres burned and he still takes time to rescue a horned toad. Ron

Jim, have you an identity for your bug? Looks a lot like the Kissing Bug whose bite can be deadly. They have recently been seen in more northern states than normally found. There are some bugs that look very similar to the Kissing Bug, but are harmless.

Congratultions to "Donna" for the new award! :) susan, the yellow daylily is lovely. Took me a second to realize that the reason it looked so full was that it has four petals and sepals! Do you know the cultivar name? Years ago, I went through a huge daylily phase, but haven't kept up with introductions ones for quite a while now. joanmn, does that water level happen often? Wish SoCal could siphon a bit of that. A lot of pretty photos today!