Butterflymomok and misssherry, I am happy to see that you all know the value of Larry's expertise, but I am definitely not surprised. I just stumbled into the forum as a newbie, and it will take a while to examine and read through old threads. I will try to catch up and contribute as I may to the discussions. Fortunately, my specialization is different than Larry's in that I work with noctuid moths primarily. I do a great deal of rearing and life history work. I stress the importance of valuing biodiversity because so much remains to be discovered, even right here in the US. The group referred to in my previous post has yielded 11 new species and one new genus and species in California alone. And we are talking about colorful day-flying moths that have simply been overlooked. I first found one new species in the MEDIAN STRIP of I-5! I was in a net swinging frenzy until the Highway Patrol intervened. There are wonderful things to be discovered everywhere: here at home as well as in far flung jungles. As, it turns out, Larry and I passed like ships in the night in one of those far away jungles over a decade ago. I didn't know that, of course, when I joined in the forum, but I couldn't shake the notion that I should know who Larry was. I was trying to place who he might be and used the the language of Papua New Guinea, tok pisin, to test the hypothesis and to offer my bona fides to Larry. The Larry I was thinking of would be one of the few people on earth to understand the references I wrote in that language. I am so happy to have rediscovered him! Misssherry, if you look at our tok pisin entries you will see the word "wantok", which means "friend". Tok pisin is a true pidgin language. "Wantok" (friend) comes from "one talk", meaning sharing one form of talk or thought, a bond. On this forum, we are all talking of the same thing; we share a bond and a love for our natural world. We, therefore exhibit "one talk". We are, therefore, all wantoks. Terry PS to Larry: Mi save tru yu wan bel...

My plants started out with a few males, then a mix of male and female--I got several zukes by hand pollinating--but I'm only getting female flowers now. There are no fruit on the plants now (I've heard that can alter flowering). This happened last year, too, and I can't find out why.

I showed that one to my kids. It's amazing! So far, my hummingbirds won't even let me let me in the backyard with them let alone sit 12 inches away. I hope they get used to me so I can get close. I have had friendlier hummingbirds in the past, but not for the last couple years. I need a duck blind or something.

Plantnut, the colors change with the light. The slightest change in the inclination of the head can change the colors from red to black as the light flashes off. ctnchpr, amazing how ferocious the tiny things can be, isn't it? :)