Sorry I didn't get on here right away. I just started a new job on Monday (in a garden center!!) and when I got home Monday evening my seeds were waiting for me. I got to agree with those that said this was the best theme swap yet! My envelope was bulging! I got so many nice seeds and can't wait to start planting them all. I've already planted a couple, lol. I was blown away by the selection of herbs, I believe I got one of just about every herb there is, to the point that while I originally just planned on tucking them in here and there, I've now decided to do a raised bed garden just for herbs! Thanks to everyone that sent seeds, and especially to Tammy for hosting. It was a great swap!

Nekobus, I think that this is its third season in the ground here. My texensis is a bit rangier than many hybrid clematis and the nursery says 10-12’. Mine has gotten close to that, but it is difficult to judge since it climbs a 5’ trellis and then rambles across and through some shrubs. I know it had a relatively long bloom of several weeks, but not a lot at any one time. Unfortunately, I only took photos early in the season around now, but was gone for a good chunk of July and August, so I don’t remember exactly how long it bloomed for. I will try to keep better track this year.

We have a huge mosquito invasion here. Hordes of them hang around just outside all our exterior doors just waiting for us to walk out the door, and every time a person, dog or cat goes in or out, the mosquitoes try to fly inside. Hunting them down indoors and killing them if they make it indoors is very tedious. It is the same thing when you get into the car---the mosquitoes fly in with you. Many counties near us, mostly on the TX side of the river, are reporting positive findings of West Nile in mosquitoes caught in traps. Fort Worth has had 200 mosquitoes test positive for West Nile in recent days. Some cities have begun spray programs. Y'all be careful around all these mosquitoes. I assume that with this many mosquitoes active and testing positive for West Nile, we likely will start hearing about human cases of West Nile soon. Tim and I suddenly have wasps---three new, big wasp nests have appeared on the house this week. He sprayed those with a wasp spray just around sunset yesterday and will spray again this evening if any wasps still are on/in the nests. I imagine the cooler weather explains the sudden appearance of the wasps and the building of nests on the house. We had wasps around all summer and just ignored them because they are very beneficial insects to have as many prey on caterpillars, but they weren't around the house much in the hot summer months, and they weren't building nests attached to the house. We won't even mention the huge fire ant mounds popping up everywhere, other than to say they are here. There's tons of grasshoppers still, and we also still have stink bugs and this week I am seeing a few squash bugs. Y'all know that squash bugs will feed on Halloween pumpkins and decorative pumpkins you have sitting outside for autumn decorations right? I watch for them and try to kill them when I see them there. Any that escape death will overwinter and be the start of next year's squash bug problem. Back in the summer months I got tired of weeding the asparagus bed, so cut back the asparagus really hard and sowed a ton of leftover flower seeds into that bed. I figured if weeds were going to grow mixed in with my asparagus plants, they might as well be the weeds of my choosing. So, in the asparagus bed we now have a lot of plants in bloom: cosmos, the grain type amaranths, Nicotiana alata, daturas, Laura Bush petunias, zinnias, rose moss and more. I'm sure there's weeds in there as well but you really cannot see them because of all the pretty flowers in bloom. The asparagus grew back of course. Nothing kills asparagus. The seeds I tossed into the asparagus bed were slow to sprout and grow because we were in drought, but the plants are doing great now. That is a good thing as many of the summer bloomers that have been growing in the garden since March or April are worn out and dying back or going to seed, but that one long asparagus bed is full of fresh fall blooms. Many of the zinnias I planted in the spring are rapidly declining now after this latest couple of inches of rain that fell this week. The soil is just too wet for them now, but at the same time, a few small zinnias that sprouted in the mulch in adjacent pathways are getting ready to bloom. I'm glad I left them in the pathways when I saw they had sprouted there. Usually I immediately yank out anything that sprouts in the mulch, but I can't yank out baby zinnias in August because I know the older ones are tired out and worn out and declining. Some of the pineapple sage plants are in the same condition of decline---they like well-drained soil, but I have a total of 9 pineapple sage plants, which means we still have plenty in bloom because only a couple have died. I believe the monarchs are migrating through here now. We had tons of them nectaring yesterday and most are flying south. Some are flying southwest, which also is fairly typical here at this time of the year. Some of the males are puddling. All in all, there's still a whole lot going on outdoors even as the season is winding down. The most amazing garden survivor is 2 or 3 flat-leaf parsley plants that somehow survived all the heat and drought (not bad for cool-season plants in a 100+-degree summer, growing in full sun), followed by purple datura volunteers that sprouted in August and are getting ready to bloom in the next few days. The fall tomato plants still don't have much fruit on them, likely because we stayed in the 90s very deeply into September so it won't be a great fall tomato year here, but the SunGold I put in the ground in March still is producing so at least there's that. So many morning glories, mostly Grandpa Ott's, sprouted and started growing along the fenceline in late summer that they are beginning to shade the pineapple sage, Russian sage and purple daturas, so I spent some time last evening yanking out a bunch of them. With sunlight/day length becoming increasingly limited as we go more deeply into autumn, I want for the flowers in the border along the driveway to not have their sunlight blocked by aggressive, weedy MGs. Today's task will be to cut back four o'clocks that are growing through the western fence and shading my peony plants and adjacent container plants. If only the four o'clocks would stay where they are supposed to grow outside the garden fence, but four o'clocks ignore boundaries. It is all fun and games out in the garden later today, at least until I encounter a snake of any kind. Then, the party will be over. Dawn

Claire, I tried using a similar system over winter to try to grow a Camelia, but it didn't help. All the leaves around the foliage all winter, managed to produce a fungal problem and it died the next year anyway. [g]. I don't think I have another marginally hardy plant. I have about 4 varieties of Hydrangea and all are supposed to be hardy here in zone 6 but some years I get few blooms from the mopheads, even those that bloom on new wood. I added the 'Little Lime' paniculata last year and I love them. Lots of blooms dependably. I think I prefer the white blooms anyway. I love the purple or the pink, but I've decided I'm not a big blue fan. [g] I'm planning to replace some of my mopheads with more of the paniculatas. If I had enough sun, I'd grow a Crape Myrtle and if I had one I'd definitely use winter protection. I'm surprised you have to cover a Euonymous, I thought they were indestructible and hardy and you are warmer than I am. I've seen something variegated for sale at Lowe's here. Babs, I also hate to buy disposable plants. About the only one I am usually a sucker for are the Hyacinths in late winter. I love the fragrance and I have added them to the garden every time I am finished with them and have gotten a lot of Hyacinths that way. I wonder if I couldn't keep the cyclamen as a houseplant? Haven't tried it before. Or add them to containers in the summer outdoors, if I can keep it alive that long. I normally don't start putting up Christmas decorations yet, but, this year, my daughter gave me the idea. She's going to be away after Christmas so she wanted to get her decorations in early because she won't have that after Christmas time enjoying them. And since we just finished painting the LR/DR, there was the blank top of the DR hutch and one thing led to another...lol. We draw the line at putting up the Christmas tree this early. [g] And it's the darn Hallmark Channel's fault. They run Christmas movies non stop from Halloween on, and I caught a couple and it just got me in the spirit I guess. I just hope I won't be sick of them by Christmas. :-)