What a perfect day for an outing. Zimsculpt looks most intriguing...but I was stuck here weeding and watering. I like several of the sculptures very much! The one of the mother carrying her baby on her back reminds me of Nigerian wood carvings. I spoke to the tree pruner today. We were talking about espaliered apple trees. All our old fruit trees will be cut down except for one apple. Sad, but necessary. :( Those few extra degrees between here and RBG make an enormous difference. If I had staff (hahahaha) I'd certainly give espaliered fruit a try here! Hi Misty! Thanks for the tour. 'bug

How wonderful! Garden web only allows one photo at a time. Some of us upload to alternate websites and post links that open to the photos

Maryann - I understand what your mother was feeling, but please tell her it is a very natural feeling. For many years every time I first went to a new country to do the butterflies I had a little nervousness about the new species of dangerous critters I might encounter while there. But once I ran into my first on a trip and it all ended well, they were pretty much forgotten the rest of the trip. I soon got over being nervous when going someplace new. A little story on myself... I well remember my first trip to another country specifically to do butterflies many, many years ago. I was nervous after hearing all the stories about the numerous species of poisonous snakes, spiders, scorpions, tree frogs and plants in Costa Rica. Having a friend who was also lep smitten that was born and lived there would help a lot though. First day out I went hiking in a rainforest alone as Olaf couldn't get away from his finca until the next day. I was tip-toeing around looking for a specific bug in very thick cover that I just knew the countries entire population of Terciopelo (Fer-de-lance) probably lived in, and that they were all just waiting there for me to get close enough. I had plodded along for hours not finding the bug I was after, and luckily also no "Ticos". Then I finally caught a glimpse of what I was looking for flying along the ground in a small glade, Cithaerias menander. I know of no common name other than to lump it in with the Clearwings. They are on the small size of medium and don't fly fast, but the are very difficult to see in the dark dappled light of a rain forest due to their all clear wings except for a splash of red on the hind wings and flying close to the ground darting around plants. They seem to appear and disappear with every wing beat and are very easily lost sight of. I stalked at first trying to intercept this jewel, and then ended up running full out when that failed and I spooked it to finally net my first example of this bug. I had run in leaps and bounds for a long way and had completely forgotten about the Ticos. After realizing that I never worried about them again. I had plenty of encounters with them later on that trip (and other nasty things), but with the insight of Olaf I learned and kept out of trouble. BTW, a later trip down there with Olaf to do some specific backlighting was always referred to after it by us as The Night of the Jaguar (and later always saw a blank stare in Olaf's eyes when we talk about it). But that's another story. LOL L.

I've always loved Cameroons, but never got the impression that it blooms very well. Yours is stunning. Actually, you are picturing many that I really like, I'm a fan of that watermark look, & these are some really nice ones. I agree, it does seem so much more effort to post pictures than it used to. A lot of my problem is my antique computer. I haven't posted much at all this year, but I really enjoy seeing everyone's photos.