Considering frogs and toads very much like mosquitos and mosquito larvae as a food source, what most likely happened in Kathy Durrum's situtaion is that by introducing mosquito dunks and killing the larvae they removed the food source for the frogs which caused a large number of them to starve to death. Removing the dunks allowed the mosquito population to proliferate which then also allowed the predators of mosquitos, frogs and toads, to also proliferate. Any time you remove or reduce the amount of an animal from an environment that is a small ecosystem you're doing damage to that entire system, not just the one specific animal in it.

You all seem so knowledgeable about toads v frogs, may I ask a question. Do the toad ribbons foul the water? I had a tree frog lay eggs one year, got thousands of tadpoles, and it didnt bother my fish one bit. I have never had frogs again, but twice I have had toads spin their ribbons and within a week, the water became putrid. My fish began to die. I drained the pond but again the toad laid eggs. Luckily, I had not restocked the pond with fish because again the water became a foul, putrid, stinking pit. I dont want to kill these toads that keep showing up. Is there anyway to discourage them from laying eggs? Or am I wrong about cause and effect here?

I've been trying different varieties of trycirtis for about 6 years now. Love them. They like good drainage. The moisture is good, but they will rot out if the soil doesn't drain. I killed a Miyazaki last year by putting it into a soil that was heavy clay without raising it. It could have taken the clay, but it was too wet during the winter. The best environments I've found were in highly organic, raised beds with a good quality bark mulch. One time I planted Shirohotogisu between 2 raised boulders and put about 6" of mulch on top in the fall - it just went wild. That location had very high shade but no direct sun. Regarding sun - I would avoid afternoon sun if possible, it might be a bit harsh this year especially as hot and dry as it's been. I have 2 established clumps of T. tojen that are now about 3 ft across and continue to spread. They have had more sun this year and are probably 10" shorter than last year which was so rainy and cool. If you can, I'd move at least one to a different location with only morning sun to try to make sure you keep at least 1 or 2 alive. I've often done that with my favorites as I continue to get to know this plant. One of my favorite plant combinations for the season is T. Shirohotogisu ( white) with Chelone 'Hot Lips' and a medium sized deep blue Aconitum. They bloom together and its a beautiful grouping. Beware the rabbits, deer and I don't know who else - they like to pick the flower buds off right before they bloom, and because its so low to the ground pretty much every varmint can reach it. I use stinky deer spray on it as blooming time gets near to train the deer and rabbits to stay off.

I'm feeling loads better. The toad lilies are lining my front walkway so they are right there. I'd been waiting for the rest to ripen for such a long time. I lost about half because the pods popped while I was away but there's still so many and the germination rate is usually very high. I'm still waiting for allamanda and brug pods to ripen. I'm just thrilled that so many of the brug pods have held. I hope that they ripen. They are all inside or in the GH so I can keep an eye on them.