Mosquitoes are a problem sporadically for us, but since we tend not to have the heavier rainfall many of you have been having, they're not much of a problem right now. We do have a huge platoon of dragonflies and damselflies who look for food relentlessly all day long and they love mosquitoes, and we have lots of birds (including Purple Martins) and bats that eat them too. I also put Bt 'israelensis' granules or dunks in all our standing bodies of water...like the rain barrels, the ponds, etc. Suzie, It can be very hard to identify caterpillars since there are over 300,000 species of Lepidoptera worldwide but Susan might be able to tell you what it is since she is into butterfly gardening. On the website linked below, there are additional links that identify known butterflies and moths of Oklahoma. If the damage to your shrubs rises to the level that you feel like you need to treat the caterpillar infestation, you can spray your shrubs with Bt 'Kurstaki' which is a toxin manufactured from a bacteria that specifically targets caterpillars. It is organic and won't harm anything other than the butterfly/moth larvae. It is easily found in stores and the products that have it as their active ingredient include Thuricide, Dipel and Safer Caterpiller Killer. In the veggie garden, I generally just handpick cats off plants because I have so many flowers there that attract butterflies and moths, and even desirable caterpillars like those of the Black Swallowtail, so I don't like to use Bt there. In an ornamental shrub bed, though, I wouldn't hesitate to spray with Bt if the shrubs had considerable damage. Anna, I'm in Love County and have not seen any decrease in fire ants this year (I wish I had), so I don't think the winter affected ours even though our low temps this winter went down into the single digits a few times. We had them all over the place beginning about late March and running through mid-May. Since the rain stopped in our county and the heat cranked up into the mid- to upper-90s, they've gone underground the last 2 or 3 weeks and I'm not seeing them as much, but I bet if it rained they'd pop up out of the ground overnight. I still find them in raised beds in the veggie garden when I'm digging or when I'm pulling weeds, and I still run over an occasional mound when mowing. I only treat mounds in the veggie garden and in my container-grown vegetables, the dog's fenced play yard, and the backyard where our granddaughter plays and I only use organic fire ant killers. We have almost 15 acres, so there's no way we could afford to treat all of it. In the past I have used some non-organic fire ant killers, but because we have a lot of edible crops in the form not only of vegetables but also fruit trees and berry crops, I've stopped using all nonorganic fire ant killers. We have oodles of native ants of all kinds, but the evil fire ants dominate the ant world at our place. We also have red harvester ants in and around the veggie garden, but I leave them alone because they are a food source for the horned toads and because they clean up the carcasses of dead insects. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Butterflies and Moths of Oklahoma

I haven't had anything stolen, but one year when I planted some dahlberg daisies in the corner of my property, someone whacked them down to the ground. I strongly suspected it was the lawn company hired by the neighbors. These plants weren't in the ground for a week and they got whacked. I think I was more upset at the time I spent planting them more than the cost of them because they're annuals and I had a nice sized patch of them planted there. I would really be ticked off if someone stole a plant I just put out or that I've had for a length of time. okokok - If there is a Big Lots near you, check there for one of those clear green glazing balls. I have seen that color at their store in the past. Not sure what they have now because they're always getting new stuff in, but they have sold gazing balls before and they're pretty reasonable. I see them in their store almost every spring or summer.

It's cool outside, but the sun is shining. Temps got down to 39F, much colder than I expected, but I lost NO plants, WHEW!! I almost went outside and covered plants, but decided not to. Papaya looks great and it's the most cold sensitive with it's new growth. Satsuma has new growth and countless blooms and they all survived. You Northerners must have had it BAD. Snow, sleet, ice?? I hope you all protected. I stick with my predictions and we made it,...so far, unless another cold spell is coming. Kt

Currently blooming in my garden is my beautiful indian blanket plants. Also, my variegated liriope are sprouting new growth, and are starting to look wonderful. Up front, my mondo grass is growing longer after being trimmed back beginning of spring. I need to put down some new mulch! Haven't had much of a chance. This weekend I hope to do that and pull the tarp off my fountain and get it ready for the spring/summer/fall season! Lots of work ahead! Let's hope for no rain this weekend! Here's some crappy cell phone pics of my stuff in the back (fountain is under the blue tarp, obviously):