I put moss rose in the zip lock bag, close it and give it a few shakes, seeds fall to the bottom. Milkweed can be tricky, I pick up the pod with seeds holding them both together, then place inside the baggie, hold the seeds and pull them off the "silky stuff" before it unfolds and flies all over. I used to open each of the white seed pods of Night Blooming Jasmine to get the black seeds , but have been told it is best to let the pods with seeds dry out naturally. Easy to germinate no matter. Trying to think if there are any sticky ouchy seeds to gather, nope...Guess I don't grow it if it isn't easy. later Bea

Keep searching! By the middle to end of summer, lots of bulb companies will have their websites updated with new listings of bulbs... and the Fall 2008 catalogs will be available! If you Google "fall bulbs" or "amaryllis" or "hippeastrum", or any key word combination related to indoor forcing bulbs or bulbs for indoor forcing, you should get lots of results with tons of links to follow! Companies that sell Tulips and Daffodils often sell Hippeastrum bulbs, as well. I searched last fall for online catalogs and retail sellers of hippeastrum, and I found lots of links to stores and places to order from! One of my favorite places is Royal Colors... John Scheeper's is another good bulb company... Brent & Becky's, Blooming Bulb, Dutch Gardens, Nature Hills, Garden Import, and the list goes on... A Google search for amaryllis bulbs should net a good amount of places to begin looking! Here is a link that might be useful: Royal Colors

Susan, The Hoary Edge has been reported in pretty many counties in PA but not mine. I'll have to keep a lookout for it in the future. BAMONA lists Desmodium, Lespedeza, and Baptisia for LFPs; I have the last two here, so I guess I'm prepared and didn't even know it. Like I mentioned, I also have the Amorpha. I think we're too far north for the Southern Dogface, darn it. I hope that you'll be able to raise Silver-spotted Skippers sometime in the near future. I agree about the skippers being so cute! I've always had lots of them in the garden every year, especially this year, and they really go for the Verbena bonariensis. I didn't raise any cats, though, before this year, thanks to the Amorpha fruticosa. We don't have any locust trees right here, but I know that there are some down along the creek, so I imagine that that's where they lay their eggs every year. Now they can also come here to start their families. I've always liked SSSs; they seem so friendly. Yep, I bet that they lay on your neighbor's wisteria. I used to have several of them here before I got into butterfly gardening. The darn things never bloomed, so we ripped them out...those things are hard to kill! Wow, you're way ahead of me with the seed ordering! I never tried Cosmic Red Cosmos...they sound pretty! I did have some kind of orange cosmos here. They butterflies liked it but it reseeded so much that I didn't plant it again after that and haven't had it now for several years. I just might try the kind that you mentioned. I also planted some heirloom tomatoes this year, Marglobe and Brandywine. I don't know why but the Brandywine tomatoes split so much, so my husband said to cross that one out for next year and not to plant so many of the ones that I do plant. We really had way too many of those and peppers. We gave the extras away, so they didn't go to waste, but it was a lot more work for me than would have had to be. I also like to plant for the hummingbirds! I plant Salvia coccinea 'Lady in Red' (same as you), Scarlet Runner Beans, Four o' Clocks (I plant red ones and white ones), and I have a plant in a hanging basket that I just love (and so do they). It's called Windberry. The flowers are red and look like small petunias. It flowers really nicely! I've tried fuchsias but never had luck with them. Now I wish I had planted the Aster oblongifolius. I always saw mention of the A. laevis and the A. novae-angliae, so that's what went in my garden and I've regretted it ever since they went to seed for the first time in 2008. More seeds than a person could plant in a lifetime! lol Maybe it's just me, but as I get older some things are becoming a bothering and deadheading certain plants is one of them. I'm glad that I'm removing them. If you need any TMW seeds, let me know. I'm sure I'd have enough to share with you. I didn't manage to get seeds from my red porterweed, but I brought it inside so at least will have it for next year again (cross my fingers it doesn't die on me in here). The flowers looked so pretty planted behind my Dusky Millers. I don't notice any places selling it around here. I had gotten mine in the mail from a friend when we were exchanging plants, and I really like it. It sounds like you really saw a good variety of butterflies! You get some that I don't get like Gulf Fritillaries. I wish I could get some of those southern butterflies, but I'm happy with what show up here. I have passionvine here, but don't ask me why. I don't get GFs, and I've only ever found Variegated Fritillary cats on it a couple times (I think that was either in 2007 or 2008). I do think the flowers on the P. incarnata are so pretty though. My tithonia was blooming too until just recently when the frost hit it. After a few frosts and especially when it got down to 24 deg. here the other night, that pretty much nipped everything in the bud. I got lots of seeds from it, though, for next year. I didn't get around to planting it last year and regretted it. Ha, I don't know about your last statement...most days I feel like I can't keep up with it. It would be so nice to have a work crew come and help me! :-D You and I will have to cross our fingers that our Purple Milkweed likes being in the pots. Here are some pictures of two of the Silver-spotted Skipper cats that I had here...

I have been to 79 concerts so far. First real concert was Aerosmith, so freakin long ago. Favorites have been Jethro Tull. Joe Cocker, Fleetwood Mack. the Band, foreighner, Pink Floyd, Doobies, (so good). Saw Heart at a tiny Theatre in Aberdeen just a few days after Dreamboat Annie came out. No one had heard of them yet, so......we were in the front row. Such a lucky night. I can say that there are only 3 or so concerts I did not thoroughly love, and none I regret. Well, yes.....I regret Thorogood. He was f-ed up and slimy with women, just an aging cliche. Paul McCartney was a snooze fest for me, but I am glad I have seen him, and loved the drummer. Bands I was not expecting to love like I did were the Rolling Stones, Lyle Lovett was just something to do, but from the moment the Large Band and Lyle began playing, it was so so good, and a top 5. Elton John was amazing. The Steve Miller Band is the most authentic singer and group I have seen, sounding exactly like their albums. Three Dog Night sounded the same live as on the albums too. If you have been to a concert where you realize the singer can't really sing as well as you thought it's sort of a slap in the face. Buddy Guy, Etta James. Mellancamp, Love Dave Matthews and the fiddle player. Love Love Joe Walch and Neil Young. EAgles, Clapton concert had terrible sound for some reason. Bonnie Raitt is worth seeing. Susan Tadeschi is a cross between Raitt and Janis Joplin and still tours a lot. She would be an affordable and amazing night out. I was determined to see Petty before I die, and am sad as heck he beat me to it. Took both my sons and wives to see Greg Ahlman, a year ago. Really great. Will never see Ringo, or Sam Smith. No Katy Perry or pit bull, No Adell for me, either. I would love to hear from anyone who has seen anything new, and current. Would love to get opinions. Go see every one you can, as often as you can afford to, and buy full cd's so you really get to know what the band is really like. If you stop listening to the current stuff, you get stuck in your decade of favorite music. But this period for me, is one of the best periods for music I have seen in a long time. My Kids had the late 80's and the 90s. A lot of good, and a lot of crap too. LOL.