I couldn't see that closely, Linda. It was too high up in the tree. The feathers on the Carolina Wren do not look long enough for this bird that I saw. I checked out the wrens, knowing they were smaller birds, but nothing looked really similar, but it's hard to tell from that distance. Maybe I'll see it again. The birds have not been coming down into the yard since I've been letting one of my cats out to play. George dearly loves it outdoors, but his mere presence in the garden prevents many birds from coming closer. I'll have to leave him inside this week so I can check them out. I do have resident house wrens and was just thrilled to see the cedar waxwings, although I think I broke my neck trying. LOL! I just use a lot of Icy Hot! Hee Hee. MissSherry - that is a beautiful moth! I just love these decorative moths! Is it a geometrid? Susan

THANKS for commenting everyone. Jean, you are right....Zeus will always be MY baby. I am glad you are trying foxgloves. I hope they prosper for you. Here they re-seed like crazy so I keep getting more. Linda, that little primrose keeps coming back every spring and blooms it's head off. It was a potted grocery store flower I got as a gift one winter and I planted it outside that spring wondering if it could survive and it most certainly has! It's the very first thing to bloom here, even before tulips and other spring bulbs. It's been in bloom for 3 weeks already. Andrea, I also have 3 grands under age 3 so we have that in common....(counting the one in utero)....and I agree, they sure do wear you out. I just babysit the other 2 but this baby coming will be living with me so I don't anticipate getting any sleep after this month...haha. Debra, so good to hear from you! I walk around my garden and think of you when I see the daylilies from you growing and look forward to your gorgeous photos soon. Avedon, LOL....Zeus probably wouldn't even mind wearing a diaper he is more human than feline! Mantis, these are the daylilies that didn't come back from the winter: Berry Cheesecake, Rapid Eye Movement, Navajo Princess and Siloam Cinderella. I dug down yesterday and there was nothing there, just a trace of mushy roots so I know they're toast. I had each of them for at least 3 winters and never had a problem. Rita, my tulips could never rival yours but they are what's left that still blooms. Probably this will be the last of them since tulips usually only bloom well a couple of years here then just come up as leaves. I do enjoy them but hate having to spend more money to replant so often, so I will just enjoy yours! Celeste

Hi, to you. Yes, I really like Beatline Nursery - the owner is the kindest person, and they are all helpful there. I called the antique roses place a few weeks ago, because several people here online recommended them. She was very nice, but said most of her business was done through mail order, and at the time I called her garden/nursery was still kind of a mess. She did offer to meet with me on an available weekend to help me make some rose selections. I haven't had time to take her up on it yet. I think it's going to take a long time for this area to recover from Katrina. We were in Long Beach and lost it all, so have just moved into our Pass Christian house in November. I have missed working in the yard so much, and seeing things bloom and grow, so I'm rushing springtime as much as I can - ha. How nice that you have an escape place near Pensacola. The Thanksgiving after Katrina hit, we were desperate to get away, out of the camper, so splurged and booked a condo with my sister's family in Perdido (Windemere?) They had a great holiday rate offered, so it wasn't a bad price at all. It was the most beautiful condo we've ever stayed in, but Ivan's wrath was still very apparent all around us. The highlight of the trip was taking a bath in the soaker tub (first bath in a real bathtub since Katrina!) and I was in heaven! (It's the little things - ha!) Thanks so much for your input!

R. californica 'First Dawn' first flower of the year. Purchased at a Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden plant sale, grown by Suncrest Nurseries and their own selection of the species. This is an extremely fragrant rose--a super wafter actually. It blooms in great trusses and when the plant is covered in flowers the whole garden is perfumed. Bees are mighty happy! Nearly every flower results in a hip. This is the most floriferous and rapid reblooming of any selection of R. californica I have ever encountered. Gets tall, around 12 to 15 feet with support, it does want to climb. Has some thorns but not to the extent of many of its brethren. Moderately suckers (which I count as a positive as I like this rose so much). Has the second tastiest rose hips in my garden (to R. canina 'Laxa'). These are small and chewy. Birds like them. Reine des Violettes showing her true color growing amongst many neighbors in my wild pot ghetto (she's in the ground though). Last month when she started to bloom her flowers were more pinkish, but as the weather warmed and the sun hit her flowers, voila violettes! Reine des Violettes, own root from Greenmantle Nursery. Planted in the root zone of an 80+ foot ash tree in very sandy loam soil that is somewhat depleted in nutrients. Fed this year with E. B. Stone organic fertilizer (5-5-5). Watered with very alkaline city water. Zero soil amendments. RDV with Cantabrigensis. Cantabrigensis. Flowers open pale yellow and rapidly turn white in the sun. I hadn't checked the foliage before for scent, but since there are multiple other roses, as it as turned out, that I put in this area that happen to have fragrant foliage, I was curious. Yep, fragrant, and very much like the scent of R. primula, just not quite as strong. Own root from Colvos Creek. R. canina 'Laxa' still just teasing me with a few flowers. It is gearing up for a huge bloom period where the entire plant will be covered. It has a long period of bloom compared to many once-bloomers. Best tasting rose hips in my garden. Supposed to be very high in vitamin c. Own root from Greenmantle. Stanwell Perpetual. Own root from Heirloom. R. borissovae, from Eurodesert. Appeared to be grafted but is now suckering, escaping the bonds of graftdom. Autumn Damask, own root from Greenmantle. Sorry the bloom is a little past its prime. I put this plant in a spot near its relations--R. fedschenkoana and Quatre Saisons Blanc Mousseux.