I am thinking the same as Cynthia's last two postings. I have both asclepia and milkweed for these beauties. Also many other plants they like. They have been scarce this summer. Saw three or for a few days ago. Didn't see any today, maybe because I had my head close to the ground weeding out oxalis. That stuff is everywhere. Have one more area to do and then should only need to catch the odd ones popping up here and there. Also deadheaded and set up the sprinkler for an early morning watering. Don't know the second part. Seems to me the legs have some of that type of segmentation but not that much.

"Shake and Bake" refers to the nickname given to the state of California, which it is not only named for, but it is the state flower for :) California is often referred to as "Shake and Bake, USA WELL DUH!...lol, FANNA WHO IS Hysterical laughing at herself for FORGETTING THIS FACT about Callie! See I am afraid to TRY any Poppy for breadseed because what if someone sends one they THINK is safe and it isn't? JASMINE, I ACCIDENTLY TYPED THE WRONG NUMBER! All is WELL it WAS Margos I was working on and since I believe I meanted the gift she gave me it was clear it was just a slip of the finger or brainwave or something along those lines..... Lisa I stayed up last night til 5:00 am or would that be stayed up this morning til? Oh well, which ever that is what I did. It is just a matter of me bring ODC and can't stop until I feel HAPPY with the results....lol!!! WOW you all are sending in some REALLY REALLY good stuff!!! Wendy, thanks for my GIFT...I will be on a CHOCOLATE high tonight, haha! That was so sweet of you to think of me, thanks again. I am actaully taking a breather at this minute to eat supper then I will get back to the seeds. :) Fran I will go ahead and post #11 thread!

I've spent parts of 3 days haunting an estate sale on estate in area that was once well outside the Mpls-St. Paul boundaries but is now embedded in a second tier suburb. Ad said "prominent St. Paul family" and rumors said they were related to a RR baron and were Ivy League educated, etc. Tried to pick up as much of the sociology of the place as I could. 1930s was the rumored provinance, but I think it was the colonial revival of 1920s. White Cape Cod shake siding house with dormers, now with double garage. Overlooked a large wetland and probably was a former farm or hobby farm. Owner sold land surrounding it to subdivisions of 1980s-90s wealthy buyers. Former "barn" is now modified into Dutch Colonial house. May have had servants quarters? The thing reeks of Williamsburg & Wallace Nutting pretenses. Wood paneling, curved staircase, 18th and 19th century antiques, wide plank repro floor, large formal dining room with multiplane windows. But the sale crowd also revealed what moderns would consider flaws of the house. Everything moved through a series of narrow necks: long nasty driveway that provoked many troubles during multiple snowfalls during sale, long slim paved walkway to front door, small front hall, one person at a time on stair, little bedrooms, narrow butler pantry passage into kitchen, narrow faux-Palladian porch-walkway under extended roof. Kitchen was probably updated in 1960s or 70s or 80s but was always restrained--Kenmore range with metal hood mounted onto ceiling above, off white painted old cabs, modest refrig., synthetic floor tile that resembles cork. One replacement light fixture over table and one old ceiling fixture and one light over sink. There was a sink in the passage from dining room, embedded in a 5-foot run of metal countertop, very likely original to the house, with frumpy cabs above and below and on opposite side of passage. An eating area with view could hold a family of kids--this may have been an add-on when double garage was attached. A "library" with lots of windows and knotty pine walls and beaverboard ceiling was the casual room. Probably had hunting & sporting prints on walls and akin items lying around. Imagine the owner smoking a pipe and surveying his grounds from there. We didn't see part of upstairs--closed off, including bathroom(s?). This was a high-end estate of the pre-WWI period. There were obviously dinner parties and cocktail parties and garden parties and pool parties. Metal lawn furniture and a modest 2-burner Weber grill. Lots of panoramic views of the wetland in distance below. Servants very likely. All the images of Hollywood scenarios from the B movies about New England made just before my 1950s childhood came screaming back to me, esp. the ones about worldly writers working on a manuscript for a Broadway producer. This place is 15-25 minutes from downtown St. Paul by freeway. Comments by sale attendees used words like "horrible kitchen" and "screwy floor plan." DH said "I can't imagine anyone wanting to buy this place" after digging me out of the ditch for the 3rd time. Charm just doesn't cut it much any more. But I think it's been sold anyway. Postscript: I couldn't afford the $25,000 Pennsylvania highboy, the $12,000 Early Republic self-storing dining table, or much else, although I coveted it all. Oh, except an 1810 eliptical-front mahogany chest which is now blocking the walkpath in our in-progress new addition. DH is barely speaking to me.

Dem-Pa, I love your pics. I can't wait to see flowers again. Some of my camellias are blooming, so it isn't like I don't have color in the yard, I am just too ready for spring. I know it will arrive here sooner than a lot of other places, I am just not a winter person. After about a month I am ready for spring again. I started about 40 different varieties in ziplock baggies yesterday. Now the waiting begins. I have checked the two wintersow jugs I have already started, but there is no sign of life yet. I have been collecting jugs and bottles of all shapes and sizes. I have a question though, when you cut windows in the jugs, do you let them sit open all winter? I haven't ever done that and wonder with my temperatures fluxuating ( sp) as much as they do if the windows would help. It will be 52 here tonight, but 30 tomorrow night....