In article ,
"arkienurse" wrote:

I counted a total of 12 cats last week, but my grandson( 4) and my daughter
(5) love "wormies" and took care of a few before I was able to convince
them to leave my caterpillars alone! The 6 that are left had decimated the
butterfly weeds by Friday morning, with still a week or so to go before
beginning their transformation. I hit Wal-Mart and Home Depot hoping to
find milkweed plants of some sort. HD had some later in the summer last
year, so I prayed they might. Nope. My husband got the bright idea of
calling one of the local nurseries this morning @ 730. Glory hallelujah,
she said yes I have milkweed and we open at 8. DH was worried that she
would be way more expensive than what we are used to, but I was prepared to
pay even $10 a bush if necessary to keep the cats alive. I was quite
impressed! Tropical milkweed, 2 1/2 feet tall, 2 plants to a pot, for $6. I
bought 5 pots of milkweed, 2 a 6 pack of golden marigolds, one of purple
salvia, and 2 packs of a plant called Gazania. the Gazania are a full sun
plant that closes the blossoms at night, it vaguely reminds me of
sunflowers. And she will have a variety of the yellow milkweed ready next
month that has the ability to survive our winters if mulched. And maybe
some of the purple/blue lantana, but hers is not coming up yet, so she
wasn't sure. I believe I have found a place to buy all my plants now, hers
made the ones I see at wally world and home depot seem puny in comparison
( and she gave my daughter and grandson their own tom thumb tomato plants to
plant, so they will leave mine alone. As I sit here typing this, they are
both gathered around their containers talking to the tomato and marigold
plants they just planted)


Vicky

http://www.milkweedfarm.com/

My wild milkweed is about up 12 inches. Fancy stuff planted two years
ago are hopefully coming.

Bill

--
Garden in shade zone 5 S Jersey USA