Castor plant seeds. Highly toxic as seeds and plants. The plants are wonderfully ornamental and add a tropicalesque beauty to the garden. The plants are also purported to repel moles.

I'm looking for two beans that I have been unable to find anywhere. If you have them, then I'd love to trade. Want: Duane Baptiste's Potato Bean Blue Bloom Bean - Irish heirloom carried by Abundant Life Foundation until the 2003 fire Have: Vermont Cranberry (dry bush bean) Blue Lake Black Seeded (pole bean) Tobacco Worm bean (pole bean)

Chandra, I have had pea plants remain perfectly happy as long as the temperatures aren't exceeding 85 degrees, so I've never tried shading them. Be careful if you shade them because the shade will reduce their productivity a little. Your plants look awesome, by the way. I never remove the flowers from the potatoes. They do no harm. I think they are beautiful, and if you leave them alone they'll set inedible green fruit that contains seeds. Some potato varieties grow from seeds. Google Tom Wagner and true potato seed to read about his work with potato seed. Rod, Usually peas will be setting blooms by the time they are that tall. With potatoes, in my experience, some varieties bloom earlier than others and it is not something I really worry about. If you are even the tiniest bit concerned that the heat will burn up your pea plants before they can set peas, you can force them into production by giving them a Bloom Booster fertilizer of the type meant to cause ornamental flowering plants to produce more flowers. Some years I use a Bloom Booster immediately prior to the arrival a cool front in mid- to late-summer in order to force the tomato plants to be in bloom when the cool front arrives and knocks temperatures back down into the right range for fruitset. Generally I don't like to manipulate plants, but sometimes you can get better production by doing so. Sometimes the peas just aren't ready to produce flowers yet and still are in a strongly vegetative cycle. Sometimes they don't form blooms because they have received a little too much nitrogen. Sometimes I think they are just stubborn and pig-headed, and won't bloom as long as you are eagerly watching for blooms. So, try ignoring them and see if that helps. This means you don't water or feed them, and above all else don't talk to them. They will feel neglected and will start blooming in order to get your attention. : ) The only consistent thing about gardening in Oklahoma is the inconsistency of the weather and the inconsistency of the plants' performance. I try to imagine what it would be like to garden someplace where things work as expected just like clockwork. Wouldn't that be awesome? Dawn

Pacific Horticulture did a nice test of different Epilobium cultivars HERE--I bookmarked it several years ago and refer to it when needed. Unfortunately, it was published in 2007 and would not include newer cultivars. Stanofh, I'm curious about the cultivar name 'Jelly Beans'. Your Monkey flower part of the title was a "hybrid" ;), but is there a Zauschneria / Epilobium 'Jelly Beans'? Thought I saw some CA fuchsias with that cultivar name offered at The Plant Depot a month or two ago. However, no information about a Zauschneria / Epilobium 'Jelly Beans' cultivar came up during an online search. Container labels sometimes are incorrect (witnessed that often enough!) and I know there is a Mimulus 'Jelly Bean' (Jelly Bean Monkeyflower) just to confuse things. So I am interested about the name info and details of the plants in your photo, if you have them. They are a beautiful patch. Bet the hummingbirds are going crazy for those flowers!