Good one Moni. I think I lived through them all. And the crinolines were so stiff they rubbed my legs raw. Leslie

Hello Regina, Yes, flax is more a wetland plant in N.Z, it grows in a wide variety of conditions, but not completely submerged for extended periods! It grows throughout N.Z as well as inhabiting many of our wild and isolated offshore islands. There are 2 varieties of flax - mountain flax (P. cookanium) and common/swamp flax (P. tenax). P cookanium will not tolerate wet feet as much as what P. tenax will, whereas P. cookanum will tolerate colder temperatures than P. tenax. Temperatures where I live range from 23-24 deg. celcius in summer with humidity levels of approx 80% (at worst) and in winter we're lucky to have 5 frosts in the season - average temp is about 5-10 deg celcius, often warming up to a balmy 12 deg. Flax does quite well along waterways - it is the dominant plant in most of the peat swamps (that haven't been fully drained) surrounding the city where I live, and also along our stream and river banks. We have a spring on our property and the only plant that will put up with continuously wet feet is flax. Once established, flax is hardy - I have seen it thriving in wild coastal conditions and in solid clay. It's a popular plant for those of us who like attracting native birds to our gardens - it produces beautiful red flowers, which birds, like our Tui, love drinking nectar from. There are so many cultivars of fantastic colourings and varigated leaves, but I still prefer plain ol' green flax! It grows to be a very tall plant - up to 4 m, unless you have a dwarf cultivar, I guess thats why you see mostly dwarf cultivars - not many people will willingly like to be dwarfed by this plant. It also forms large clumps measuring as wide as they are tall....not a plant you want to move when it's mature! If searching the net for info, try searching for Harakeke -the Maori name for flax. I hope this helps you!

History speaks for it self, I am not the only one that believes in what you call fanciful using Jet streams to travel. You make it sound like they have to enter the Interior of the Jet stream where I am sure yes you will need more than a robotic balloon more like a very powerful drone to verify that and I am sure there are skeptic that want more proof in this theory and if scientist could strap a tracking device on the ladybugs legs to track them they would have already done that. Plain and simple logic it makes sense in a short period of time one fines large numbers of ladybugs gathered in large numbers in the high county where I believe they hibernate and from there in a short period of time they are all gone from that very same spot. Which leads to believe they do use the air currents perhaps jet streams the outer currents to get around? I am sure some would believe that the photos were photo shopped or manipulated I believe man walked on the moon. If you can prove other wise or have a better theory I am listening?

It is a great ladybug year. I've probably had this many in some previous years, but not often. I suspect that more of them than usual survived overwintering in various places across the state because the winter was so mild, and also that the early heat in January and February (and the early blooming of the fruit trees) may have encouraged them to start breeding earlier than usual. It is a good thing to have lady bugs always, always,always..... except for this: when you have a lot of lady bugs, there's got to be something in your garden that they are eating. So, while it is great to have them, you might want to ask yourself what you have in such abundance that they are eating so well. (If they aren't finding something good to eat, they move on elsewhere.) Normally at this time of the year they are feasting on aphids and on the early spider mites. If you notice that you have ladybugs but then that they seem to be disappearing, that also is a good and bad thing: it is good you had them, but can be bad if they finish up with whatever the current pest happens to be and then move on. You don't want them to move on because then you won't have them when you need them for the next round of pests....like the milkweed aphids that Lisa mentioned. You can encourage the ladybugs to stay around by planting lots of flowers they like and/or by spraying wheast around the garden as an alternate food source. You can buy wheast (essentially a whey and yeast mixture) or can Google and find recipes for making your own. Here's an example of commercially-available wheast: Wheast @ Planet Natural