Edie Your squash are gorgeous! And while anything can happen, your melon looks like it's on its way! Green beans looking good, too. Spray your cukes with Ortho Garden Disease Control religiously (unless you are totally organic) to prevent the further spread of funguses. And I'd be very disappointed about that cabbage -- when they're pest-free, cabbages are beautiful! Is there any way you can mulch that bare earth? It looks weed-vulnerable to me!

Thanks everyone for all the compliments. My floating baskets aren't doing too good this year. Don't know if it's the weather or my koi (now that they are bigger they are able to tip the basket with their body just enough to nibble. They remind me of deer they don't eat the whole plant just enough to stress it out). I heard a rumor it could be my water is too clean. Pond is in it's third year so it may be fully cycled now. Don't know if any of you read Nosambos (Lisa's) post earler this month so I am linking it to mine. She is so creative she can turn anything that floats into a planter as you can see from her post. I just love visiting her pond because I never know what she has created that is going to surprise me. I got 4 large sheets of styrofoam pads from work. They are about 3 ft long by 1 1/2 ft wide. I am planning on connecting them together with computer cable ties. I am going to try to make a large floating impatiens, watercress island out of them by cutting holes in the pads and placing punctured styrofoam cups in the holes (hopefully this will make them koi proof), then placing impatiens and watercress bare root in the styrofoam cups. It may work unless my koi decide to tip it over. (They completely destroyed one floating basket of watercress in a day). I will post pics if it does work. I am just wondering if I should surround it by pond noodles to make it more stable. Only problem will be getting it in and out of the pond. My pond is in full sun and my fish have no shade other than the floating planters you see in the post here. As they are getting bigger their shade is getting smaller. Jenny Here is a link that might be useful: Nosambos floating watercress idea

Yeah, I'm having fun with the photochops-- not a new program, but I've had a little more time to play. These were just a few little doodles that fell out of my warped mind and landed in my files. I know that there are still some folks waiting for the real butterflies to come back, so I figured I'd release a few "butterfaux" here to bring out a few smiles and make the wait a little more fun. I only hope I NEVER see anything like those "species" in my garden-- I have no idea of how I'd report them to the feds!

'Love that pride of Barbados, Pam! And, yes, the second one is a gulf frit, too. Thanks for posting your beautiful pictures! Sherry