Thanks everyone. So, I will move the Oncidiums to a little morning sun, then mostly bright light. I think I'm okay with the Catts. now. I may try just a little more morning sun for them. About the dendrobiums...orchid 126, you said they like western sun...should I move them so that they don't get morning sun, but do get the really hot western sun? I can do that. What about the vandas? Should they be in the sun all day, or just morning sun, or just really hot afternon sun? I'm confused about the vandas. I thought they liked it really hot and really bright all day, but they seem to be burning up. What about shade cloth? Does anyone use it? Should I drape it over the catts and oncidiums? Thanks for everyone's help. Liz

patlovesdirt, I didn't mean to say I liked your garden the way it was "better" than the beautiful revamp...just that I haven't reached the point where I can get anything to grow and bloom as lovely as you do in whatever arrangement you have...LOL. It's easier than I thought to attract Monarchs. Just grow Asclepias (milkweed) and Monarchs seem to find it somehow. This was only second summer I had milkweed. Last year I reared them indoors and released. Didn't have time or energy for hand rearing this year but I check on cats and chrysalids everyday outside on milkweed. I have Incarnata 'Ice Ballet' (swamp; white flowers), Tuberosa (sp. orange flowers) and grew well over a dozen Curassavica (tropical; yellow, orange & red combination flowers) to supplement two species that are perennial here in Zone 6. Had to start tropical milkweed indoors so they'd have enough leaves and then time to flower in this zone by early-mid summer. Doubt that would be a problem in your zone 8. Flower colors/hues on tropical milkweed are hard to guarantee from collected seed since they're cross-pollinated so heavily. I've still got too many cats that had better hurry up because they could get caught up here in the cold. They need to form chrysalids and eclose before it gets too cold if they're to start their journey to Mexico to overwinter. I'm afraid some of them won't eclose from chrysalis stage before it gets too cold for them to fly. If that happens I'll detach them from wherever they made chrysalis, reattach to netting container, overwinter in unheated garage and bring them out when weather warms up NEXT year. Can't bring chrysalids into heated area during cold or they'll eclose without outdoor heat to fly anywhere let alone to Mexico for the winter. You're new guy will be on his/her way to Mexico in next couple of weeks. Somehow they find each other and start to fly en masse down south and then across southern US over to Mexico. Most people think Butterfly caterpillars are as "gross and icky" as other creepy crawlies in the dirt. Once you see the whole process from tiny little cat to seeing beautiful butterfly eclose from chrysalis you never look at the caterpillars the same again. I've gotten a little maternal with them and talk to them...I know, I've gone over the Butterfly edge but sometimes I have to rescue them from falls off tropical milkweed in containers, fights among different size cats whom I have to separate to different plants (larger ones will eat small ones) and the like. Found one newly eclosed Monarch on the ground struggling to dry its wings after its chrysalis had fallen. Picked it up and it held onto my finger in the sun for a while. Then I told him I couldn't sit there for hours and put him on milkweed stalk with flowers so he'd have nectar when ready to eat. If you want perennial milkweed the species Asclepias incarnata has beautiful pink flowers. Doesn't bloom for very long but presence or lack of flowers doesn't seem to determine whether or not they lay eggs on milkweed. They just find it somehow. The Tuberosa is much smaller and comes with usual orange flowers but there's a yellow flowered cultivar. All milkweed I have in butterfly garden was stripped bare before cats were finished eating so I had to transfer them to tropical planted in containers. Unfortunately, I lost many leaves back there to either slugs and/or mildew from too many weeks of continuous rain. Believe it or not I've never seen a Monarch nectaring from anything but the Zinnia I grow for nectar. It may be that I don't have enough sunny space to plant swaths of nectar plants and have to rely on too many containerized nectar plants in sunny places...I just don't know. That situation doesn't seem to deter hordes of Skippers of all kinds and Cabbage Whites from nectaring on everything and anything. I grew some Verbena bonariensis from seed this year. Big attractor of any creature that wants nectar. I'll probably be sorry when there are tons of selfsown seedlings next year but wanted to try it since it's heralded as a no fail attractor and it was that. NOT for small gardens but I've seen so many photos here on GW where it looks lovely among other taller perennials. Besides, it's deer, rabbit and groundhog resistant which is a big consideration for me. Those darn maple trees have grown so much over past 3 years that my sunny spots to grow most things have disappeared. That's why I grew most of the tropical milkweed in huge storage containers I got from a recycling center and rehabilitated. If you want seeds of any of the 3 varieties I have just email me through GW with your address and I'll send them to you once they've dried. The roots of the tropical might just be winter hardy in your zone 8. It would probably have top winter die off since zone 9 is probably limit for evergreen with it. Sorry for the "Monarch tome" but it's one thing I gotten to know about in gardening and I don't have a vast pool of successes to talk about yet! :) I still love your garden "before and after"!

Ok, we're done for the day. We're all exhausted! My uncle left this morning to head home and the four of us finished up. Took about 6 hours to cut out and polish the sink cutout, but the guys persevered yesterday and even cut out and polished all the backsplash pieces. Today we finished all the plumbing for the sink, dishwasher and refrigerator, put in a new door, put up the crown, scribe, base and casing (not quite done, we have to figure out a different base for around the cabinets). We also finished installing the appliances, the undercabinet lights and cleaned up a bit. Still to do: finish the base, putty and caulk all the trim, paint trim and the door and install the jewelry (aka hardware). Little stuff, nothing huge. Now I have to get the house cleaned up and back in order! But for now, sitting down feels really good. Oh, and while we were at it, we replaced the (horrid) laminate countertop in the bathroom and put in a new sink and faucet. We'll have to do the rest of the bathroom at some point, but this is a good start!

And computers were supposed to make our lives easier. Go figure! I'm so glad to hear that you can post now.