Dad had some pictures he sent me. He and a friend were taking down some pine trees in a soon-to-be cemetery. Unfortunately, Dad didn't get to stay long as Mom discovered someone fraudulently using their checking account so they had to make an emergency credit union trip. But before he left he took some pictures.

He saw some apple snails.



And their crazy pink eggs.



This is some kind of Rhexia species. I see them a lot when I go hiking.



I see these white flowers, too but I don't know what they are.

Gorgeous orchids Gigi!

Melanie, monster snails! Love the Rhexia - wish I had them here and the little white blooms are so cute.

Ann, I generally only see the Rhexia in wetlands so you may not want them in your yard. I even asked Dad if the cemetery people realized that between the snails and the plants, I think it's going to be a little wet in there. And then he tells me it's about 150 yards from the Anclote River. Yikes!

Ummmmmmmmm, can you say floating caskets??????

Escargot, anyone?

I was wondering about that Ken. They certainly look large enough don't they? Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww escargot.

I was reading about apple snails and some of them were introduced to countries (mostly in Asia) to try to start an escargot industry. But it didn't work and instead they have invasive snails. There were other parts of the world where people do eat them, though. I'd rather use them as fish bait and catch something really yummy.

Gigi, What a lovely show of colorful blooms! I really like those pretty Dendrobium's, especially the white Noid with purple lip and the creamy one below. And oh my, love the Plumeria Maui's Beauty!

Melanie, Those Apple Snails are really something! I have a shell I found out by the water when we first moved to this house four years ago. I never knew snails got so large!
That Rhexia sure is pretty and so are those little white flowers ... which may be the Florid anative Narrow-leaved sabatia (Sabatia brevifolia)
http://apalacheehills.com/road...

Lin, these are the Dens growing on my dwarf and compact plumeria trees. They are loving the rains so my plumerias have no blooms but full of orchid blooms.

Melanie, (got your name right this time), Those are huge snails but not sure if those are edibles. Maybe they are, if fish eats them without being poisoned. I for one had tried some snails cooked in coconut milk and vegetables. And depending on the snails. You can pick the "meat", by using spiky thorns of lime or grapefruit or some used sterilized safety pins (also known as perdible). They didn't tastes too bad but not great either. I think it is more work before you can eat them than what's it worth, if you ask me.

If I eat seafood, I generally stick to shrimp. I like fish, too. But shrimp scampi? I could eat so much of that!

It's pretty wet outside so the plants don't look the best and some of them seem downright mad about getting too wet. But I did have one nice picture to share. This is my Passiflora 'Lavender Lady'. It's usually just a skeleton of a vine at this point in the year. So rare to see it bloom in August. But I found several Gulf Fritillary caterpillars on it so they'll take care of that shortly!

That is a gorgeous passiflora!!!

My passiflora (incarnata) is blooming too. Melanie, these are from the starts Meredith sent me. I'm sooooooooo happy!



Buddleia Buzz Magenta


Phal Kimono but I think that's the clone patent name so I am going to track it down to the right name.


Phalaenopsis Brother Pico Striper 'Grissini'

Melanie, that is a most lovely 'Lavender Lady' Passiflora!

Ann, looks like you have some real beauties blooming at your place too! Really pretty Phal's and I adore that Butterfly Bush! If that's the same plant as your database photo below, WOW has it grown! You really need to add your current picture to the database.

Thanks, everyone! Ann, I hope you have lots of room for that P. incarnata. It gets very aggressive.

My next door neighbor planted Maypop (Passiflora incarnata) on the fence between our property a few years ago and it took over the fence, it was really beautiful and the butterflies and caterpillars loved it ... he tore it all out this past spring.

mellielong said:Thanks, everyone! Ann, I hope you have lots of room for that P. incarnata. It gets very aggressive.

I think 6 acres ought to do it.

plantladylin said:Melanie, that is a most lovely 'Lavender Lady' Passiflora!

Ann, looks like you have some real beauties blooming at your place too! Really pretty Phal's and I adore that Butterfly Bush! If that's the same plant as your database photo below, WOW has it grown! You really need to add your current picture to the database.

• Butterfly Bush (Buddleja Buzz™ Magenta Improved)
• Uploaded by flaflwrgrl

Can you believe it's the very same plant? It sure is! I got it from Santa Rosa early Nov. last year. I do intend to put that photo in the db. Actually that's why I took the photo yesterday.

Beautiful passiflora Melanie and Ann.

Looking at the pic in the database, I wonder if uou can train this into a mini tree like the Bougainville.

Thanks Gigi. I don't think these could ever be done that way. The stems never get as stiff as Bougainville.