SOOB

Straight Out Of the Bottle.
This is the third year for bringing the praying mantis culture into our yard. Their cocoon hatched this morning, in the bottle we have 'in the kitchen'; so they were transported outdoors to an area that we hope will help them prosper. And not eat each other up. As usual there were dozens and dozens, and still coming out of the walnut sized cocoon.
From the local refrigerator nursery they have been sitting since mid April and actually surprised us by hatching earlier than usual.

And the other 'from the kitchen' item is a mullein head cutting that was taking over the mailbox. I thought I would give it a try in the kitchen window. It is very, well, shapely, against the outdoor evergreen background. These come back each year, in excess of ten feet, after randomly setting seeds in the fall.

As usual I will be spending most of the week looking at your abstracts!
So far, so very good!