Hummingbird and Butterfly Gardening: Need Help Building a Butterfly Education & Exploration Site, 3 by SingingWolf

SingingWolf wrote:
Hi everyone.

You know I wouldn't have gotten this far without the help of the gardeners here at DG. I am so thrilled by your generous offer of seed, Nancy. I'll dmail you when I'm done with this post. Oh, the Tweedia caerulea that Dee gave me is still in the pot and only got about 2 foot tall so far. I'm keeping an eye on it. I really think that blue is just gorgeous.

I need to start selling some of my plants to get money to buy more plants. It's rather addictive. Learning about all the different kinds of host plants for the different butterflies is fascinating. I am enjoying my BEE Site.

We had a little bit of excitement today when they aired a segment about Bee Thefts on the News. They interviewed DH on ABC News. It was supposed to air yesterday, but a water main broke. Anyway, DH gave a good interview, and hopefully people will begin to realize how devastating Bee thefts can be. It wasn't as in depth as I would have hoped, but that's TV for you.

Adina, you are back from vacation? Good of you to check in here. :-) Thanks for the encouragement. You know I'll keep posting photos as long as I can.

Samigal, I'm so glad that you posted. Even happier that you found your way here. The CA Forum doesn't have much going on right now.

I'm really happy to see so many people having an interest in growing butterfly gardens. I don't know about the rest of you, but since I'm rooted (if you will) here at the farm, and I didn't have much growing when I got here. I think I'm doing pretty good.

Aside from all the Monterey Pine Trees we've planted, we've increased the Oak Tree Grove, I planted an orchard of fruit trees. Did I tell you that the plum tree fruited this year. I guess I heard about it too late. My kids and the coyotes ate the fruit. :-(
I was kind of upset about the coyote at first, but not as upset as DH. He said the coyote was helping himself to the fruit that had fallen off the tree already. I wouldn't have eaten it anyway.
It also reminds me of a story my Elders used to tell us kids about the Coyote and the Plum Tree. It goes like this~

One day the Coyote was sitting on the bank of the creek. He was hot and he was hungry, but when isn't the Coyote hungry? He had gotten a drink and threw himself down on the bank looking down at the creek, watching the water go by. He saw the most amazing sight. He saw several large plums just floating on the surface of the water. He was so hungry he started to drool at the sight. He just couldn't resist reaching out to grab the fruit.
SPLASH! Went the Coyote as he fell into the creek. His wife, Old Woman Coyote came upon him as he was crawling out of the creek, dripping wet. She yelled at him, "Old Man Coyote what are you doing? Where is our dinner? Have you been napping and swimming instead of hunting for our dinner?" Well Old Man Coyote didn't like being yelled at, but he knew he needed to get dinner so he told her about the beautiful fruit that was just out of reach in the creek.
Old Woman Coyote couldn't believe her ears. "Old Man Coyote", she exclaimed, "What is the matter with you? Those plums aren't floating in the water! They are growing on the tree right above your head. You lazy Coyote. I bet you expect me to climb up there and pick those plums, too!"
Well they ended up picking the plums together, and eating their plums right there by the creek.

I don't remember it word perfect anymore, but that is pretty close. :-) Hope you enjoyed the old story about the Coyote and the Plums.

I do have some photos I wanted to post.

Does anyone know this flower? I think it's a Mexican Sunflower. I'm so in love with the brilliant orange color, which changes depending on the light.

2nd photo is of my garden right now. The rock creek is to the right and to the left is the chicken pen. I am so amazed that I was able to get anything to grow in this area. It looks so pretty right now.

I really like these Mexican Petunias here in the 3rd photo. They keep growing on the same stalk which just keeps on giving. Also readily reseeds. I have given some friends in the Fallbrook area some of these beauties, and they are fans too, now. They can really handle the dry heat we have out here.

The 4th and 5th photos are both of Grandmother Oak and my apprentices. I have two now. I guess the first one was having so much fun out here, that his friend wanted to come help out too. The first one we took a couple of hundred of feet away from her. The second one was taken under her canopy. She's stressed right now, but she will recover if it ever rains again.

I guess that's all I've got for tonight.

WIB~
SW