Look What We Made!

My BF and I spent the entirety of yesterday building and planting this years Butterfly/Hummer garden.
We were so proud of our achievement that we rewarded ourselves with dinner out, LOL!

The garden has Milkweed, Scabiosa, Salvia, Zinnia, Penta, Bee Balm, Alyssum, Agastache, Dianthus, and Morning Glory & Moon Flower (not pictured because they are seed). I ordered Coneflower, but now wonder where it's going to go... doesnt look like there is room left...he he. Also planted a daisy like flower that Im not sure of the name, but it was pretty so I thought I'd give it a try.

so, here is it...the Garden.

another view... this garden is 8FT X 4FT .

Beautiful. I'm sure they will love it. No Butterfly Bush or Weed?

Beautiful. What are your butterfly larvae going to eat?

Beautiful Cue! Great job with the combinations.
I planted seeds the last couple days for bunches of gorgeous stuff. Can't wait till it starts growing and blooming! I want to fill my back yard with color. Haven't done anything back there since it is in full sun and very hot but this year I got lots of seeds for full sun plants and gonna see what I can do to brighten it up a bit. (Well, if I am able to).

Crit - I have milkweed planted in the back between the two trellises( the 4 tallest plants in the back), also have buddleia but it is planted elsewhere in the yard.


steadycam3 - Milkweed is planted in the back - dill, and fennel are planted in an herb bed thats not in the shot... and several citrus trees for the Black Swallowtails in the area.

Mekos - Thanks! this is my 4th ear doing the garden for butterflies and hummers. I want to fill my yard with color too

It sure shows, (all your wonderful work!)
Here is what I sowed so far....
Leycesteria Formosa
Hibiscus Sabdariffa
Sisyrinchium Striatum
Codonopsis Lanceolata
Tecoma Stans- orange bells
Purple bell vine
Amorpha Fruticosa
Akebia Quinata
Tiger snake vine
Drancunculus Vulgaris
Blue Milkweed
Scarlet Milkweed
Iris Broadleigh Sybil
Toad lily- White with purple stripe
Bletilla Striata
Candy lily
Paphiopedilum Hybride
Tamarindus Indica
Anchusa Azurea
Echinacea sunset
Rudbeckia Chocolate/orange
Delphinium guardian blue
Lion's tail
Candlestick bush
Devil's claw
Red china rose
White china rose
Blue Ramanas rose
Green Rugosa rose
Borracherro-red brug
Iochroma Acristus-white
Nerine Bowdenii- dark pink and light pink
Easter lily bulbs
Red heirloom Tomato
Jalapeno peppers
Lemon cucumber
White Pitcher plants
Bog garden plant-dont remember name?
Lots of Japanese MG.....
Blue with red streaks
Pink blizzard delight
flying spark
Kurokami-Black flower
Matsukaze
Blue Asago Willow
Shidare(weeping MG)
Yellow MG
This is just my first trays of seeds I have already got started, got lots more to go.
Think I'll have good color this summer?

LOL! Mekos, if I planted all that in my tiny backyard, I wouldn't have a backyard!

sounds like you are going to have a ton of color!

Some will be in pots and some in raised beds and many will be in ground along a fence line.
And of coarse, many won't survive me.
Edited to add
Those are beside the hundreds in my greenhouse from last year.

This message was edited Mar 6, 2011 4:26 PM

Looking good!

That's all good, Cue. Dont want those baby cats to go hungry! Tee hee.

oh, they'll definitely have plenty to munch on... and their parents wont be hungry either...lol. plenty of nectar plants too! I've stared some things from seed as well, so they'll be busy eating well into fall.. my yard will be the only one with fat butterflies ROTFL!

I am a newbie to DG, well at least as a subscribing member. The butterfly/hummer garden looks great. I have 6 large beds dedicated to butterflies and hummers. It is good to know I will have a place to go to for advice.

Mekos, where did you find the Japanese Morning Glory blue with red stripes seeds? Are the stripes really red or more of a pink? I could make a neat patriotic flower display with red and blue mg.

clyoung1 - welcome to DG! this is my 3rd year here... I know my first year my grand 'visions' were far bigger than either my budget or backyard allowed...LOL. I had wanted a monochrome garden, a moon garden, a rainbow garden, a chakra garden, herb garden, deadly garden... all within a backyard smaller than my first apartment! I settle for a hummer/butterfly garden and my 'black' garden (still a major work in progress).

its probably good that I dont have a huge backyard... Id go broke just planting gardens!

cue-chik...
If you want a great host plant list there is one on lepfarmer's site he maintains for Dallas Co. Lep. Society. You are in our same zones as TX is and have a lot of the same butterflies. Take a look. www.dallasbutterflies.com It gives the only plants that certain butterflies will use to lay their eggs. Plus there are some great pictures there to help identify the caterpillars and adults you might see.

Thanks for the link Sheila, I will definitely check it out!

great link!! Thank you Sheila.

Y'all are welcome. Dale Clark is "lepfarmer" on DG, I am sure you see his posts from time to time. A great go to for our information on bfs. I encourage you to look at the different areas of the site, pretty priceless.

cue_chik
I had thought about doing a black and pink garden awhile back. I opted to try the moon garden first though. What are you planting in your black garden?

I consider myself VERY blessed, I have 55 acres to play with, but we do try to keep most of it wooded and have food plots for deer and turkey. We just reclaimed some of the acreage back from a cotton farm lease so we could plant pines, persimmons, sunflowers and corn for wildlife. The butterflies were all over the cotton field last year. The plants really do have pretty flowers.

I feel your pain on the financial stuff. The frugal living forum was my first stop since I spend so much on gardening. I just have to follow the advice! LOL

The MG are blue with red stripes. Someone sent them to me last fall and I just planted them. Only had 3-4 seeds to try but if they all germinate and grow,I'm hopeing I will have seeds to spare this summer. I have many other different kinds to plant but only got these so far. I'm putting those special ones that are rare in containers in my screen room so we can see them bloom from inside and keep them from being open pollinated. I'm gonna try my hand at it this time and see if I can pollinate them. My health was bad all last summer and couldn't work my yard or gardens for most of it, so this year I want to keep some close to me so I can enjoy, just in case.My sons are gonna help me with a couple raised beds for some outside in back so I don't have much weeding to do.
Great info up there on that link. Really enjoyed it.
I really loved the garden Cue.

Thanks Mekos! Those MG's sound amazing, be sure to post pics if they germinate and bloom. I planted Grandpa Ott on one of the trellises and Star of Yelta on the other. mixed in a few Moon vine, along with them both and so far, looks like everything is sprouting just fine. Need to go thin them out just a bit, but hopefully they take off and fill the trellises quickly.

edited to correct html coding



This message was edited Mar 11, 2011 4:55 PM

Also have some dark pink, Scarlet OHara, youjiro Fugi Pattern-dark blue,crimson rambler,sunrise seranade,Shibori rose ?, Velvet Plum,Plum Gray, all japanese MGs if ya need a few seeds to plant. :-) Several friends sent me some to try.These are not planted yet so yell now or hold your tongue.

Yelling! lol Definitely can always use a few MG's to fill in the backdrop!

This message was edited Mar 11, 2011 4:57 PM

Yep, I'll set those extras aside for you. Don't let Lucy eat them!

Sorry , forgot, I need your Name and address info. please. You know how my brain works?!?

She wont eat them... she prefers veggies and small children ;)

sent ya dmail!

Sis, your garden is luverly and the critters will ♥ it so;o) Better make sure you send mekos your addy so your seeds don't end up in Phoenix again - lol. Good to see you back! I'll have to take some pics and post on the chat thread... not sure if you were still hanging around when I re did the beds on the west side by the Bougainvilleas. It was pretty bare bones but is filling in nicely now that spring is here. My poor Passion Vine needs to grow some more before the catties come a callin' again...

Add some parsley for the butterfly larvae -I always grow extra & then move the catapillars to their own plant- they will eat it to the stems

Putting on the list: get parsley seed!

yup, got parsley covered yesterday...lol

I HEARD THAT Kelly!

ROFLMBO! yup... nothing changes

Hey, everyone. New to DG, but have been gardening for our lovelies, the butterflies and the moths, for about 10 years now. Stellar little site you have there, Cue! Hi to Crit, also, from the great state of Oklahoma. I am in OKC.

Parsley may not last all summer in Florida, as it does not like heat and humidity. As a supplemental plant to it and the fennel I grow, I also grow Rue, a medicinal herb usually found in the herb sections at nurseries, and it does double duty as a host for the Giant Swallowtail and the Black Swallowtail. I've attached a link to photo and info.

I do wish I lived in Florida and could attract those beautiful Zebra Longwings you folks get!

Susan

http://clovegarden.com/ingred/hb_ruez.html

Welcome Susan! I love gardening for my winged friends but am pressed for space in my tiny back yard (so doesn't help that I rent which also puts a damper on my grand plans lol).

Waving back to sphinx .... happy gardening!