Hi everyone!
I don't know if this thread will fly, but I hope so.
I know that there are a lot of experienced gardeners here on this forum as well as those new to butterfly gardening. I would love to see photos of the before and after gardens many of you have created. Or perhaps a couple photos showing the growth of a garden over a year or two. I would really love to see what all of you have created and I am sure that many others would, too! It might be inspiring to new folks and might give ideas to those who are looking for additions for their own yard. Please share some before and after photos of your little peace of Butterfly Heaven! :-)
Before and After Gardens .....
Ok I will bite although mine has no structure to it. I just plant where ever I feel like it. Here is a before picture
Here is an after of the same area
Another before
after. These are not the best pictures but there is definetly a difference .
Marie - What a beautiful lush garden you now have! I loved the growth of the little vine and how big it has grown. How long did it take to get to that size?
I was digging through my old photos from 2 years ago to find a before photo. So here is my "before" right after the hurricanes hit us and what led to my becoming a butterfly gardener. It looks worse than what it looked like before the Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, but hopefully you can see how plain it looked before I dug it up.
This message was edited Oct 13, 2006 2:51 PM
Here is my front garden 2 years ago after I did the makeover.
Here is what it currently looks like. I have refrained from trimming it back this fall. I'm learning to let nature take a little more control. The butterflies and bees seem to be much happier that I have left it alone this Fall. (Last year I butchered it down and had few visitors because there were few flowers. I'm in recovery now! lol)
This message was edited Oct 13, 2006 12:34 PM
This message was edited Oct 13, 2006 12:35 PM
Becky yours is beautiful. The second picture is not of the same little vine just the same general area. although the large shrub type/vining plant was also the same size. We planted it last fall and it froze back and this is what we got this year. It has just started blooming. Everything I have planted has been with in the last year.
Marie - You had THAT much growth in one year???!!! What are you feeding those plants? Inquiring minds want to know! Unbelievable!!
Yep they grew that much in a year. I am feeding them nothing (I bought thet miracle grow stuff but always for get to feed everything) Actually in about 9 months or so. The first after pictures are the same two lady banks roses that are int he first before and they have been trimmed a few times. I leave them kinda wild cause they remind me of how my little girl looks when she awakens in the morning. (hair all over the place) :o)
We moved int o this house in July of 05 and really did not start planting until October of 05. I think the fact that I got at least 3 good rain days helped quite a bit.
Marie - LOL about the Lady Banks roses and your daughter's hair being similiar! Too cute! I love roses, too, but have only a couple and they do well in the spring and then kind of fizzle out by mid-summer. I don't really have much of a green thumb for them. But I have heard that climbing roses are hardier and better performers. I wonder if the climbers would do well in the heat in my zone. You are in 9a, so that gives me hope to possibly consider trying one.
To all you butterfly gardening folks ...... jump on in here! Marie and I have bared our gardening souls with our before and after photos. We'd love to see what YOU have done! Do share with us. :-)
All of your gardens look great!
Becky, have you tried the Knock-Out roses? They do well here, bloom a lot and thrive in the heat.
I don't have any 'before' pics so I'll just watch :)
I don't have an after photo YET. But this is what I have at the moment. Just a huge bunch of Lantana and Passionvines. This was (2) 6" pots of Lantana (one on each side of the tree slab table) that went crazy in this spot. They were planted in the spring this year.
All summer and fall this Lantana has been visited by butterflies and hummingbirds. It's about 5 ft. from my back french doors.
Janet
This is the Lantana in the early Spring when I planted it.
This is the Lantana recently.
This is a closer shot of the blooms.
Janet
I have 3 pond forms that are not in use. I think rather than dig up what's in my center island, I'm going to use those pond forms as humongous planters and plant my butterfly gardens in them. I'm also going to put these in my front yard where there will be full sunlight all day long. That means I'm going to HAVE to start watering the front yard. GASP!!! UGGGGGGHH!!! But, having a white house, the colorful blooms of the BF Garden will add tremendous color to the house. I'm hoping by using those ponds, my BF garden will be practically weed free. I can plant other plants around the ponds to cover up the sides. I've always wanted raised beds in the front yard. Who says they have to be on the borders!
We'll see. And the good thing is that I can put it whever the heck I want to! I'll take some photos of the progress.
Janet
Fly-girl - How about showing us your "after" garden? I'd love to see it. I really enjoy seeing everyone else's garden creations. They are all so unique and inspiring. Gives me lots of ideas to consider!
Janet - Your lantana is beautiful! It sure looks like it is in a happy spot in your yard, because it is growing so well. In all honesty, that is the one nectar plant in my entire yard that gets visited by every butterfly passing through. I really like the color of your flowers. They look more pastel.
The lantana in my back yard garden was almost 4 feet tall. It's one of my original plants. (I had no idea that they would get that tall.) Anyway, my hubby does the edging around everything. My lantana was flowing beautifully over the wooden garden edging and dh came along with the weed-eater and not only edged along the bottom of my plant, but took the weed-eater and chopped the entire plant into a retangular shape. It looks soooo ugly now! I was furious with him. Now I have to wait until after winter kills it back and cut it down to the ground to let it start all over so that it will look like a Lantana and not some hedge-shaped boxwood or something. He knows nothing about gardening! Don't let your dh touch yours with a weed-eater!
I like your 3 bf garden pond idea! Go for it girl!
Becky,
My lantana is about 3 1/2 ft. tall and covers an enormous area, for just being 2 rooted plants in there. I've really enjoyed all of the activity on it this year. I've bought several different colors of Lantana for the BF Garden. All were distressed plants from Lowe's for next to nothing in cost. I just cannot stand to see the plants in such sad shape. Home Depot never discounts their plants. They send them back instead. What a shame. I'd be happy to give them a good home. But noooooooooooooooo!
Just recently, hubby did the weed whacking. I saw several branches of my Lantana in the yard afterwards, along with a monarch that I'd watched laying eggs all day long. Fortunately, the monarch survived, if in deed she was "whacked".... but not too long later, she disappeared. I had a nice long talk with the lizards that hang out in that big plant on the slab. I told them I'd best not be smelling butterflies on their breaths. :-)
In all honesty, I don't complain about the weed whacking....because that particular place has been known to have a snake or two in it... over the years..... and I don't like to do the whacking myself. I told him recently (after moving a table an chairs close by so I could get hummingbird and butterfly closer shots) to whack back the vinca so I can see if anything is crawling around. Being that close to my back door... well.... you know, no sense in taking any chances. So far this year, I haven't seen any snakes other than the shed skin of one that could have possibly been a copperhead (according to hubby). The shed skin was found between the milkweeds and the passion vines. I tip toe through that walkway and usually have one of the dogs go with me. I cannot help my fear of snakes.
Janet
Here are my Passionvines.
In this photo, the milkweed is just to the left of the photo. The Passionvine is right behind all of that Papyrus Grass. The snake skin was found just under the Papyrus.
We've just this week had to top off that Papyrus. It's now about 3 1/2 ft. tall. I'm actually getting to enjoy the blooms from the Passionvines now. YEAH!!
Word to the wise.... don't plant Papyrus in the ground unless you want it to get huge! Connie has some in a pot that is very controlable instead of being bezerk like mine.
Janet
This photo shows the Papyrus in the Spring. It also covered up my beautiful Sego Plam that hubby dug up from a friend's that didn't want it.
The fallen stump was from the hurricane. Hubby removed the tree... well IS removing the tree himself. He was doing really good getting it out of there. Then it rained heavily for a few weeks. NOW it's all covered by weeds, cannas and milkweeds. With hunting season here, it will be spring again before he starts back on it again.
Janet
I always love the before and after pics--so interesting to see what everyone plants and I always get good ideas!
We are in the midst of expanding our little BF garden so that we can add more host plants and re-organize a bit.
And I will get a pic today of the new lasagna garden space we are adding to this one--
This is one of my favorite pics of the summer garden, taken in July 2005, ( I was just learning how to use the digital camera and this is the only pic that is decent and I know I have posted it before, so sorry)...the milkweed tuberosa are in there, but still baby plants, and we planted parsley for an edging plant (which was pretty) and some dill for the swallowtails.
I love the purple spike liatris as a nectar plant with various daisies and cone flowers. This liatris is 'spicata' and/or 'kobold' (very similar).
Now we are adding host plants aristolachia (pipevines), passiflora (passionflowers) along with a few nectar plants including Liatris 'September Glory', L. white 'flouristan' and another late blooming liatris.
Janet - Glad to hear that your hubby did a far better job of weed-eating around your lantana than my husband! ;-) I find snake skin in my yard, too. But I think it is that of a black racer. It's large and I think it had babies about a year ago. It's pretty shy and takes off if it sees us. I do wear gloves always when I am working in the garden. I don't want to get bitten. How scary if yours is a copperhead. They are dangerous!
I love the color of your purple passion flower! It looks different than the variety that I have. Yours is much darker purple.
WOW! I love the area you showed in the photo with the Papyrus and milkweed. So tropical! Lovely! Sorry to hear about your tree-stump dilemma. Perhaps your hubby could just cut the stump off across the top and use it as a flat pot display area. (At least until he can remove it next year.) That's a job to remove!
Edit to make one more comment to Janet. I love your brick patio. I have plans to add a paver patio in the spring outside my backdoor. Did you put yours in?
Tabasco - How gorgeous your garden is! Looks like the perfect place for the butterflies to visit! Do you see them smiling when they visit you! :-) :-)
This message was edited Oct 14, 2006 10:45 AM
Thanks Becky.
Hubby put those bricks in several years ago. When the hurricane came through here, two trees upheaved. One of them was right next to the patio. Surprisingly, when that first one came out, the bricks pretty much laid back down. They aren't perfect, but we enjoy them. We didn't buy any bricks. Someone gave us a few pallets and that was the pattern hubby came up with.
I love that passion vine. I started with a gallon pot 2 years ago. Moved it to the fence this year and have enjoyed it... when I can see it. :-) I have about 20-25 GF cats in the cathouse now so I'll be taking plenty of cuttings from it to feed them.
Found a big monarch cat at a nursery this morning. The guy was nice enough to tell me to take him home with the milkweed I bought, even though he was on a different plant. :-)
Janet
Pretty little garden you have there Becky...............
Here is part of my backyard flowerbed project. This is the back patio in 2005. It's not entirely a BEFORE, more of an INTERMEDIATE. The Yaupon Holly and Lantana are quite young yet, at this point. (And the shrubs on the other side of the patio had no idea what was coming!).
Carla
And here is what the back patio looked like late last fall. The hummingbirds and butterflies were all over that Lantana. It was hard work (due to our black clay soil), but well worth the effort. So much so that I've torn up quite a bit of my backyard and turned it into flowerbeds.
Carla
Thank you, Mark! It's starting to look more like a jungle these days! LOL! Which is how I like it to look!
Carla - WOW! Your Lantana sure took off! I bet your hummers love the "new" growth in your backyard. You'll have to show us more photos of the other areas you are adding to you backyard. :-) Thanks for jumping on this thread and sharing you garden in progress!
Thank you all for sharing your before and after pictures, I've been wanting to see some more pictures of member's gardens. I'm afraid I have no pictures to share yet, I am still very much in the "before" stage but maybe with the help of trading and time, I'll be able to post something pretty soon.
I hate the chain link fence but here in the "Senior Park" it is what I am stuck with! In my former home, I had woven white vinyl thru the fence to make a BIG lattice pattern and that REALLY helped. I have not started that project here due to lack of money... Somehow when the choice comes to a plant or white vinyl, the plant always wins!
Thanks again for sharing,
Pat
Pat - It took me a little over a year to get a beautiful LARGE garden going from the kindness of nice folks here on DG who shared plants and lots and lots of seeds with me!
Are you wanting to do a butterfly/hummer garden? Let me know what you are looking to plant. I just might have some seeds to share with you! :-)
Good luck being creative with what you have to work with. Here's another link with more gardens that is more recent (in case you haven't already seen it):
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/732433/
Pull up a chair and make yourself cozy here on this forum! Lots of wonderful and knowledgeable folks here!
Becky,
I rarely have the patience for seeds, in part because I don't really have much time and I'm frequently trying to do "lots" in short bursts of time. I have some plants coming from people here so I am afraid to try to plant my seeds (bee balm, Black eyed susan, larkspur, and & Cosmos) thinking I'll just be disturbing them when the plants come in the mail!!! I do have an itty bitty butterfly bush, liatris, pink oriental lilies, and a few annuals for color. I have a few iris and two dwarf daisies friends gave me. More California poppy than I want! ... I really loved the lantana I saw in the BF forum, that is not something I am familiar with.
Thanks for the link to the other pictures,I'll go enjoy it!
Pat
Pat - Get your plants in the garden beds and then throw some seeds out around them! I, too, didn't think I'd consider growing plants from seeds, but I've had such fun doing it this year that I am sold on seed sowing! And I have TONS of awesome plants growing in my beds now than I ever could've had if I'd only done plants! Most are plants I have never seen anywhere locally and would not have even thought to try. I love the surprise when they germinate and then grow and bloom. It's a little like Christmas every day! :-) Try just throwing a few seeds out and see what happens! ;-D
Becky,
I just did! I planted out at the very back of the flower bed where it will be "safe" from my big feet while I get the plants in the ground when they come. It was almost dark by the time I started planting. I bought 5 commerical packets of seeds and boy was I disappointed! There were so few seeds! Oh well... they are in the ground and marked with my labeled popicle sticks. Let's see how I do!
I was so impressed by yours, you have inspired me to try!
Pat
Pat - Awesome! What other seeds would you like to add to the bed? I've got seeds for several host plants of butterflies that you get in your area. LMK. D-mail me your wish list! LOL!
I have two butterfly garden projects that are on-going. One project is the garden surrounding the fishing pond, about an acre. The other bf gardens consists of several beds in my backyard. I'll try to find pix and post befores and afters.
OK, remember, you asked for it!.
This pix is the southwest side. I wish I had taken a picture before the 28+ years of weeds were cut down. This pix was taken in August of 2006. I had just become a Dave's subscriber and a green-horn to gardening. I began my gardens with answers to SASE's and plants for postage on the plant trading forum. My goal was to have a butterfly haven in my yard. I haven't accomplished the haven yet but I'm still trying.
It's still a young bed but this is pretty much what's planted to date:
From March 26 to April 10, 2007 Planted these plants to the left of the oak tree:
Trying to accomplish a 'river of yellow and red flowers;.
Starting from the fartherest side toward the property line:
Red Zinger Canna's
Viburnum opulus 'Snowball'
then a gap (ya gotta be able to fish!)
Butterfly Bush (last fall)
two H. fulvas (last fall)
Coreopsis 'Tetra-Giants' 9
Mexican Sunflower 'Torch' (maybe dead)
two H. fulvas (last fall)
Gaillardia arestata 'Burgundy' 7
two H. fulvas (last fall)
milkweeds 5
Coreopsis tinctonia 'Dwarf Red Plains' 10
three H. fulvas (last fall)
Gaillardia 'Sundance' 8
two H. fulvas (last fall)
Coreopsis 'Sunburst' 9
three H. fulvas (last fall)
Gaillardia 'Dazzler' 7
two H. fulvas (last fall)
Coreopsis 'Sunfire' 3
three H. fulvas (last fall)
Vitex
two H. fulvas (last fall)
Yellow Coreopsis unknown cultivar 9
9 H. fulvas (last fall)
Centeruara Cornflower 'Blue Boy' 8
four H. fulvas (last fall)
swamp milkweeds 5
Towards water edge: Calendula Pot Marigold 5
Mexican Hats 7
two H. fulvas (last fall)
Gaillardia 'Sundance' 9
15 H. fulvas (last fall)
Coreopsis 'Sunburst' 13
4 H. fulvas (last fall)
Gaillardia 'Fanfare' 1
Towards water edge: Japanese Iris
Coreopsis 'Tetra-Giants' 10
7 H. fulvas (last fall)
Coreopsis tinctoria 'Dwarf Red Plains' 4
Gaillardia 'Red Plume 8
Shasta Daisy
Salvia 'Saluti Dark Red'
Lantana 'Red Spread'
Ending at/near Oak Tree
You can't see all of the above plants yet, but believe me, they're there.
Oh heck; I like this pix better, still can't see the young bf flowers though.
After the 2006 drought, it rained "one" day in August and our pond serves as a drainage pond for the neighborhood. Here's the beginnings of the garden just right of the above picture.
