Hi all,
I am starting a butterfly, herb and veg. garden in my backyard city/urban lot and have started a garden album on my photosite to document it all. There are only 4 images in that album right now , but I will be putting more. Take a look at my beautiful zinnias and butterfly. I think it is a Painted Lady?
Happy 4th!
Karen in Austin
www.visionsbykaren.com
Butterflies & Flowers - Austin, Texas
Hey Karen in Austin. I am happy to hear you are starting a butterfly garden. I myself have started one, or tried anyway, this year. I have been buying flowers like crazy and now I just need to settle down and let them grow. I have seen a total of 2 butterflies so far. I am a little disappointed but I think I am just impatient. I wanted to say that they were beautiful photos. The one on the milkweed took my breath away. I have three milkweed plants and like I said, no butterflies. Good luck to you. I know a lot of great stuff grows in Austin. I cannot say so much about Abilene. We have it a little harder but I am going to give it a go.
Leslie
Karen - Your flower photos are lovely! Nice photographic eye you have! :-)
I am not sure what kind of butterfly that is. Very pretty though! Maybe someone else from Texas such as Cat will be able to ID it for you! :-)
Thanks for sharing them all!
Leslie - Have patience. Plant it and they will come. Since your garden is new, it may take a little time for the butterflies to find you. And sometimes they are seasonal. Fall may be when you really start seeing a lot of butterflies. That gives your plants more time to grow in anticipation of their arrival! :-) It's slow here, too, in Florida as far as the number of butterfly visitors.
Good luck with your garden and your butterfly photos! If you planted zinnias, you no doubt will have lots of visitors before too long!
Later in the summer, be sure to post more pics!
Hey Becky,
I have finally channeled all my energy for wanting the butterflies to come into great patience. Since we have had rain here for about three weeks straight off and on and only three days of sunshine in that period things are going a little slow. They love the rain but also need the sun. I would never complain about the rain here as we were in about a 10 year drought, have water restrictions, etc. So I think once the sun starts shining pretty continuous after all that rain my stuff will grow like crazy (hopefully). And I just had the same though the other day that when the Monarchs come in the fall my plants will all be a lot bigger. So I am content to wait. Thanks for all of your advice though, it has made me feel a lot better just looking at all of yall's beautiful gardens.
Leslie
Hi Leslie and all,
I, actually, started planting plants for my butterflies a couple of years ago adding more each year. I have lots of butterflies in my garden right now!
I have planted both host and nectar type plants like Rue, Parsley, Fennel, dill and passionflower for the host plants. Each host plant attracts certain butterflies.
I have a lot of Zinnias, Salvias, Blue Mist, Butterfly Weed & Bush, Lavender and two or three others that I can't remember the name of that provide nectar.
Is there anyone familiar with the Butterfly Weed seeds and planting them? The two plants I have have given me lots of seeds and I was wondering how to plant them now so they could grow for the Monarch migration in the Fall. Is this possible?
Have to get to work here ...
Karen in Austin
ps. Zinnias are great too because they reseed the next year.
Here's a write-up which talks about Asclepias tuberosa germination. In our case here in Ohio that particular Asclepias flowers during the second or third summer. It's probably quicker where you are though.
http://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/seed_kit.html
Maybe Asclepias curassavica would be a better choice if you need flowers and plants for the fall migration. I understand plants can be started rather quickly using cuttings from a stock plant.
Here's more information on germinating and growing different Milkweeds :
http://monarchwatch.org/milkweed/prop.htm
Thanks Tabasco for the links. I'll print them out and see. If it is to late this year for propagation or cuttings, I will store seeds for next year and maybe plant a 4x4 raised bed of them.
We are in the process now of building raised beds for vegs., herbs, etc.. IF IT EVER STOPS RAINING!!!!! I am losing plants I have had for a few years with all this rain. )-:
I forgot that the Milkweed was both a host and nectar plant for the Monarch. I swear I have some Queen Monarch in my garden now and they really like the Blue Mist plant which is just a nectar plant if I am not mistaken.
Actually, I have not taken the time to look up what each of the butterflies in my garden are this year, but it looks like I have new ones since I added Rue and Parsley.
Back to work again ... (-:
Karen in Austin
Karen - I have germinated Butterfly Weed without any problem from seed. But .... the problem that I am running into is that the plants don't ever get big because they get eaten when they are only about 4-5" tall. I am hoping that the roots are still intact and will sprout again. But so far that has not been the case. Apparently the caterpillars love to eat them, so mine never get the chance to grow big. :-(
Becky,
Very good point with the Butterfly Weed. Hmmm
If they are anything like the passion flower, they should come back. I have one passion flower that was stripped to the stems. I cut it back and it is now about ten inches and I can't believe that there are no caterpillars on it yet. Maybe it is all the rain we are having.
I am thinking that maybe some pvc pipe made into hoops and that white cloth they sell to help protect from frost may protect the plants so they can grow. I guess this is an argument for a greenhouse.
Wait a min. I was looking at a website just the other day that had something like that along with this three shelved tall cold frame. I left the papers at home, but let me look at my favorites.
Be back ...
Karen
Becky,
I found the two product I have been looking at. It's a bit pricey, but I bet the cold frame could be built.
www.greenhousecatalog.com
Deluxe Cold Frame
[G-80]
Put the G-80 in the search box.
With my area being so hot, I have been looking at G-SSKPPGH which is a patio greenhouse that can be moved around.
Karen
Oh, my, Karen-- you are really getting into this with a green house! We will all be hiring you to start milkweed for us! Keep us posted! t.