butterfly gardening – Andrea's Gardening Blog

Sep 25: Monarch emerges!

September 25, 2019October 27, 2019Posted in FallTagged butterfly, butterfly gardening, chrysalis, monarchLeave a comment

monarch chrysalis front brick sep 15_2217 — Chrysalis Sep 15

Sep 25 Monarch emerges from chrysalis — Monarch butterfly Sep 25

Sep 15: monarch chrysalises

September 15, 2019October 27, 2019Posted in summerTagged butterfly gardening, chrysalis, monarchLeave a comment

two monarch chrysalises Sep 15 2019 — Two monarch chrysalises behind my reading chair

monarch caterpillar forming chrysalis on joe pye weed_2231 — Monarch caterpillar making chrysalis under Joe Pye weed leaf

swallowtail caterpillar on hyssop_2211 — Swallowtail caterpillar hanging out on hyssop

Sep 7: State of the Garden, plus new goldenrod and mums

September 7, 2019October 27, 2019Posted in Photography, summerTagged butterfly gardening, gardeningLeave a comment

I wanted to spruce up the garden since many of the summer flowers are starting to fade.

new goldenrod with mature red mums_2187 — New goldenrod and mature red mums

little bluestem and mexican feather_0027 — Little bluestem grass and Mexican feathergrass

goldenrod mums_0002 — New mums and goldenrod

monarch caterpillar_0005 — Monarch caterpillar

swallowtail caterpillars on rue_0017 — Swallowtail caterpillars on rue

monarch caterpillar plus aphids_0006 — Monarch caterpillar with aphids and milkweed seeds

left and middle back bed_0010 — Left and middle back beds

Sep 2: caterpillars

September 2, 2019October 27, 2019Posted in summerTagged butterfly gardening, caterpillars, monarch, swallowtailLeave a comment

I’m finding caterpillars regularly.

swallowtail_2149 — Swallowtail caterpillar

monarch caterpillar on front milkweed_2138 — Monarch caterpillar on swamp milkweed

swallowtail caterpillar on spicebush_2145 — Spicebush swallowtail caterpillar on spicebush

swallowtail on rue_2150 — Swallowtail caterpillar on rue

Aug 21: Buckeyes

August 21, 2019October 27, 2019Posted in summerTagged buckeyes, butterflies, butterfly gardeningLeave a comment

Aug 21 Buckeyes on sedum — Buckeye butterflies on Autumn Joy sedum

Aug 18: lazy day in the butterfly garden

August 18, 2019Posted in summerTagged butterflies, butterfly gardening, hummingbirds, photography1 Comment

After working in the garden all day in the heat yesterday, today I’ve spent most of the day laying in the hammock or sitting in one of my three garden-viewing perches, admiring the filled-in beds, photographing butterflies (and a hummingbird!), and watching monarchs and swallowtails lay eggs on the milkweed and rue. It’s a pretty awesome way to spend a Sunday.

swallowtail laying eggs on rue_0097 — Swallowtail laying eggs on rue

sedum and echinacea_2061 — Echinacea and sedum are pretty together

joe pye rue sedum_2060 — Joe Pye weed, rue, and sedum (and a swallowtail caterpillar on the rue in the bottom left 🙂 )

mexican sunflwoer_0089 — Mexican sunflower

painted lady wings spread_0050 — Painted Lady on butterfly bush

hummingbird_0078 — Hummingbird! I heard its wings thrum while I was trying to photograph a monarch on the zinnias (see lower right corner). This is the first time I’ve ever come close to photographing a hummingbird.

I saw a buckeye butterfly yesterday too, but I didn’t have my camera so I wasn’t able to photograph it. Buckeyes are gorgeous. I’m going to go back out again now with my book and see what else comes to the garden.

Aug 17: cleaning out spent flowers

August 17, 2019August 18, 2019Posted in Photography, summerTagged butterflies, butterfly gardening, gardening, photography1 Comment

It’s been hot and dry here for weeks. Since I put in mostly natives and drought-tolerant plants, I haven’t watered. That’s been fine for a lot of the flowers out in the garden, but not all of them. The New England asters didn’t make it, and the black-eyed Susans started browning before their time. Now I know.

front bed by stairs_0073 — Big brown blob of dead asters in front of the switchgrass

I went straight out into the garden this morning to get to work before the sun got too high. It took about four hours to snip the brown flowers off the indigo salvia, black-eyed Susans, white coneflowers, roses, butterfly bush, zinnias, shasta daisies, and echinacea. I stopped a lot to take pictures of butterflies.

painted lady butterfly weed_0007 — Painted Lady on Miss Ruby butterfly bush

monarch instagram_2049 — Monarch on zinnia

swallowtail zinnia_0018 — Swallowtail on zinnia

blanketflower_0023 — Blanketflower (*Gaillardia*)

back bed before ripping out marigolds_0030 — Back bed before I ripped out the marigolds

I decided I hated the tall marigolds I planted from seed, so I ripped those out. Which meant, of course, that I had to replace them. One of my favorite things to watch in the garden is goldfinches bobbing on Echinacea cones in the fall, so I bought more Echinacea to replace the marigolds. I waited until the sun was low in the evening to put them in the ground to hopefully minimize the stress of planting them. I’ll need to remember to water them a lot over the next few days since there is still no rain in the forecast. The ground was rock and dust when I dug in. There was no moisture anywhere.

new echniacea_0033 — New Echinacea plants (*Echinacea p*. *‘Magnus’*)

echinacea and wind dancer grass_0036 — Echinacea and wind dancer grass (*Eragrostis elliottii ‘Wind Dancer’*)

Now I want to move a bunch of stuff around, but I know I need to wait. I don’t want to kill everything moving it around in this heat. Plus, the caterpillars are on their way, and I don’t want to mess up their ability to eat and pupate.

July 27: flower beds in bloom, big butterflies arrive

July 28, 2019Posted in Photography, summerTagged butterflies, butterfly gardening, garden, photography1 Comment

I’m not seeing a lot of caterpillars (zero, actually), but the big swallowtails and the monarchs are finally here. I see hummingbirds every day, as well, though I’m never able to photograph them.

tiger swallowtail on butterfly bush_0059 — Tiger swallowtail on Miss Ruby butterfly bush

tiger swallowtail on zinnia_0081 — Tiger swallowtail on zinnia

monarch w antennae_0053 — Monarch on milkweed

The wildflowers are finally hitting their stride. The blue forget-me-nots, pink cleome, and yellow calendula came up from seeds dropped last year by their predecessors.

cleome and forget me not_0007 — Volunteer cleome (spider plant) and forget-me-nots

wildflower bed_0055 — I like the way this little wildflower bed is turning out

I wanted to get some pictures of the full beds rather than just closeups, too, so that in winter and spring when I can’t remember what it all looked like, I’ll have something to remember the garden by.