Start A Butterfly Garden!

by Bonsai 150 Replies latest jw friends

  • Xanthippe
    Xanthippe

    Thanks half banana I missed your reply to my question. A Magpie Moth eh? That's a first. It's been heating up here this week, 31 degrees here on Tuesday. There was a Comma butterfly in my garden this morning.

  • Bonsai
    Bonsai

    Nice pics everyone! My garden is blooming to the brim with zinnias, orange cosmos, Verbena bonariensis (Purple Top)and other Asian stuff that I don't know the English name of them. Swallowtail butterflies are dominating my garden and chasing all the other kinds of butterflies out.

  • GrreatTeacher
    GrreatTeacher

    We went to a state fair yesterday and were able to walk through a butterfly garden. It was an area enclosed with screening and had double doors. There were various types of flowers and hundreds of Monarch butterflies!

    They gave us a little foam style paintbrush dipped in Gatorade and the butterflies would land on them and get a sweet treat. My niece was absolutely enchanted, and with a $3 donation, she got a butterfly mask that she wore for the rest of the day.

    In other news from my garden, the gladiolias bloomed while I was on vacation and there are just a few left. Sad to have missed them. They are a beautiful salmon color.

    My windowboxes are overflowing with miniature petunias. They are climbing up the windows and spilling over the edges. Red, yellow, and orange. I'm painting my front door a bright crimson red today. I can't wait until it dries so I can shut the door and see the total effect.

    It's 96°F today, so my plants will need lots of water tonight. I'm staying indoors in the air conditioning today, and it's having trouble keeping up! Maybe we'll go to the pool tonight.

  • Half banana
    Half banana

    This one mid June with roses out and the yellow flags still giving a good show.

  • LisaRose
    LisaRose

    That's a beautiful garden half Banana!

  • GrreatTeacher
    GrreatTeacher

    OMG, that is the most beautiful English garden, half banana, just like I might expect a stereotypical English garden to look!

    Do all your neighbors have similar? What a beautiful neighborhood.

    My garden (in the US) tends to focus on plantings at the foundation of the house and in window boxes. It has beautiful curb appeal, and when I sit on my front porch, I enjoy it. But in general, the rest of the yard is mown grass which, when viewed from inside, is not very exciting.

    I like the way that an English garden is all throughout the yard and provides great views from the interior of the house, as well as beautiful outdoor rooms to relax in.

    I did add 3 large planters of hydrangeas in the backyard. I move them around, and hopefully when I find the right spot, I will plant them permanently. They bloom all season so they are beautiful backyard plants that can be viewed from the house as well as from the middle of the yard. I need to plant up my backyard in the English style and enjoy spending time outdoors in the middle of my plantings.

    Must say again, half banana, what an absolutely gorgeous garden! Thanks for sharing the photos.

  • Half banana
    Half banana

    Ye gods! I tried to post two pics at one posting and failed...now they come tumbling out...

    I have to admit an advantage in gardening since I am a landscape designer, which means that every day, I have been thinking about art and nature for many years.

    What is true is the pleasure we can all get from the simplest things in the natural world which cost us nothing, observing the seasons, birds animals insects trees and plants.

    I like Bonsai's comment that the Swallowtail butterflies swarm in his garden! They are rare in England, they only live in one location in the low lying fen country of Norfolk over here. Where actually do you live Bonsai? (I assume Japan)

  • TheWonderofYou
    TheWonderofYou

    Very beautiful. Here in Austria we have 4000 registered species of butterflies. More then 50 % are threatened with extinction. 5 species already lost.

  • Bonsai
    Bonsai

    Half Banana, I live in Japan. We have ten varieties of swallowtail butterflies that range in or around my area. I plant flowers and plants that attract butterflies to come and get nectar in my garden and also to lay their eggs on the host plants that their caterpillars rely on. As a Japanese garden enthusiast and amateur designer myself, I can tell you, a landscape designer, would love Japan and all the complex yet simple garden styles they have to offer. Come visit and you will be inspired! You'll see landscape designing and maximizing each small space in ways you've never imagined.

    TWOY, 4,000 species? That's incredible! I need to visit Austria some day. All those mountain/ski resorts are devastating our alpine/sub-alpine species.

  • Xanthippe
    Xanthippe
    Ye gods! I tried to post two pics at one posting and failed...now they come tumbling out...
    Count yourself lucky Half banana. My pictures have either turned sideways or disappeared altogether.

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