Butterfly Field Of Dreams

[addy1]

Beautiful!

 

[mrsclem]

The butterfly garden is doing well this year! We are over-run with swallowtails and the monarchs are just starting to come in. Found our 1st monarch caterpillar yesterday. We counted over 40 tiger swallowtails in the garden at one time. Next to the mexican sunflowers, the food of choice seems to be the tree of heaven that grows everywhere here. Flower clusters are full of bees, wasps and butterflies!

 

[addy1]

Beautiful @mrsclem

 

[j.w]

I love all the beautiful butterflies and wish we had a ton like you guys do. Guess I need more blooming flowers that they prefer.

 

[mrsclem]

Mexican sunflowers are a big hit withthemas are zinnas. Have a lot of milkweed varieties as well

 

[poconojoe]

Glad to see your project!
By coincidence we Just went to a butterfly sanctuary this morning! It was great.
They had an indoor area where the butterflies were flying and landing on and all around you. All different types. It was very informative and fun. They had a short film and the owner gave a short seminar. Great place!
Butterflies definately love milkweed.
And from my gardening past, I do recall that ladybugs' main diet is aphids. You can buy them and release them in your garden.
My compliments on the garden!

 

[mrsclem]

Thank you- was inspired by another member-
JBtheExplorer - inspired me to do butterfly garden and helped with plant selection

 

[mrsclem]

New plant for next year, Mexican Flame vine. It is growing super aggressive so getting a lot of cuttings started.

 

[addy1]

That is pretty!

 

[mrsclem]

I have been seeing zebra swallowtail butterflies in the yard so decided to bring the butterfly cage with the black swallowtails in from the shed. Only took 2 days for the 1st one to hatch out. 7 more to go! Would love to raise zebra swallowtails but the main food for the caterpillars is Pawpaw. Have never seen one but they are zone 5-9 so maybe possible.

 

[Gemma]

@mrsclem I was inspired by your butterfly garden, you are doing a very good job!
My plan is to eventually fill the new court with a bunch of plants for hummers and butterfly, but this year I guess I have to be happy with the plants I already have (butterfly bush, Columbine, phlox, Lilies, bleeding heart, zinnias,, etc .....
I love the red and yellow Columbine, I've never seen it on sale before. I have 2, a white and red (not that kind of red), and a purple one,
I'm trying to learn more about milkweed to see if it could work in my garden , are there many varieties or just different colors? Does it bloom for long? is Milkweed the same as butterfly weed?

 

[mrsclem]

@mrsclem I was inspired by your butterfly garden, you are doing a very good job!
My plan is to eventually fill the new court with a bunch of plants for hummers and butterfly, but this year I guess I have to be happy with the plants I already have (butterfly bush, Columbine, phlox, Lilies, bleeding heart, zinnias,, etc .....
I love the red and yellow Columbine, I've never seen it on sale before. I have 2, a white and red (not that kind of red), and a purple one,
I'm trying to learn more about milkweed to see if it could work in my garden , are there many varieties or just different colors? Does it bloom for long? is Milkweed the same as butterfly weed?

Gemma, the plants you have will be just great. Milkweed will grow just about anywhere as it is considered a nuisance weed, spreads like crazy. I have not had good luck getting swamp milkweed to come back and the white and yellow varieties are considered annuals here. Misplaced my tropical seed so none of that this year. The butterfly weed comes back every year as well as producing tons of seed pods. regular milkweed does not have a long bloom time unlike the other varieties.

 

[Gemma]

Thanks @mrsclem you've been very helpful!

 

[mrsclem]

Well, I guess the new fencing and cleanout of the butterfly garden passes inspection! Shocked to see a female monarch checking out the plants!

 

[mrsclem]

Well this has been a very bad year for most butterflies. We didn't see any until late July and August. Had given up on monarchs so Weare clearing sections of the yard with herbicides. Of course then the butterflies show up! Have my small cage set up but have been finding a few caterpillars. Have 6-7 black swallowtails and not sure how many monarchs. Already released 10, probably another 20 to go. Good thing is the mosquitoes and ticks are nonexistent!