Hi!
How can I find out the types of butterflies that visit georgian gardens? I tried google but did not find anything useful. I am trying to do a butterfly garden but first I have to find out who comes here so I can plant the right host/nectar plants.
thank you
anna
butterflies of Georgia???
Try this site, it should get you started.
http://agr.georgia.gov/00/article/0,2086,38902732_0_41919462,00.html
jmzms gave you a good resource. I'm no expert, but I was determined to have a butterfly garden this year. I used this resource along with hgtv.com . My garden has attracted alot of bees but I also have the 'flying flowers' and hummers too. I actually witnessed a swallowtail lay eggs on my curly parsley. It was no time before I had lime-green caterpillars with black dashes across their backs. They ate a whole cup of parsley within three days. I was elated!
Be sure to plant Yarrow. Butterflies seem to use it like an airport landing strip. It's true that if you plant it, they will come!
I have a garden full of plants to attract butterflies and to supply food and water source. This year I got a few, very few catipillars and now nothing. No butterflies, bees, but many of the bees are dying right in my garden.
I'm organic.
I think someone in my area is spraying pesticides heavily, and it's very sad...
GGG
I have a vitex chaste tree http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/39966/ and cannot believe the numbers of bees, butterflys and other insects it attracts. I have built a new web site for the DeKalb County Federation of Garden Clubs and they kept adding pages and I kept going out to find new and interesting things to photograph for the new pages - this little tree was my bounty!!! Every time I could count on it for several new and interesting critters.
http://www.dekalbfederation.com/default.html and check out the little lightning bug (?) on the calendar page.
It is very hardy, needs little water and will bloom all summer if you deadhead. I am having to pick off Japanese beetles as I do not want to spray this little tree with all it's friends!
My butterfly population is down this year, but the bees are in full swing.. here are some pictures..
http://tinyurl.com/pct7w
Susan
Sterling, I have a Vitex and it's LOADED with bees right now. Butterflies will come a little later. I like the way your tree is trimmed up. Mine is all over the place and taking over the corner of the house right now but I hate to trim it because the flower comes at the end of old growth. When is the best time to trim? sr
That is one of the most beautiful trees I have ever seen. It is just called Vitex? Can I get them from nurseries?
Susan is there a way to make the pictures a bit bigger?
here's a nice page on the vitex: http://www.plantanswers.com/vitex.htm
Also called Chaste Tree, Lilac Chaste Tree, Monk's Pepper (Vitex agnus-castus)
It needs very little water and can really take the heat. It grows pretty fast so you need to keep it pruned as you like. I like the small tree look as opposed to the big bush look.
I prune out the old flowers (as they fade) and it keeps on blooming. You have to be careful when you grab an old flower that it does not have any bees on it still looking for the "good stuff".
I got mine at Home Depot or Lowe's... maybe Wal-Mart....
The "chaste" part of it: it is said that the nuns and monks of olden days ate parts of it to "reduce carnal desire".
Hi Susan - your garden is wonderful - thanks for sharing your pictures and your "barefoot boys of summer" are just precious!!!!
Sterling
If I could get a vitex in such a beautiful tree form I would plant another one. I have a white nachez white crepe myrtle and it went beatifully with that. Then it overgrew its space. Now I have room on the other side, and need it to make shade under it. The vitex may be the answer. I had been considering a variegated dogwood.
Forgot to add - if you have ever smelled the leaves of a chaste tree you would understand why it would "reduce carnal desire". Pewwwwuuuuueeeeeee!!!!
Duhhh, i finally got to it. Thank you for sharing your piccies, Susan. Your garden is wonderful and your boys, beautiful!
LOL!!!Pins.
I will look for this tree everywhere!
This is my Vitex that ate the house! Is it OK to just whack at it? It wasn't nearly this big last year when we bought our house in Oct and I am thinking now that I should have been trimming it back but I don't want to kill it.
If it were mine, I'd get under there and whack out the lower branches and then trim it up all over. I can't believe how fast these grow!
Whoa! that one is really big!!!!!
Gee, never saw a Vitex with the heads drooping down, that one looks more like a butterfly bush, TT! Are there that many different kinds?
Mine was supposed to be a white but it looks lt pink to me. The JP's and the bees have been at it pretty bad, but nothing affects the foilage! Mine is about 3yrs old, wish it grew faster!
Thanks Sterling and Spider!!
Happy fourth everyone ! :)
Susan
Happy fourth!!!!!!!