Some pics of our summer BF Garden...

My new Nikon has been dysfunctional lately so I found my old Canon and finally took a few pics of our Ohio style BF garden to catch up with all of you! I have enjoyed your shots of your gardens and BFs so much.

This is a shot of the front sunny border--mostly milkweeds (3 kinds) , rudbeckias, echinaceas, parsley, dill, daylilies, lantana and verbena, coreopsis, asters and phlox. I didn't mass the color the way I should have, but, oh, well...there is a lot of purple bloom in this bed which doesn't show up on the photo.

We made this flower bed last fall using the 'lasagna method'--layering compost, newspapers, chopped leaves to about 15 inches high over the grass. It's been a big success as far as we are concerned! Very easy to move plants around in it (whenever I change my mind, which is often!)

Oh my gosh! That is absolutely stunning, Tabasco!!!! I had great success with lasagna beds this year, too! First time ever I tried them and will be doing more and making them into seed beds. :-)

Here's a view of the right side border (about 50' x 7') --the Verbena bonarienses is by far the most popular bloom for nectaring swallowtails here...

I haven't had many takers on my watermelon rind display on the rock.

This message was edited Jul 13, 2007 4:24 PM

This swallowtail was adventuresome and tried out the Obedience Plant (Physostegia virginiana). Some find this plant invasive, but I like it for late summer bloom and for the BFs. If it gets too pushy I just yank it.)

More of the purples--this is Stokes aster "Peachy's Pick"--a strain of a Southern pass-a-long plant, supposedly a later and nicer bloomer than the ordinary Stokes Aster. I bought one at the nursery and I want to try to propagate it and make a border of it....we'll see how that goes...

I'm posting this pic not for the daylily but for the hardy geranium 'Rozanne'. Surprisingly to me, many of the butterflies stop and nectar on these, expecially before the brighter mid-summer flowers start to bloom. I have many hardy geraniums in the borders--'Jolly Bee', 'Rozanne' and 'Orion' are particular favorites.

And here is my little pot garden I am trying to get started. I planted in pots because sunny spaces are a premium and I can move them around as the sun moves through the yard during the season. Later when bloom is finished in the sunny border I will set the pots in there to fill in.

I planted three tithonia (Mexican sunflower) seeds along with a tiny trumpet vine in the big pot. I suppose I will have to transplant something in there since they are actually growing (a surprise to me!). I had wonderful Russian Mammoth Sunflowers in pots earlier in the summer.

I also have some zinnias, some milkweed, a maypop and some cosmos started in those pots.

And another pot with my Nepeta 'Walkers Low' and 3 "Little Joe Pye" Eupatorium. Another crowded container and maybe some re-arranging is in order! I also have a willow, a paw paw and wild cherry in pots down there and will have to find space to plant them somewhere soon, I guess.

Another pot-- my aristolochia vine-- is finally getting going so I hope to see some pipevine cats before too long. Today I had a ST inspecting it, so maybe I'll get some activity soon.

In front of the dutchman's pipe vine I have some Liatris 'kobold'. I planted 30 corms of this (from Lowes) but the chipmunks had a feast on 25 of them. Still they are great nectar flowers and drought tolerant for the most part. We have about 5 different kinds of liatris in the BF garden. Great partners for echinaceas 'Ruby Star' and 'Ruby Giant'.

This is the first year we have had a pretty phlox 'David paniculata group' bloom and to my surprise today a swallowtail stopped to nectar on it. I purchased 5 more gallon containers from the dollar table at the garden center last week, so I'm hoping for a 'plethora of phlox for the flutterbys' next year!

And this fluttered in from Home Depot and I just couldn't resist! The hummingbirds keep approaching it to make friends and it's so cute!

And that's all for today! Maybe tomorrow I can get some good shots of our BFs--we've had some nice ones lately and the numbers are picking up!

Yes, yes, and yes T!
You have done so well!! What a fabulous butterfly haven you have amassed, lady! I have been watching your progress since last fall, and all the planning and hard work has really paid off! I'm so glad you got a camera up and running too. It looks amazing, and you have some super great plants. The Tiger STs might be oviposition on your cherry and/or willows soon. Keep watching for those, and let us know. (The eggs are green in color. The cats are really cute too.) I am very happy for you!!

Way to go!!

:-D

Tabasco, your flowerbeds are *amazing*!! Well done!

I have tried the watermelon rind offering several times, and have attracted nothing but flies. A friend who lives 10 miles away will put out a rind and have a zillion Hackberry Emperors feeding within minutes. Go figure. I have fabulous results with banana mush and rotten figs, but the butterflies in my area just don't seem to like watermelon.

Carla

Wonderful and beautiful beds, Congratulations!!!!

T, your gardens are beautiful!!! What a butterfly haven!

I could only dream of having flowerbeds like that, because I just don't have the "eye" for it. Simply gorgeous!!

Ohh, tabasco ..
You ol merciless show-off you!

As ya darn-well should be - naturally!
Heck, you're WAY more than sufficiently entitled, ya know!

An absolutely blindingly beautiful batch of beds and yardens you guys' have creatively added .. for your flutterbye haven!!

Your totally shameful admittance ..

Gee, Mags, thanks for your kind thoughts--you are very generous with your floral effusiveness about our little butterfly garden patch!

But really, thanks everyone for your kind thoughts--I have thoroughly read and devoured all of your photos and comments and have enjoyed putting them into practice. Now if I could learn to take pics of the BFs--my next goal!

(I admit I crop out the junk and sharpen my images and it does tend to show the best aspect of our garden!) But anyway, thanks for letting me share our garden with my online friends...

Now, not to be deterred by undo modesty--I just have a couple more that I took today to finish this off! (Pls. bear with me...)

I wanted to post this pic of the swallowtail nectaring on the red daylily 'Flamenco Queen' since I rarely think of daylilies as BF nectar plants yet my ST seem to love to nose into these...

This message was edited Jul 15, 2007 6:22 AM

And the H. 'flamenco queen' color echoes my 'Zowie' Zinnias, another favorite.

And another swallowtail on the buddleia coming into bloom. Is this one a 'black' swallowtail? (I don't have my 'readers' on and can't see...)

And some of you know I am totally intrigued this summer with growing zinnias from seed (of course for the BFs). Here is one of my first to bloom (just today) with a little guest already perched on a petal so it must have pretty good nectar. It's a 'Benary Giant' zinnia from Renee Shepherd's Seeds mix.

And just to give Magpye another shot at me, LOL, here is another butterfly gidget (also crooked) but I think it's cute in the Asclepias curassavica patch (another color echo). ;-)

What wonderful pictures, Judy! You coulda been a nature photographer! I'm glad I got to meet you and see all your lovely gardens in person.

Renee'

And, last (for now) the sunny front borders from the living room aspect...

Hi, Renee! Thanks for your kind words. I am happy you had time to stop over! Just thought about you today as we took a long drive down Route 127 into KY to Paris, Lexington, and Versailles! Beautiful countryside, but no butterflies to be seen!

Interestingly, I've seen quite a few moths, not too many butterflies. I did see a couple on the butterflyweed at the bottom of our hill, though.

Judy - Your yard and gardens are beautiful! I don't know how you keep it looking so perfect! You've got a huge yard. Is it a half acre?

I, too, have grown Zinnias from seed (a first for me sowing seeds this year) and I am just amazed at all the different shades and patterns! They do seem to attract a lot of flying critters! I've seen Sulphurs and a Queen on mine. And lots of bees!

Thanks, becky, I am beginning to love zinnias--another flower, along with coneflowers, that I am learning to love because of the BFs! And yours is very pretty, too. Is it a 'Benary Giant'?

Are you growing several different kinds and doing any analysis of BF favorites? If you are, I hope you will post your observations on DG. I am very curious. There are several threads over in annuals with lots of good zinnia discussion and I am following them closely...

I was thinking of starting a Zinnia thread here in the butterfly forum when a few more of my Zinns are in bloom...

I find the BFs nectaring on pretty much all of them. Bees are all over them too! They are definitely a favorite in my yard among the winged insects. I received most of my seeds in a group swap, so I got a really nice assortment. I have no idea what the cultivars are. Some are very tall and others are about 5-8" tall. BF (especially Skippers) use all of them from my observations. Though right now there seems to be a total lack of butterflies and moths in my yard. Not sure why. It's the weirdest thing. Some do come through, but very little activity. It's a butterfly drought here! LOL! I expect things to pick up in the Fall, as it did last year.

Ooo, is it too late to plant zinnias (not seeds)? They're on the list of plants deer don't particularly like, which is important here.

If you are planting actual plants .... then I would say definitely YES! Seeds would probably take too long and it may be to late in the season. All of mine came from seeds I sowed in the early Spring (March) and they only started blooming about a month ago.

Thanks, beckygardener! I love all the pretty colors they come in.

Judy ..

RE: the black swallowtail in your photo, you'd inquired about ..

From what I can tell .. it's the dark form of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) > http://davesgarden.com/bf/go/4/ .. and > http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabambc/construct-species-page.asp?sp=Papilio-glaucus#phototable-8

- Magpye

"Be who you are and say what you want, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss

Here here on the quote Mags! Love those!
Judy, You really have some nice Zinnias... Hummies love them too!
I wanted to ask, ..How tall are your Cherry and Willow trees?

:-D

Beautiful stuff Tabasco. As I have told so many on here that is what I want mine to look like. Question though. I had cut up a watermelon yesterday and thought about putting it out for the birds as I thought I had read they liked them. So you had one out for your BFs? Also, how do you keep the darn flies from taking over? I get in trouble every time I try to put some kind of food product out for the BF's because it attracts so many flies.

Beautiful stuff. Thanks for the pics.

Leslie

LOL Well, we put out the watermelon on a rock and it's rather far from the house so I don't know how bad the flies are. Having said that, I did read somewhere that the hummingbirds, and we have quite a few, love to eat fruit flies and maybe there's some answer in that? I agree, it's messy and I probably won't put out rotten fruit like that often.

The cherry and willow trees are about 6 feet tall or so. I have them in nursery pots--I haven't planted them yet and I've had them for 3 years...I have to find a spot in the yard for them at some point. There are other willows and wild cherries around the yard too.

Thanks for the ID on the swallowtails, Magpye. I have a hard time telling them apart, but I find this web page from the Kenyon College site very useful to ID our Ohio area black swallowtails: http://www2.kenyon.edu/Bfec/butterflies/bstdif.htm

Thanks for sharing our BF garden photos with me, everyone. I have saved loads of links on our butterfly gardening project in my DG journal--more info than anyone would ever need to know--but you are welcome to look through it for more details.

I love your gardens, Judy.!!! I'm glad to see a butterfly nectaring on your daylilies. That gives me hope for mine.

Judy, how do you keep grass from growing up through your beds? I'm about to pull my hair out! I just can't seem to keep up with it. I'm almost tempted to lay newspaper around my plants and pile on the mulch.

Cord, we don't seem to have a big problem with grass growing up into the flower beds. I do pull it out when it is 'young' and it's easy to do because the soil has such nice tilth. We did give the lawn area where we put the lasagna bed a spray of round-up a couple of weeks before we put down the cardboard and maybe that helps. And I really cram in the plants--which I may not do next year for healthier and prettier flower results

We have more of a problem with thistles, and I think that is from some mulch we put down a couple of years ago.

I am really surprised that the butterflies like the daylilies. We planted a few fans of H. 'flamenco queens' (Bens) DLs two years ago and didn't see much action on them but perhaps now they are big and showy enough for the swallowtails to ID them. They are big red daylilies. I have other reds, but the f. q.s are definitely the favorites right now.

Below are some seedlings from 'Valley of the Daylilies' (Bachman) that they seem to like, too. I bought the H. 'flamenco queen' from Bachman's too. They are a very nice place to buy from...

I'll take a look at Bachman's. I'm always interested in daylilies. They really grow well for me. Now if I can just keep the Bahia grass out of my beds. Grrr! I've got an order for daylilies coming from LadyBug Daylies in Sept. I think I'll spray the empty bed now with roundup then cover with newspaper and mulch. Maybe that will help some. Thanks T!