This is the summer of the butterfly! We have been observing many kinds in our front yard garden...it is amazing to watch as several flutter around from flower to flower. The American Lady butterflies are smaller than we expected but they are daily visitors to the butterfly bushes.
We planned this garden for bees, butterflies, and birds and they are now moving in and taking advantage of our neighborhood oasis that we have created. Our neighbors all stop by to tell us how much they enjoy seeing our yard as they walk and drive up the street. It makes me smile.
Creating this wildlife habitat has been a dream realized. I can honestly say that we have spent time every single day enjoying the wonderful things in this space.
The Western Tiger Swallowtails are the most frequent of the larger butterflies to visit every day. They spend lots of time on the butterfly bushes but they also land on the lavender from time to time. I think they are my favorite butterfly.
The white butterfly bush is the color that attracts the most butterflies from our casual observation. It has larger amounts of flowers so I think they may be the attraction.
We have had a few Monarch butterflies in the past week. This one looks a little tattered. It is exciting to see a Monarch though...this is exactly why we created this habitat. We looked forward to having our nature study subjects come to us...and they have.
This long thin purple flower cluster is my favorite shape and color. This could be called my purple section since I have purple lavender, sage, and butterfly bushes literally bursting out all over. The bees have found this space and they are here all day long.
The deep purple bushes line the front street and there are hummingbirds that can be seen landing on the blossoms as they take a break from collecting the nectar. The blooms don't even dip down...those hummers must be super lightweight.
There are a few more butterfly varieties that have come to visit but I haven't caught them with my camera....yet. I will share when I do.
Just for the record, the bee balm and nasturtiums started blooming this week in the back yard. Beautiful!
Jami's Tuesday Garden Party meme is open from Tuesday to Thursday so there is still time for you to jump in and participate!
We have a late blooming lilac here in Saskatchewan. I have never seen so many Monarchs and Swallowtails ever. We usually only get Monarchs during the fall migration. You are right, if we build it they WILL come.
ReplyDeleteSo many beautiful butterflies. We get quite a few to my garden, although I hardly ever see monarch butterflies. Last week I saw an amazing black butterfly that I have never seen before. I have no idea what it was. They are so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYael from Home Garden Diggers
Beautiful! I'll have to remember to plant those flowers when we move into our new home! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely garden you have--and so many butterflies! My butterfly bushes sustained a fair amount of snow damage this year, but I pruned out all the dead stuff and they are looking pretty good again, but not in bloom yet. We get a few butterflies in our garden, but would love to see more! Thank you for sharing all the great pictures with us!
ReplyDeleteAthena,
ReplyDeleteWe cut ours to the ground in early winter and they have come back more full and a much better shape than ever before.
Thanks for the comments!
How do you get such gorgeous butterfly photos? They always fly away as soon as I get close enough to get a picture.
ReplyDeleteKris,
ReplyDeleteI take lots of images and pick the best. I am using my son's really old Canon Rebel with a zoom lens to get the butterfly shots. Plus it is hard to take a bad photo of a beautiful creature. :)
Beautiful pictures! We just started seeing Monarch butterflies in our yard this week. We're just south of Philly. The kids get so excited when they see the butterflies!
ReplyDeleteI struggle to come up with a good plan for a garden. Have been dreaming about this type of garden for a few years now. Any tips/tricks/hints to planning and planting? How to plant things that flow together well and look nice together?
ReplyDeletethanks in advance...you have a great garden!
First of all, find out if you have a native plants nursery in your area or you can look up a list online. We have been successful with using plants we know pollinators like.
ReplyDeleteOur local Home Depot actually has a selection of natives that will give you planting instructions...like how close to put them together and how much water they need. We have just followed those tips.
We mix our natives with drought resistant plants so we don't have to water very much. Here is a post on what our yard looked like at the beginning:
http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/2011/07/front-yard-remodel-update-july-2011.html
and this one too:
http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com/2011/04/front-yard-remodel-removing-lawn-spring.html