Why not try it? Ornamental herbs, those cultivated for beauty or for pollinator use are often overlooked by gardeners. We often tend to be single minded with the thought of planting herbs, and think only of their culinary value, and forget that they can...
Normally, very little care is needed, and it is a low maintenance, easy-to-grow plant.Propagation is easy from cuttings. This is the time to trim all the stems back to the ground and to cover the crown with pine needles or other loose, organic mulch.
A lot of people on Dave's Garden have butterfly gardens; there's even a forum specifically for people to discuss their love of butterflies. I had just never expected to see one inYou see, I live on the edge of a big city.
What can be more beautiful than that? It is a traditional Romanian folklore song which the Romanian children learn in kindergarten and primary school and it is called "The Gardens Are Blooming." I've always thought of it as an ode to spring.
These tend to be larger members of the family, however they are still on the small side in the butterfly world.Below are just a few of the Skippers that visit my garden and I'm lucky to have such a selection.Skippers enjoy flowers with flat 'landing pads'...
The scent industry has its finger on the pulse of the scented. The stems or racemes may get anywhere from 1 to 12 inches long and new growth arises on the tips of them after the flowers are spent.
Monarchs cannot fly when the temperature is below 55 F. There are restrooms and water in the campground, roughly 1/4 mile down the trail from the grove. In the spring, the increasing daylight allows the butterflies to reach sexual maturity and begin migrating...
(Wayside Gardens is last in the list for a reason. When is a shrub not necessarily a shrub? Answer: When it can also be a tree. It blooms in late summer, when no other trees are in flower.The blossoms are white and are borne in clusters of seven, hence...
Wikipedia's "monarch butterfly" entry supplies a list of appropriate choices foris s good place to start reading more about some of those other, less commonly grown plants.Thanks to DG Uber Gardeners Floridian, Jeff Beck and poppysue for their pictures...
On humans the acid supposedly stimulates white blood cell activity and enhances healing. Harvest seedpods when they are dry and store in a dry place over winter. Several online sites list it as available for purchase.
Voila! British Scientists at the University of Manchester have done CT scans on living pupas to essentially peek inside and observe this amazing feat. Have you ever wondered how a worm-like striped creature that crawls on many legs can transform itself...
My recent article about wooly pipevine (Aristolochia tomentosa) made no mention of other pipevines. Unfortunately, flowers of native pipevines are not as spectacular as the flowers of the tropicals.
Zinnias, cosmos, coneflowers and other flowers with flat blossoms attract many species. Butterflies also appreciate flat stones where they can warm themselves in the sun. This series of articles will help identify some of the most unusual ones and give...
If you plant Black-eyed Susans beside your door, no ants will enter, but the butterfliesoh, the butterflies, they will just come right on in. "Well I never in all my born days ever seen a sight like that," she said.Years later when I was deciding...
It featured two bands of lookout windows circling the top, from which wethe Higbee Beach Wildlife Management Area and Cape May Point State ParkOur pleasant guide, stationed at the top of the historic tower, pointed out the remains of the formerHarbison...
It is a fun and educational experience for the young and old alike. Journey North and thecollect migration data, while Monarch Watch offers waystation seed kits and tagging kits. The silk was used for life preservers for World War II servicemen.
Hiring local forest rangers has made a difference in protecting this particular roost--but the three positions that SEPANAF funds are not enough. Dr. Ellen Sharp, PhD, and anthropologist from UCLA recently visited the area in central Mexico where monarchs...
Males prefer to perch in the sun on low twigs or bare ground to watch for females as they fly by. The large, bright eyespots on its open wings make it a snap to identify. They also exhibit a slight migratory habit, but unlike the Monarch, the migration...
Rubiaceae, or gardenias, often rely on nocturnal moths to pollinate their sweetly scented white flowers. The white flowers on these shrubs attract diurnal moths, such as the gardenia bee hawk moth, that resemble large bumblebees.
I recently planted a new one in a new garden, placing it between some sea holly plants. The one thing this shrub must have is full sun. One of my very favorite shrubs is Buddleia, more commonly known as butterfly bush.
My next article for Dave's Garden will discuss this topic in more detail. Native orange butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is more difficult to establish in gardens but may well be worth the extra effort required.
From the island of Samoa to Germany, Pacific Northwest and India, legends and lore abound concerning the rebirth of souls as butterflies. If you want butterflies, you have to have caterpillars and caterpillars eat their host plants.
After the newly hatched caterpillars eat the eggs from which they hatch, they begin munching on milkweed. Within a couple of weeks, a monarch caterpillar reaches 2 inches in length, and is recognizable by its black, yellow and white stripes.
Flowers can be many colors, from white to yellows, oranges and reds, as well as the pink of the common milkweed. They were coming up in the lawn all throughout last year, and I expect to see them there this year, too.
That being said, occasional problems do occur.Cultural Issues for Yellowing Butterfly Bush LeavesIf you notice leaves turning yellow on butterfly bush, it's time to investigate the possible causes.
They are hardy in USDA zones 10 and 11. These berries are excellent for attracting birds.It is a native plant in Florida, where it is listed as an endangered species. It produces clusters of tiny, white, star-shaped flowers that aren't especially showy...
The papery pods resemble green and brown butterflies, which are responsible for the vine's descriptive name. ) is a heat-loving evergreen vine that lights up the landscape with clusters of intense yellow blooms in late spring.
