Butterflies are uber popular right now it the gardening world,  and from decorations to special garden plots especially designed to attract them, there are a myriad of ways to get your butterfly fix in the garden!  You can try things like adding butterfly friendly water features to your yard, or planting shade trees that act as a host for their eggs, but one of the most butterfly friendly things you can do in your garden plot is a cheap “fix” you’re going to love.  NO WEEDING!

That’s right!  Now I won’t go so far as to suggest that you skip weeding altogether, I wouldn’t do that myself, but I will suggest that you step back and let a little nature interfere with your most butterfly friendly garden spots. Researchers suggest that butterflies will thank you for it, and spend more time in your yard!

Weeds Butterflies love:

• Clover
• Switchgrass
• Goldenrod
• Indian Grass
• Crabgrass
• Bluestem
• Wild Violets
• Thistles
• Fleabane

Butterflies prefer areas where the food sources are close together so they can get a large amount of eating done while expending as little energy as possible. They tend to heavily visit gardens and fields where blossoms are bumper to bumper, and plentiful, so if you provide more flowers per square inch you’ll see more butterflies. Let a little of their favorite weeds creep up in between your garden favorites, you’ll find a compromise that makes you and the butterfly happy!

Happy Gardening!

Photo Courtesy of: http:tanakawho

Letting my dog out for her morning small business development, I noticed something large and buggy moving around in the grass near the pup’s favorite spot. It was big, had it’s tusks and antennae tangled up in the grass, and was no less than 4-5 inches long.  Yeah verily it was another Dobsonfly – a bug I was never aware of until a couple years ago when one crashed an evening BBQ, and sent the whole group of us into hiding, or lacrosse stick swinging terror!  I live close enough to the Chesapeake Bay, and Baltimore Harbor apparently to attract these love struck creepos in their brief winged adult stage as they search for mates.  Lucky me!

I won’t lie, I find Dobsonflies fascinating when they, like this one, are stuck on something and incapable of charging at me.  Should this one have flown at me I am fairly certain people would have been able to hear the squeal through their internet connection whether they read GG or not.  This male was probably on it’s last legs, since they only live a week after they gain flight.  It definitely had enough spit and vinegar left in it to lean back and clack it’s tusk-y mandibles at my dog when she leaned over it, play bowed, and kicked it, in the hopes of a good game of chase. Luckily at the time it didn’t choose to nail me with foul smelling spray it can shoot out it’s back end when it feels threatened.  Anything like that would have nailed me right in the chops, and I have no idea where to look on the internet for a “how to” article on safely cleaning anal spray out of the nooks and crannies of your husband’s Nikon camera.

It would be hard to explain to him later for sure.  Something else I have to imagine that is hard to explain to your husband is this!  The same morning I discovered the Dobsonfly, I decided to check out Yahoo’s photo gallery from Ladies Day at the Ascot horse race in England, and found THIS hat parading around!  What is THAT!

Photo Credit: Carl de Souza, and Yahoo News

This is why I will never be rich.  Not because I would refuse to don such a creation, but because I will never be the kind of out-of-the-box creature who thinks of bedazzling giant faux Dobsonflies, nestling them on top of high fashion haberdashery, and selling them for big bucks to ladies of culture.

Why God.  Just why.

One of my favorite wildflowers are the Wild Phlox that grow on the edges of woodlands in Maryland.  I’ve found it impossible to resist picking bundles of the fragrant flower while I walk my dog on the Gwynns Falls Trail here in Baltimore.

Wild Phlox are so airy and delicate.  They make a great filler for my kitchen bouquets when the roses run their course, and the Carnations need company in the vase.

They’re just one of the simple pleasures in life, free wildflowers for the picking.

Gardening for Butterflies is growing in popularity, and it’s a three season love affair that can take you from spring cocoons to fall migrations!  Try these host plants for Larvae and Caterpillars to use in the flower garden, and raise your own butterflies!

Growing Flowers For Black Swallowtail Caterpillars:

• Parsley
• Carrot
• Queen Ann’s Lace
• Dill
• Alfalfa
• Sweet Fennel
• Sunflower
• Aster
• Broccoli
• Milkweed
• Hollyhock
• Clover
• Partridge Pea
• Snapdragon
• Thistle
• Sunflower

Growing Trees For Larvae and Caterpillars:

• Willow
• Elm
• Chokecherry
• Oak
• Plum
• Hackberry
• Cottonwood
• Birch

Mix these flowers and trees into your landscape, or organize them into clumps to create a special butterfly garden.  Keep extra herbs like Carrot, Parsley and Dill in a butterfly garden area to create a safe place for the caterpillars to feed, and as a depository for them if you find them in your herb patch.

Happy gardening!

When it’s warm outside, show your interior plants some love by giving them a little freedom!  Try mixing indoor plants with your exterior annuals, and building them into your container designs!  This happy cocophany of color and texture is a montage of interior and exterior leafy greens.

Ingredients:

• Caladium
• Spider Plant
• Zebra Striped Wandering Jew, Zebrina pendula
• Purple Heart Wandering Jew
• Red and Green Coleus
• Deep Purple Coleus
• Moss Rose,  Portulaca Grandiflora
• White Begonia

If you own most of these, try them together in a large container in a partially or fully shaded area. If you don’t own some of these indoor tropicals, pick up some of the Purple Heart, Zebra Wandering Jew, or Spider Plant, at your local home and garden store, and plan to move them indoors for the winter if necessary.  Using your indoor plants outside is a great way to check their root systems, and clean out their containers at the same time for fresh usage when it gets cool again!

And remember, Caladium bulbs can be cleaned and stored indoors for use next year if you expect a snowy winter.  Check out my article on getting more usage out of your Caladium plants.

Happy Gardening!

I love water features!  Have I mentioned that?  What’s that?  Too many times?  Well, cover your eyes land-lovers, cause here comes another one!

Take a look at this inverted Bell urn.  Not only does it look mottled and textured, like a historic artifact, which I love, but it also is a really creative use of a bell shape.  I could see this in an all American yard (a-la-liberty bell) near Shasta Daisies, or worked into a more Japanese or Tibetan theme.  This would look beautiful surrounded by formal topiary and pea gravel, or hugged on one side by Russian Sage, and presiding over Hen and Chicks.  Where would this water feature not look good!

What a beauty. This goes on my list as a great low maintenance water feature. Check out the website through the link above, and purchase the tubing and pumps at your local garden center to save a little dough.

Your Thoughts:

What creative water gardens have you seen?  What shapes are your favorite?

Design Sponge interviewed designer Kevin O’Shea for some tips on designing your own patio garden room, and his tips come complete with several must-see mood boards on different themes like an English Garden, and an Urban Balcony!

He’s created a great starting place, from furniture, to container styles and lighting, to give you inspiration for creating your own escapist patio retreat.  Hop over to Design Sponge’s article on Creating Outdoor Rooms, and get some ideas for making your patio a place you’re going to want to show off.

Happy Gardening!

Can I pollard prune fruit trees to keep them smaller and more maintainable for my patio?

Pollard pruning, when done correctly, is a great way to keep trees manageable, and in some cases keep them living longer lives.  Pollard pruning has been done in Europe for ages on street trees, and it is predominantly used to maintain a certain size and shape of tree, or to create a yearly supply of firewood. Pollarding is a technique best used on hard wood trees, and fruit trees have soft wood, so it is not a good practice to start on them.

Fruit trees bloom and fruit from fresh growth each year, but they need strong branches beneath them to hold the weight of the fully formed fruit. They also depend on good air circulation between the boughs to keep diseases and fungus away from them, so the rapid weak growth of a pollard pruning is the direct opposite of what will give you your best crop of fruit.

If you have space issues on your patio I suggest making a trellis, or using of a fence or wall to train your fruit tree into an espalier form.  Espalier forms give your tree the support and structure they need to be able to produce and physically support their own food, but take up much less room than the average tree.  If you’re working with a young fruit tree, start it young and gradually form it into a shape you like.  The 2D espalier tree can fit almost anywhere!

Apple Tree Photo Courtesy of: Muffet,  Espalier Tree Courtesy of Sunset.com

Gardening for butterflies is growing in popularity, and it’s a great way to add some interest and movement into your garden for three seasons per year.  Butterfly gardening takes you from the larvae stage to becoming a fully fledged butterfly, and the best way to ensure loads of butterflies visit your yard to to provide them with the food sources they need from stage one.  The advantage and disadvantage when attracting Monarchs for breeding is that they only lay eggs and feed on Milkweed varieties as larvae and caterpillars, so in order to really create a stand of milkweed you probably need to like the look of it. More good news is that Milkweed comes in several types and colors, so you may find one you like to incorporate into your butterfly garden, or to spread along the tree line in your backyard.  The flowers of the Milkweed family also attract a variety of other wildlife, and are highly fragrant, so these are great additions to any area near outdoor seating!

Photo Courtesy of: Andrea_44

Flowers For Monarch Caterpillars:

• Butterfly Milkweed
• Smooth Milkweed
• Swamp Milkweed
• White Milkweed
• Sand Milkweed
• Tropical Milkweed
• Prairie Milkweed
• Plains Milkweed
• Green Milkweed
• Showy Milkweed

Milkweed is very hardy, and it spreads prolifically once it’s happy, so this is a plant that can take full sun to partial shade, and can live in rain gardens, or in drier areas.  Try some out in an area that you can let it spread a bit, and wait for the butterflies and caterpillars to show up!

Happy Gardening!

Caterpillar photo courtesy of: goingslo

There is beauty in simplicity and repetition!  These simple hanging baskets are comprised of common pink Impatiens, but together they look simply stunning!  I snapped a picture of these at the Baltimore Country Club a few weeks before I was married there.  What a gorgeous place!

Make This Basket:

• 4-5 four inch pink Impatiens per basket,
• 3 small trailing Vinca vines per basket
• Liberal use of potting soil
• Rinse and Repeat!