Displaying 1 - 4 of 15 entries.

Butterfly Garden – Container Gardening

  • Posted on April 30, 2012 at 7:00 am

If you enjoy being in gardens and you love butterflies, but you just don’t have enough space for a little garden of your own, you shouldn’t worry. Just because you have a small place, that doesn’t mean that you can’t have a butterfly garden.

Do you know that you could create a butterfly garden in containers and keep them in your window, your balcony your deck or your patio? You could do that and that is something that wouldn’t just  bring you the joy of growing some plants, but you would have those lovely butterflies also. So, what do you think? Are you ready to start making that little garden of your own?

Manyphoto of gardening containers for your balcony think that you need to have a house with a yard if you want a butterfly garden, but they forget that, just like you can have a pot with some flowers in your apartment, you can have a small garden if you take enough earth to your apartment. If that earth is kept in some containers, you wouldn’t make a mess and your neighbors wouldn’t mind. That way, you can fulfill your dream of having a garden, even if you can’t afford to buy a house with a yard of your own. You would experience the joys of growing plants, but without the boring weekly mowing. You could grow some annuals, perennials or even some small shrubs or small trees.

Still, don’t think that you can just put some earth in a plastic box, put some seeds in it and it’s done. It’s not that easy. No matter how big your garden is, it still requires some planning. To be successful at container gardening, you should first try finding in which USDA zone you are (knowing this would help you choose the suitable plants for your zone), you should try to find the place in your apartment that gets enough sunlight every day and after you do that, you would be reading to choose the plants you would like to grow.

If you don’t have the appropriate conditions for indoor seedlings or if that just isn’t something you tried before and you are not sure what exactly you should do, it would be advised to buy the plants at some nursery near you. If you choose some plants that aren’t native to your area or if you wish to grow the plants during the winter too, remember that you shouldn’t leave those plants of container gardening on a temperature below 45° F and that you shouldn’t leave them outside overnight if the frost could harm them. Also, if you have strong winds on your balcony, don’t choose that place to grow a garden because a strong wind can break a plant, especially if it’s a young plant.

Some people think that bigger plants wouldn’t grow in a container, but if you have a container big enough, that doesn’t have to be true. There are people who grow lemon trees in their stairways or on their balconies and they don’t have any problems growing them. They just needed to find a container that is wide enough and deep enough for a small tree. If you doubt that something would grow in your apartment, you can ask someone with more experiences or you can even try experimenting and see will it grow. Just about any container can be used for container gardening, as long as it is strong enough to be moved when it is filled with earth (so it wouldn’t break and make a mess)  and has some holes on its bottom for the excess water to get out.

Container gardening doesn’t cost much. You buy some ordinary flower pots or you can just use some old container that you don’t need anymore. It’s also not expensive or problematic to maintain. You just need to water your plants and you may wish to occasionally add some fertilizer to the water. That’s about it.

Container gardening would also be suitable for growing tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables. You just need to remember that bigger plants need a bigger container. Most vegetables would need just some water, sunlight and enough earth to spread their roots. If you give them that, you would have that satisfaction of making a salad for your friends from your own homegrown veggies.

If you don’t have a balcony or a deck, don’t worry. You can still have a garden inside, as long as there is enough sunlight. Just check with your landlord is he okay with something like if you don’t own that apartment. If your building has a flat roof, you could ask your neighbors to make one big garden that all of you would enjoy on the roof. The roof of your building would look much nicer and it will be a nice place to hang out with your pals or you could even have a romantic dinner there.

An advantage of container gardening is that autumn and winter can’t really make you stop growing plants. You can just take the plants inside during the winter and take them out again when the spring comes. If you don’t want to be forced to take the plants inside every time you expect the frost, you could choose to grow plants like Eulalia grasses, Million bells, Stonecrops, Mexican feather grass, Cornflowers, Jasmine, Lavender cottons, etc. Those plants could stand the frost better, so you wouldn’t need to worry much about them. Still, it is advised to take them inside if you expect the colder temperatures to last for more than just a day or two.

If you wish to extend your garden’s life and you want it to last from early spring to late fall, you can just use those same pots to plant different plants in different seasons. Even if you don’t know much about gardening, you can still do it. These days, you can’t really say that you don’t know who to ask about it. You can easily find other gardeners on the Internet and ask them whatever you want. They could give you advice about which pot to choose, how to care for a certain plant you wish to have, how much fertilizer do you actually need for some plants and a lot more.

A butterfly garden in containers, in pots, on an apartment balcony or small patio will add some natural challenge to life and the joy of accomplishment (possibly surprise) when you see your first butterfly and then discover a cocoon!  Try it and enjoy!

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A Butterfly Garden For The Queen

  • Posted on April 21, 2012 at 2:08 pm

The Queen butterfly is a lovely animal that resembles the Monarch. It thrives in warm climates and can be found mostly in the Southwestern States, in Florida, around the Gulf Coast and down into Brazil. In the wild The Queen is found in open fields, deserts, savannas, pastures and any other place that gets lots of sun.

The Queenimage of a queen butterfly for your butterfly garden is related to the Monarch, but is smaller. Its wings are more brown, with long forewings and roundish hindwings. The wingspan is about three inches. There are white spots on the forewings that can seem luminous. Female Queens are larger than the male. She lays ribbed oval eggs with a flat base one at a time on leaves, stems and buds. and the caterpillars are hairless and striped. Eventually it will spin a chrysalis which is dotted with what looks like spots of bright gold leaf, very much like the Monarch chrysalis. The Queen has a fairly elaborate mating ritual which is fascinating to watch, if a person ever gets a chance to see it.

How to Attract the Queen

The Queen is a milkweed butterfly, which means that its caterpillars eat all types of milkweed. However, they also use members of the nightshade family, like potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants and plants like Blue Mist as hosts.

The flowers that the adult butterfly uses for nectar include:

  1. butterfly bush,
  2. button bush,
  3. mallow,
  4. milkweed,
  5. mint,
  6. thistle and
  7. artemisia.

To plan their butterfly garden, the gardener should plant the shorter plants in the front and the taller ones to the back. This is not only esthetically pleasing, but allows the shorter plants to not be shaded out by the taller ones. Though most plants like rich soil that’s full of loam and drains well, not all of them do. Here are some plants a gardener might use in a butterfly garden to attract a Queen butterfly.

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

This member of the milkweed family has orange flowers and grows to three feet tall.  It’s a perennial and does well in Zone 3 southwards. It needs well drained soil and full sun.

Milkweed (Asclepias species)

There are over 140 species of milkweed. Named after the god of healing, they’re known not just for attracting milkweed butterflies as food and nectar but for medicinal properties. The common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), is a perennial that likes full sun to partial shade and blooms in late spring or early summer. It grows from three to six and a half feet tall and propagates through an underground rhizome. It’s very common east of the Rockies.

Thistle (Cirsium species)

The thistle can grow to six feet tall if it’s well cared for and does rather well even if it’s neglected. Many people consider it a weed and it indeed can be very invasive. The gardener should take care to make sure that it doesn’t take over the garden. It likes well drained soil and full sun and is fairly cosmopolitan.

Butterfly Bush (Buddleia species)

This is a semi-evergreen plant that grows from zone 5 southwards. It can grow to ten feet tall and likes alkaline soil, so it might need to be planted in another part of the butterfly garden from the other plants who like their soil a bit more acidic.

Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

This plant has glossy green foliage and one inch wide clusters of flowers. It needs soil that’s a bit wet and is often seen in swamps. This is a shrub that can grow to about 20 feet tall and has oval leaves and flowers that grow in pretty globes. It grows from Zone 3 southward.

Mallow (Malva species)

Mallows produce a wealth of beautiful pink or white flowers throughout the summer and often into the fall. It’s an annual, but self sows abundantly and so acts like a perennial. It grows from Zones 4-8 and is drought tolerant. The hollyhock mallow can grow to four feet tall, while the musk mallow can grow from one to three feet tall. It likes dry to moist well-drained loam and full sun to partial shade.

Mint (Mentha species)

Mint grows just about everywhere. And grows and grows and grows. If the soil is moist, the mint will grow in it. It will grow in full sun or partial shade. They can grow from four inches to close to four feet tall and produce pretty white, pink or purple flowers in spikes called verticillasters.

Artemisia (Artemisia)

This plant with its feathery, silvery foliage grows in Zones 3 to 9 and can grow from four inches tall to four feet tall. It’s one of those plants that actually likes poor, dry soil, though it also needs full sun.

Blue Mist (Caryopteris x clandonensis)

This is a hybrid of a plant that’s native to east Asia. It’s a shrub that grows about 3 feet tall with delicate blue or white flowers. The plant does well in full sun and well drained, rich soil, though it’s not a strict requirement. It can do well from Zones 6-9.The Queen might be a milkweed specialist, using it for nectar and as a host plant, but it will clearly visit other plants as well!

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Wild-Flower Butterfly Garden

  • Posted on April 14, 2012 at 2:46 pm

Wild flower gardensphoto of wild flowers for a butterfly garden have a way of attracting native butterflies. The thriving flowers attract them either for food (the flower nectar) or to make a home (to turn to caterpillar larvae). Most wild flowers are native plants and butterflies have evolved to feed on these native plants. Some wild flowers for butterfly gardens have been imported from outside of North America so not all of them are classified as native plants.

You don’t need luck with a wild flower butterfly garden you need understanding. Wild flowers each have a personality and they grow to like what’s in their natural environment. If you move them out of that natural habitat they can get sick or die. What you need to do is keep their habitat as close to their natural environment as possible.

One thing to note that as tempting as it is to go out and pick wild flowers in the forest or other area but you really shouldn’t do this. The woods contain many species of wild flowers but some are endangered. You won’t have any idea of which ones are which and you could damage natural habitats by picking the flowers. Flowers such as dog-tooth violets and other flowers can be purchased at nurseries and you can grow your garden this way instead. Growing them when they are small is ideal and then you can transplant them into your new garden. Make sure the ground isn’t water-logged because this isn’t ideal growing conditions for flowers.

Put some stone in the ground for adequate drainage and then fill your soil over the rocks. You can also use fertilizer rich soil for added nutrients. Make some small holes for the plants and put a bit of fertilizer in each hole. You can then place each plant by the root end into the hole and press down lightly. These new plants can then be watered adequately. Early spring to late fall is ideal for your flower garden Hepatica is good in March and then flowers such as Spring Beauty and Saxifrage.  April is ideal for Columbine and then Bluets and wild Geraniums.

For May there are Wood Anemone, Dog-Tooth violet, False Solomon’s Seal, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Wake Robin, violets, and Bloodroot.   June is great for Bellflower, Foxglove, and Bee Balm. As the summer heats up in July the Gay Butterfly weed is a good plant to grow. For the remainder of the season until frost, try turtle head, Joe Pye weed, aster, and Queen Anne’s lace.

Hepatica

The Hepatica is loved by many flower lovers. Before we hit the Spring this small flower shows its head and shines above the others. The blossoms find their way through the dry leaves and wait for the sun to make them come out. They are covered by a fuzzy embryo and it’s like the covering that new ferns have. In the spring hepatica grows leaves and the plant tends to grow in clusters like little family groups. They should be placed in spots that are partly shaded with good soil conditions. Cover hepaticas with leaves in the fall and during the final days of February remove the layer unless the weather isn’t that good.  The blossoms will be ready to sprout soon after in March. This plant has a white flower with nice pink highlights. There’s a wiry thin stem and almost grass-like leaves. This plant needs plenty of good sunlight.

Saxifrage

Saxifrage is a March flower and it belongs in a different type of environment.  This flower grows well in rocky and dry areas. It’s often found in chinks of rock. This plant is designed for rocky gardens. Use dry and sandy places near big rocks. The flowers are white and it has hairy stems.

Columbine

You’ll also find the columbine flower in rocky areas. It’s found in rocky crevices with one or more plants present. The red heads of the plant are supported by their wiry slender stems. The roots are not deep on the plant and it enjoys good drainage conditions. Like all plants lots of fertilizer, drainage, and sun make them grow well.

Bluets

Bluets are nice plants. They arrive when things are settling down in the outdoors. They have wonderful small blue blossoms. When June warms up they lose a bit of color and may look a bit white. They are sometimes called Quaker ladies but whatever name you call them they make amazing additions to your garden area. Bluets tend to grow in colonies in fields or by the side of the road. They enjoy the sun more than the soil they are in.

Geraniums

This plant isn’t idea for a bouquet since it droops once it’s picked and tends to lose pedals. The purple flowers look great and the leaves are deeply cut. They are attractive and bold flowers. You’ll find them in moist and shady spots in the woods. They make good additions to your flower garden.

Use this flower guide to study soil conditions before planting your wild-flower butterfly garden. Take a couple of the flowers here and master them. Add more the next year and keep learning. I bet the butterflies will love whatever garden you create.

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Butterfly Garden Host Plants for The Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly

  • Posted on March 27, 2012 at 4:58 pm

Any butterfly gardenImage of a Eastern black swallowtail in a butterfly garden should try to host the beautiful eastern black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes). The eastern black swallowtail is the state butterfly of Oklahoma, even though it’s found all over North America, especially in open, weedy areas. It’s a largish butterfly that has a wingspan of about three to four inches. In the males, the wings are a velvet black decorated with yellow, blue and orange spots. The female is more a deep blue with white spots and iridescent, powdery blue on the hind wings.

After they mate the female lays the egg, which is small and yellow, on plants from the carrot family. At first the caterpillar is oddly shaped and white and black to resemble a bird dropping. As it grows it turns into a quite pretty, humpbacked larvae striped with green, black and yellow. When it’s angry it threatens a potential predator with an osmeterium, which is orange and forked and looks like a snake’s tongue. It also emits a nasty odor. The chrysalis looks like a withered leaf and can be either brown or green.

Here are some of the host plants that can be planted in a butterfly garden for the eastern black swallowtail.

Carrot (Daucus carota var. sativum)

Carrots are a cool weather annual which likes soil that has a pH of 5.5 to 6.6. It doesn’t like too much fertilizer and should be planted in 6 inch rows with 16 to 30 inches between them.

It’s interesting to note that in the garden the carrot is incompatible with celery and dill, which retards its growth, though on the table or in the pot they’re all perfect together. Carrots need medium watering and light fertilizing. If there’s too much green top that means the plant’s getting too much nitrogen. Carrots are hardy and are good to grow from around Zone 5 southward. Like most vegetables, it likes its soil rich and loamy and likes sun.

Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota var. carota)

The lovely Queen Anne’s lace, which can be seen blossoming in the summer in the east, is a biennial plant. This means it has a two year life cycle, but it seeds so abundantly that it seems like a perennial. It grows from two to three and half feet tall from hardiness Zone 2 south. Though it tolerates various soil conditions — it’s considered a weed in most parts, despite its beauty — it needs full sun.

Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)

Parsley is also a cold hardy herb which takes a long time to germinate. The gardener might want to soak the seeds overnight or for 48 hours then put them in the refrigerator. If the seeds are soaked longer than overnight, the water has to be changed at least twice, because it retains some of the germinating inhibitor.

The soil is best if it’s rich, with good drainage. The plant also needs full sun to partial shade. The pH of the soil should be around 6.0 to exactly neutral, 7.0. It doesn’t need that much water. Parsley probably grows in the same hardiness zone as its cousin, the carrot. Parsley is technically a perennial, but it goes to seed so often in its second year that it’s treated as an annual.

Rue (Ruta graveolens)

Though it’s not native to North America, rue is sometimes planted in butterfly gardens. Its leaves are used as an herb, sparingly, because it’s quite bitter. It has small yellow flowers. The sap from the plant irritates the skin and people believe it is fatal if ingested in large doses. Rue is also planted as an ally of plants like cucumber, roses, raspberries and other vegetables, where it repels cucumber beetles, Japanese beetles and fleas. In the wild it’s found, patchily, from hardiness Zones 2 to around 8, though it’s also found in southern Texas. It can grow in various types of soils but does like the rich, somewhat acid soil that is usually found in a vegetable or flower garden.

Dill

Dillphoto of an eastern black swallowtail caterpillar on a dill in a butterfly garden is a warm season herb and it’s best grown from Zone 6 southward. It dislikes light freezes and frost. It also should be planted early. If it’s not, the seed won’t be ready till the second year. It needs rich soil of about pH 5.5 to 6.5 and should ideally be planted in the ground because of its very long taproot. It takes average watering and is a light feeder. Dill likes full sun but needs to be sheltered from the wind.

Fennel

Fennel is another warm season herb. It’s not as temperamental as dill and can stand a bit of frost, so might be planted from Zone 4 southward. Both the stalks and the seeds are eaten. Fennel thrives in rich, well drained soil of about pH 5.5 to 7.0 and in full sun. It’s a light feeder and doesn’t need too much watering as long as the ground is evenly moist.

A gardener will be pleased to see that many of these plants, grown in the herb or vegetable garden, and not just the butterfly garden, are doing double duty both as a host plant for a gorgeous butterfly and as herbs and vegetables for the gardener’s own table. Truly, it’s the best of both worlds!

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