From The Old Farmer's Almanac.
Pulled two hours of garden time this afternoon, deadheading, making futile stabs at the spotted (a.k.a. nasty-ass) spurge, and making mental notes of all the things I hate about my garden this time of year and honey, the list is long.
Of course, this has NOTHING to do with the fact our ozone levels are B. A. D. and the city and valley are under a nasty smoky haze and you can’t see anything and it smells like a fire and didn’t I whine about this last year? Ruh-oh.
OK, so back to the garden. We are going for Truth or Dare here. Don’t tell anyone, but I actually get PAID to design gardens for other people. And the truth be told, and it must be, folks generally love what I do for them. HOWEVER, when it comes to my garden, I swear I have created some of the ugliest combos on the planet. This can be chalked up to experimentation, and it’s probably why the crappy combos don’t end up in OPGs (other peoples’ gardens), but man, some of my little beds are so ugly even the tide wouldn’t take them out. If we had a tide.
Lordy, you should see the big one, the one I have to look at every single day. It’s probably why I am always with a glass of wine in hand when I am on the patio. OK, it wasn’t so bad when it was a triangle shaped bed of echinops ritro, agastache ‘Ava’, delosperma ‘Table Mountain’ , echinacea ‘Sundown’ and miscanthus ‘Morning Light.’ No, that was pretty decent: blue, soft purple, hot pink and bronze with a little tweak of coral from the Sundown. It brought me joy, especially when the hummers were so busy in the evening. That was lovely. AND THEN…
What happened? This year, there is a 4 foot border on that bed of gaillardia ‘Burgundy’ and right in the middle of everything a striking, exquisite, deep burnt orange with an almost burgundy center spider-type daylily, which is about 5 feet tall. Smack in the center. And Tall. Beautiful plant, but so ugly in this bed.
Was I trying to go Boise State Bronco colors or something with the orange and blue? Say what?
Truth be told, here’s what I think happened. I recall picking up a boatload of plants at the end of the season in 2007, you know, when even the wholesaler cuts prices: the gaillardia ‘Burgundy’ was a buck a gallon and I am sure they threw in the day lily. And I put them all in the wrong place. I was desperate. Now I am stuck, until it cools down, so I can transplant them and do the drop dead red bed.
Which is not on the plan now.
Red Dirt Girl, you know anything about predicaments like this? Didn’t think so.
Post from: Idaho Gardener
Butterflies are one insect we can't seem to get enough of. Their intricately patterned designs and graceful floating movement combine to amaze and endear these winged creatures. And while slaters, slugs, snails and aphids are on our hit list our fascination with butterflies motivates us to allure them into our gardens.
If you follow the myriad of blogs that exhibit this gorgeous species you will quickly notice that many gardeners go out of their way to attract them into their gardens. And how does one attract butterflies into their yard? Quite simply, with food.
The question then becomes, "What do butterflies eat?" They're obviously not carnivores and therefore can't be omnivores so they must be herbivores. Not so fast, Sherlock. Butterflies technically don't eat plants either. They're after nectar in whatever form it comes in. Which gives us some clues as to their dietary preferences.
One article titled Butterfly Bait: How-To Formula also shows us a glimpse of their taste bud delights. The formula is as follows;
INGREDIENTS
1 pound sugar
1 or 2 cans stale beer
3 mashed overripe banana
1 cup of molasses or syrup
1 cup of fruit juice
1 shot of rum
Apparently, you're meant to mix this up and then paint your tree trunks, patio posts, fences or even dangle a sponge soaked in the goop from a tree to lure butterflies into your garden. While it sounds awfully fun [sic] I can think of better things to do with my weekend.
A better option - far better IMHO - is to attract them with plants. We've already divulged that they're suckers for nectar so growing nectar producing plants is obviously a step in the right direction. But, there are some plants that are better than others so how do you find the right ones as a hook into your garden.
Butterflies will mainly eat during the day while moths will arrive on dusk or throughout the evening. This is worth noting because moths will most likely bypass your brights and head for your pale-coloured flowers instead.
Apart from the overt fascination and beauty of attracting butterflies to your place they play an important part in the survival of your garden. While we can't do without bees, butterflies offer a great pollinating package as well - plus they won't sting the ankle-biters.
Instead they will help pollinate many of the plants that attracted them in the first place, providing more blooms for the future. And this can only be a good thing.
From The Old Farmer's Almanac.
