Beginnings of a Butterfly Garden.
Here at The Ranch (and it is vast, almost 2.5 acres!) there are still a few Monarch butterfly stragglers. By rights, they should have headed north and east in search of milkweed which the female selects as the only plant where she lays her eggs.
However, a handful of monarchs are tarrying in and around our back yard. Maybe they didn’t get the memo about mid-February being the time to move on.
For a long time we’ve had a large bed of purple lantana which serves as a source of nectar for butterflies and several hummingbirds. But we’ve decided to plant a few new nectar plants, specifically to possibly attract monarchs when they return in early fall.
After getting advice from monarch expert Paul Cherubini, we bought a Buddleia, better know as butterfly bush. This is a sure fire hit as a nectar plant for several species of butterfly. It’s also very pretty.
We also are planting Verbena Bonariensis, called by some “Verbena on a stick” due to the tall flower stalk. Our local Oldtown Nursery had them on sale at 50 percent off so we bought two. They were root bound and looked somewhat stressed, but they’ll perk up now they are in the ground and getting adequate water.
Today we found some Yarrow, an herb that grows like a weed. It has pretty yellow flowers, and if the butterflies reject it at least we can gather seeds for an herb tea. At least I think it is used for tea, or was it a potion that witches used to cause convulsions. Google will be my friend before I brew any tea.
The list of butterfly plants goes on, but that’s enough for now. We are looking for Montanoa grandiflora “Tree Daisy,” let us know if you happen to see one.
Planting these butterfly plants has helped relieve the depression I’ve been experiencing since realizing that my wife and I were not invited to the wedding of William and Kate. That’s a huge personal disappointment, as I’d already purchased a brand new set of jeans.
My wonderful wife is planning to make that rich, indulgent chocolate cake that the groom has requested. It’s the favorite cake of Queen Elizabeth. Sounds like she is my kind of gal.
My wife, that is.