qebo's 2012 garden

Well, if the 75ers can keep me consistently reading, maybe this group will keep me consistently gardening...

I got the back yard fairly well under control last month, with new soil and mulch during a dry spell, but it was a little too soon to plant. Now the weeds have enjoyed a weekend of rain and a weekend of my absence, but I'm going to ignore them until I plant the raised beds.

In the front yard, the tulip petals are dropping, and the peonies have buds.

Well, if the 75ers can keep me consistently reading, maybe this group will keep me consistently gardening...

Heh!

This group is also encouraging...

...welcome, qebo!

Got the raised beds planted...

Raised bed #1: sweet peas, onions (two types)
Raised bed #2: chives, anise, caraway
Raised bed #3: parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme


Allowing some volunteers to remain...

Violets:


Wild Strawberries:


Intentional plants from previous years...

Allium with butterfly:


Peony with ants:


While weeding and cleaning up...

Dislodged pill bugs:


Original post: 5 May 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Not displaying the main section of the yard, which once was a lawn and now is covered with tarps. The plan is a native plant garden, but I'm vague on specifics.

Welcome qebo. I look forward to seeing your progress. Y'know, any of you who haven't, should give some locational/zone/ and anything else you'd like in the thread Meeting each other on the green.

I'm in Lancaster PA, zone 6A.

> 5

The plan is a native plant garden, but I'm vague on specifics.

That's my plan as well, but I've got along way to go!

How are the wild strawberries? Are they any different than the type I'd grow myself?

9: Hmm, scouting about on the internet, seems that what I have is mock strawberries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock_Strawberry), which are native to Asia and therefore which I should not allow. Sigh. I rather like them.

Mock strawberries seem to be a weed to me, although I go more aggressively after more noxious invasives such as English ivy and Japanese stiltgrass in my lawn. More recently, I've tackled ground ivy and garlic mustard which are much easier to pull up.

The true nightmare is going to come when I try to get rid of the daylilies that have competely taken over previously attractive flower beds. Their roots are a real pain to dig up. :(


English ivy
Photo by Equinest - Flickr, CC-A


Japanese stiltgrass
Photo by pennstatelive - Flickr, CC-A


ground ivy
Photo by cupcakes2 - Flickr, CC-A


garlic mustard
Photo by klm195 - Flickr, CC-A

I go after the weeds that grow tall. A major culprit is lambsquarters (http://www.ppws.vt.edu/scott/weed_id/cheal.htm), a constant battle, sprouts are everywhere. Fortunately, they are easy to pull up, even when grown.

I had not thought of daylillies as invasive, but Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylily) says they are native to Eurasia, and the ones I'm familiar with here are imports from England, which spread by underground runners. "These kinds can overrun one's garden, and can take an appreciable amount of time and effort to confine or remove." Urgh.

Did you know that you can eat lambsquarters?! Last year, my CSA box included both purselane and lambsquarters. Both are weeds, but both are safe and 100% edible. I tried each. I'm not crazy about them. I'd rather eat spinach or kale. :)


Photo by Frankenstoen
purslane

13: I've heard that, or read it somewhere, but I so loathe them in principle that I'd probably gag.

LOL!!

If there isn't a weed identification thread, there should be one!

qebo, if you like the mock strawberries, leave them!

What is a definition of a weed? Anything that is growing where you don't want it to grow.

Let them grow. :)

qebo, if you like the mock strawberries, leave them!

Katherine, I spent the day pulling out mock strawberries! Are you going to be sad about that when you get here? ;)

I was debating what to do about the dandelions. I pullled some and let some stay. :)

The trouble with mock strawberries is not that they are weeds, but that they are aliens. However, for the foreseeable future they would be replaced by landscape cloth and mulch, which is no more useful to native wildlife, and they're not invading anything I care about, so I may as well let them be.

I like dandelions too. I get them mostly along the strip between the house and the sidewalk, where they are visible to passers by. I weed to the extent necessary to be about average in the neighborhood, which is neither pristine nor decrepit.

Yard progress through the years...

In April 2009 when I moved here, the yard was entirely grass and weeds:


In November 2009 I constructed a path, producing mounds of dirt:


In April 2010 I constructed raised beds, and averted my eyes from the mounds of dirt:


In May 2011, I had the mounds of dirt hauled away, removed the remaining grass, and covered the yard to prevent weeds:


And so it has remained for a year, with the tarps deteriorating over the winter, and weeds sprouting in the cracks, until today...

The tarps are gone:


The weeds are gone, and a circle (8' radius) is drawn:


Original post: 6 May 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Today in disrupted bugs...

Ants:


Spider:


Original post: 6 May 2012
Edited to change photo source.

16: If there isn't a weed identification thread, there should be one!

Oh, yes, there should be. I have a weed identification book Weeds of the Northeast, which is helpful, with pictures of leaves and flowers and seeds and growth at various stages, but it's organized by plant characteristics, and my skills are limited, so I generally have to collect a sample from the yard and page through the book looking for a match, and I'm not always successful.

I'll have to take a look at that book as I really cannot tell a weed from a non-weed. I know some invasive species, but, other than that, some of what's in my yard is anybody's guess!

You've been working hard on your garden! It makes me tired just looking at your pictures. :)

22: It makes me tired too. :-) Intense springs and falls, with neglect in between.

I love the progress you have made, qebo!

You've got your own little 'Eden' beginnings there.

So, what's the circle for? A garden? A pool?

The plan for the circle is native plants. The general plan for the yard is to gain control first, with garden patches surrounded by mulch paths, and an eye toward more garden and less mulch as I figure out what works. The fence between my yard and the next (right side of photo) is south, and the neighbors are now assuming its existence (they tore down their old decrepit fence) and in my yard that strip of ground is always in the shade, so I'll let it be and maybe get a tool shed. I dislike the fence bordering the alley (top of photo) and sidewalk (left side of photo), partly because I can't see out (I'm surrounded by balconies and upper story windows, so there's no such thing as privacy regardless) and partly because it blocks sun from the strip of ground on the other side, so I want to replace it with a lower picket fence, once my yard is civilized enough to be in public view. (For scale: each of the fence panels is 8'.)

I have been thinking about a small pond...

Oh, I want a pond...........

Love the raised beds, and obviously you are going by the square foot gardening method, which is my favorite. Yay, Mel Bartholomew

I've borrowed a lot of ideas from Mel Bartholomew's book...

Searching for Pennsylvania native plant information today, I found a nursery dedicated to the cause and only 30 miles away: http://www.sugarbushnursery.com/whyNatives.htm. Not a casual trip, so I'll need to plan ahead, but better than trying to figure out what's what at the main local nursery.

I am not meticulously observant of the square foot methods, but the raised beds provide level areas in a sloped yard, and the grid keeps the plants organized. I'm not skilled in plant identification, so when sprouts appear, I know they're weeds if they're in the wrong place.

I was just out here: http://www.landisvalleymuseum.org/cgi-bin/eventsdetail.cgi?Year=2012&Month=0.... Only two vendors with significant native plants, but this was enough. Photos and list of the acquisitions when I get things organized.

Oh, that looks like fun, Katherine! Can't wait to hear what you got.

Acquired plants:

All together:


Many are on the PA Certification list. A couple are cultivars, which might or might not disqualify them.

Native plants:

Anemonella thalictroides (Rue Anemone)
PA Certification list.


Aster divaricatus (White Wood Aster)
PA Certification list. American Painted Lady and Pearl Crescent host.


Baptisia 'Purple Smoke' (False Indigo) -- cultivar of Baptisia australis?
PA Cerfication list? Wild Indigo Dustywing host.


Caulophyllum thalictroides (Blue Cohash)
PA Certification list. Appalachian Azure and Summer Azure host.


Cimicifuga racemosa (Black Cohash)
PA Certification list.


Heuchera americana (American Alum Root)
PA Certification list.


Sedum ternatum (Whorled Stonecrop)
Brown Elfin and Buckeye and Variagated Fritillary host.


Tiarella cordifoliavar. collina (Foam Flower)


And a plant that was labeled native but turns out to be further west. It's so cool that I'll try to keep it anyway:

Eryngium yuccifolium (Rattlesnake Master)


Eventually it should become this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eryngium_yuccifolium

Original post: 12 May 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Today in yard reconstruction, the circle. This is measured and leveled, but I'll need to tweak and secure it with stakes.



Original post: 12 May 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Your plants look really neat. I'm not familiar with most of them, although I've heard of their genuses (geni?, genius?!) Heh! I can't wait to see what you do with them.

ETA: It turned out to be genera.

I thought that all cultivars were a "no-no" as they are cultivated hybrids of species bred for special traits. I'm not sure, though. When we get to the Library of Congress, let's head for the native plants section. ;)

ETA: I just read on wikipedia that "Most cultivars have arisen in cultivation but a few are special selections from the wild". That just makes things even more difficult!

I planted an anemone today as well! It was a meadow anemone anemone candesis. (picture of plant) I find that I really need to know the Latin names of plants now - mostly to determine if they are the exact species that have been designated local to my area. Your anemone looks completely different from mine.

I'd like to find an aster. I couldn't find any non-cultivar asters yesterday so I skipped buying any. I have a few cultivars in my garden but I'm not pulling them up (at least not now).

I wonder if your false indigo has anything to do with blue dye. I think it's going to be fun to learn all about these new-to-me plants. Isn't it funny that we know so little about plants that are native to where we live?

I have no idea what cohashes are. Does alum root have anything to do with herbs? I have a large sedum (probably a non-native) It's an also called ice plant. That stays - as it was always my mom's favorite plant, although the plant I have now was not hers.

I've heard of and seen foam flowers. I'll have to check if they're native to me as well and get one. The rattlesnake master (at least the bloom) looks pretty cool.

Are you going to keep track of the wildlife in your garden? I started doing that today and had the most fun tracking what I saw.

If we have more such beautiful days as today, we'll have great gardening weather.

Have fun!

35: Isn't it funny that we know so little about plants that are native to where we live?
Yeah, it really is. When I walk around the city, I see pretty much the same plants everywhere, and few of them are native.

Re cultivars, I have the vague impression that it depends on whether the chemistry has been significantly changed. Sometimes also imported plants in the same genus are OK too. How to find out about specific plants, I don't know. I should be more careful.

I got a list from the extension service in my state. When plant shopping, I carry with me the list that has the Latin names (genera + species). I think that's the only way to know for sure. Many plant dealers have no idea what a native plant really is and will try to sell you cultivars because they are identifying plants by genus name only (monarda, echinaceae, etc.) and not by species.

I think that, if you have the genus and species correct, whether a plant is imported or not doesn't matter because it is essentially the same plant.

37: I carry with me the list that has the Latin names (genera + species).
Me too, but I got a little carried away. :-)

More information about yesterday's questionable plants.

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/plant-finde...
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=BAAU
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=BAAL
Baptisia 'Purple Smoke' is a hybrid of Baptisia australis (PA native) and Baptisia alba (states around PA but not PA).

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=TICOC
http://www.northcreeknurseries.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/plants.plantDetail/plant...
Tiarella cordifolia var. collina is a variant of Tiarella cordifolia (PA native) also known as Tiarella wherryi (states south of PA but not PA).

I have to finish my circle today, or it'll drag into next weekend, or later if the weather goes bad. I am soooooo tired after yesterday. I have been procrastinating since I woke up this morning...

So the false indigo really contains a blue dye, but inferior to other blue dye. Interesting!

I'm going to try to find foamflower. I want to put that somewhere in my garden as well.

A new home for the False Indigo. Rationale for the location: it needs sun and this spot is sunny until late afternoon, it will become a small bush about the right size for the space, it is of dubious nativity so I don't want anything else dependent on its presence in case it doesn't work out, it will be adjacent to the expanding crop of violets with matching purple flowers.




I am still procrastinating. It's too hot to work on the circle.

Original post: 13 May 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Er, it's going to get hotter as the year moves on...

Yeah. In the summer, yard work tends to occur after 5pm when the sun is on the other side of the house.

I can't work in the hot sun anymore, I get sick. Early morning or early evening works best.

BTW, I like your compost bin, qebo. :)

The circle has been secured. Next steps are to fill the inside with dirt, and mulch around the outside.

Geometry is easier on paper.



Original post: 13 May 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Very nice! :)

I love what you are doing here. This is going to be a bit of heaven when you get it going. I'd love a pond too but we have too much wildlife around here--don't fancy raccoons, skunks and coyotes using it.

After two days of rain, my sunflowers are sprouting:


The reason for the cylinders is last year the weeds took over, and in my zeal to be rid of them I apparently removed the sunflower sprouts also. So this year I want to know where they are until they're tall enough to be on their own.

Original post: 16 May 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Ha ha. I did that once too.

LOL. I think if there's a gardener on the planet who says they haven't done that, they're lying :)

> 48

Only two of the dozen sunflowers that I planted sprouted. :(

I planted several seeds in each cylinder, and pulled all but one before I took the photo because they were getting crowded. I hope this wasn't premature optimism.

Once they're up, they should be okay. I think they're pretty hardy.

I have lots of sunflower 'volunteers' under my bird feeders. As long as they don't crowd my perennials too badly, they stay. :)

This week in gardening...

One evening I planted a annuals in containers on the deck and in the yard, incompatible with the native scheme, but I already had the seeds and the containers.


Yesterday I dug up the circle and began mixing in compost. A lovely warm sunny day, would've been ideal for reading on the porch. Digging occurred in short stints, with orange juice and fizzy water between. Made more entertaining by the scattered bricks several inches below the surface. I stopped when I needed more compost and my arms and legs were too rubbery to bear another trip to Lowe's. Today will be more of the same. My yard is looking very brown at the moment. This will change.



Original post: 20 May 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Brown but very orderly. I can see the garden it's going to be and it will be wonderful. Progress is being made!

Very orderly, soon to be green. :)

Are you going to have stepping stones in that round garden?

57: I'll need something to get at things in 200 sq ft. The default for now is narrow mulch paths, easy and inexpensive until I figure out a better solution.

The local Unitarian Universalist church garden has been certified as a wildlife habitat! Not much more to it than these photos; I missed the section on the other side of the path with a water dish. Also not shown are the labels identifying the plants. Posted here to show that certification is much more a matter of features than scale. (Credit goes to the 5th & 6th graders.)



Original post: 20 May 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Did the children paint the rain barrels?

68: I think that was a local artist.

53: Once they're up, they should be okay. I think they're pretty hardy.
Nooooo! Two of my sunflower sprouts have suddenly gone missing.

Do you have earwigs?

63: Not that I'm aware, which doesn't necessarily much, but when I pull up weeds and rocks and such what I see is mostly pillbugs, occasionally spiders and earthworms. This was literally overnight, and they're completely gone, poof, nothing. The others are growing nicely. So far.

I would think rabbits.

65: Could be. Haven't seen any rabbits in my yard, but I have seen them around and about in the neighborhood. On closer inspection, one sunflower sprout was gone completely, and the other still had the stem and roots below ground level. I planted replacements. Nothing else disappeared last night.

Never thought of rabbits! We have more of a deer hazard here.

We are attempting to grow our veggies on the porch this year because of our voracious deer.

What about woodchucks or gophers? I think they eat plants down to the ground level.

I'm in the city. No deer. Definitely rabbits, squirrels, birds. Could be other critters that I haven't seen. We'll see if anything else goes missing... I did finally observe the cat who has been using my raised beds as a littler box. Not feral; has a collar and appears well groomed.

...and well trained.

"Do it outside!!!"

:D

Today I put most of the plants of post 33 in the strip at the side of the house, which is mostly shady. Now I'm too tired to take photos. Soon.

Also several more sunflower sprouts went missing, not sure exactly when but I'd been checking them each morning after the last disappearance and they were OK as of a couple days ago. Some entire plants, others entire leaves. I guess I'll keep replacing them until I run out of seeds.

And now it's raining. Which we need, but I'm worried that my new plants are not so well secured...

Hooray for the planting but rats for the thievery. Hope it's a steady rain, not a lashing one.

I planted a dozen sunflower seeds. Two came up and one died. Is an 8% success rate a bad percentage?! ;)

I don't know. Doesn't sound so great, does it, but I don't seem to be doing much better. I've never grown sunflowers before, even as a kid. All of mine sprouted, but few have gotten very far. Maybe they need protective cages until they're bigger. Or I could start them inside. Are all yours the same type?

How come they grow under the bird feeder, where I don't want them, but refuse to come up when intentionally planted?

> 77

Mine were all the same type. I'm undecided whether to plant more or not. Time will tell...

Here are the plants from post 33, set in place at the side of the house, somewhat the worse for wear after two weeks of neglect in pots and a flash storm within hours of being put in the ground.

Anemonella thalictroides (Rue Anemone)
PA Certification list.


Aster divaricatus (White Wood Aster)
PA Certification list. American Painted Lady and Pearl Crescent host.


Cimicifuga racemosa (Black Cohash)
PA Certification list.


Heuchera americana (American Alum Root)
PA Certification list.


Sedum ternatum (Whorled Stonecrop)
Brown Elfin and Buckeye and Variagated Fritillary host.


Tiarella cordifolia (Foam Flower)


And all together. This the north side of the house, tilted slightly to the east so it gets a sliver of morning sun. At right front is ivy, which began as the sole survivor among a pot of ornamentals given to me when I bought the house, and is now on the verge of becoming invasive. At center front is moss that I'm encouraging. Mixed in and around is a weed that I haven't yet identified. Then the sorriest rhododendron ever. The area of ivy and moss contained a yew tree when I moved here, a dense oppressive thing that I removed in hopes that the rhododendron would perk up, but clearly it hasn't, and it probably will go. Climbing up the wall of the house near the basement window is vinca, which grows insanely but which will remain until I've figured out what else to put there. The new plants are mostly toward the back of this photo.


The sad scrawny rhododendron:


Original post: 28 May 2012
Edited to change photo source.

The only remaining intact sunflower:


One of the chomped sunflowers:


Original post: 28 May 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Looks like you've been busy. We've been out in the yard the past two days as well--husband bought MORE tomato plants to go into containers, and I had weeding to do, and anti-fungal treatments for the prior tomatoes. We ate our first harvest of green beans/wax beans last night.

I'm keeping some vinca in as a ground cover until I can replace it with other plants as well.

Keen to see the foam flower, as it's a new one to me. I have the cimifuga (I do love those), several varieties of heuchera and lots of different varieties of stonecrop! Your poor old rhodie. I wonder if it would do better in a container? It's all looking interesting and lovely.

Yeah, the poor rhododendron has been deteriorating, fewer flowers each year. And then this year somebody broke off a couple branches. (I'm on a corner, which has its pros and cons.) Who knows how long it's been there.

I suspect the rhododendron needs some LOVE.

Have you had your soil tested? Do you know your ph?

If you have more neutral or alkaline soil, the rhododendron will not do well.

Try giving it some acidic fertilizer, or perhaps side dressing it with compost and coffee grounds.

Here's a link to a pdf about rhododendron problems:

http://www.ct.gov/caes/lib/caes/documents/publications/fact_sheets/plant_patholo...

I'm not sure how much love I want to give to the rhododendron. But I suppose it deserves a chance. No, I haven't tested the soil. I suppose I should, regardless of the rhododendron. It's right near the house, brick w/ stone foundation.

Rhodys do love the acid. They do well here, Appalachian mountains zone 7.

A productive day, gardenwise.

I went out to the localish nursery and it is as advertised, native plants everywhere, less expensive than I'd expected. When I mentioned I'd come from Lancaster, the woman tending the operation (not the owner) told me about a native plant conference that is happening next week five miles from my house (too expensive, but there's a plant and book sale open to the public on Friday and Saturday), and a botanical society that meets a half mile from my house (but alas not during the summer). I'd searched for local garden organizations awhile back, and found several, but not this one.

And I got plants. And I saw other plants that I want to get but I'm not sure where I can put them. Photos are left to right, back to front.

Aster novae-angliae 'Purple Dome' (New England Aster) -- PA Certification list. American Painted Lady and Pearl Crescent host.
Vernonia glauca (Upland Ironweed)
Pycnanthemum muticum (Mountain Mint) -- PA Certification list.
Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot) -- PA Certification list.
Monarda 'Petite Delight' (Dwarf Bee Balm)
Liatris spicata 'Kobold' (Gayfeather) -- PA Certification list.
Silene caroliniana (Wild Pinks)
Eupatorium maculatum 'Gateway' (Joe Pye Weed)
Eupatorium dubium 'Baby Joe' (Joe Pye Weed) -- PA Certification list. Summer Azure host.
Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed) -- PA Certification list. Monarch host.


Asarum canadenese (Wild Ginger)
Polemonium reptans (Jacob's Ladder)
Dicentra eximia (Bleeding Heart)
Gaultheria procumbens 'Very Berry' (Wintergreen)


Campanula rotundifolia 'Thumbell Blue' (Scotch Harebell)
Lobelia siphilitica (Blue Lobelia) -- PA Certification list.


Panicum virgatum 'Heavy Metal' (Blue Switch Grass)
Muhlenbergia capillaris (Pink Muhly Grass)


Original post: 2 June 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Fun! You have some that I planted this year and last - Joe Pye weed, swamp milkweed and blue lobelia.

I planted the Joe Pye weed last year. This year it's already as tall as I am and has not yet flowered. :O

Oh boy! I'm keen to see pics of these in situ as they are growing. They sound like a really excellent blend of shapes and colours.

I'm keen to see pics of these in situ as they are growing.

They're not all that exciting in situ as, like you, I'm just beginning to figure out a native garden plan. I think the fun will come as the plants thrive (or some not) and start attracting more native wildlife to our gardens. That's why I'm doing a wildlife count on Pinterest.

Too bad you're not going to be here longer so we could have a native gardening plant search day! The problem with that, though, would be that you'd have to figure out a way to get all your plants back to Pennsylvania. :(

Hey, perhaps in future years, we could do either small plant or seed exchanges as our native plants continue to thrive. That might be fun.

Is it legal to send seeds through the mail to different states in the U.S.? Does anyone know? It might not due to seeds being able to carry bacteria and fungus. Seed companies, I presume, are regulated by USDA regulations.

I'm keen to get them in situ... Today's job is to mark locations within the circle. Maybe I'll get plants in the ground during the week, but maybe not, what with the pesky need to earn $ during the day and several evening obligations. And next weekend is DC! I hope my baby plants will be OK in pots for a couple of weeks.

Too bad you're not going to be here longer so we could have a native gardening plant search day!
I may've gone a tad overboard yesterday, so it's just as well...

I used the last of the dirt just before the patches of rain turned into a thunderstorm, and the dirt store closes early on Sunday anyway. So this is where things stand, organized into sections with a bit more to fill in for leveling. The boards are intended to provide informal temporary access to the circle interior until I find a better way. I sketched a plan on graph paper for most of the plants, so actually putting them in place shouldn't be too difficult.



Original post: 3 June 2012
Edited to change photo source.

You are so ambitious! I think it will be beautiful--can't wait to see everything planted.

95: Ambitious is chapter by chapter summaries of The Closing of the Western Mind...

What about round stepping stones where the boards are, to echo the circular shape? Do you have a plan for the middle, like a birdbath or a 'feature' of somesort?

97: Yeah, I was thinking stepping stones. But I'll wait until the plants have settled in and I'm more sure of what's needed. A friend dropped by a few hours after my plant purchasing spree, saw the circle and said immediately that in the middle should be a fountain. He's an engineer, so it rapidly became a contraption with plumbing and a solar powered water pump, but he was not offering to construct it. Maybe a bird bath? The plants that will be toward the middle are supposed to get 4'-5' high, so it wouldn't be a prominently visible feature.

A birdbath should be located as much as possible out in the open - away from where predatory animals (like cats) can hide.

Now that daylilies have overwhelmed our own birdbath, I've noticed fewer birds visiting it. I really need to hack those daylilies down!

You are so good with your master plan. I have no idea where to put all of my native plants. I'm still moving them around to see where I best like them.

Ah, thanks, makes sense. So maybe the center will be buried treasure, obscured by the jungle, with hordes of butterflies as distraction.

Well, the "master plan" began with the annoyance of stepping through wet grass and puddles to get from the gate to the back door. Since then it's been piecemeal, but in general when faced with blank space, I take out the graph paper.

If any of your plants are of a vining tendency, maybe something like this in the center:

http://www.gardeners.com/Essex-Tuteurs/39-544RS,default,pd.html?start=9&cgid...

http://www.decorativeplantsupports.com/Garden_Obelisk_Images.html

or best of all, here are a bunch:

http://www.simplytrellises.com/garden-trellises/obelisk-trellis/155881+429504633...

And here are cheaper ones--

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dlawngarden&field...

The advantage of these is that, unlike a fountain, there is very limited maintenance.

You can also take three fence posts and wire them together at the top. Once it's covered by vines, who is going to see what's underneath?

Agree that an obelisk would look terrific.

I like the obelisks. Also I hope eventually to have plants of a vining tendency. For the circle, the idea is that no plant will be placed precisely in the center, but several are supposed to grow wide enough so their leaves will approach the center. This is quite hypothetical, and probably looks neater on graph paper than it will in real life. (The reason for this is my center is precious and I do not want to lose it as a reference point. In theory it can be reconstructed, but in practice this would be tedious.) Maybe what I need is a flag pole.

Or a weathervane?

Ooh, yes, a weather vane would be cool.

Or a well?

Would I have to dig a pit?

No! It's just an ornamental well.

From the website I snatched that picture from: Add a rustic touch to your garden with this natural fir wishing well with burnt wood finish. Can be used as a planter and features a fully functional crank and handle; assembly required.

Oh botheration. Just when I extricate myself from work, a drenching rain begins.

People actually stick those well things on top of their real well caps around here--you can tell a family of Dutch descent because they use windmills! And you see the odd lighthouse too. I'd have to build a bleak Scottish tower, following that pattern.

I like the wizard balls. Not sure what they are called. Let me go Google.

Okay, they are called Gazing Balls.

Brilliant, Morphi! Even Amazon carries them: http://www.amazon.com/Gazing-Balls-Yard-Art/b?ie=UTF8&node=3742351

I have a gazing ball - love it. The stand I have it on is quite short (maybe 2'?) but I'm sure you could get a taller one if you wanted to raise it above the tall central flowers.

My gazing ball is plain silver (mirrored) which I consider the classic "goes with anything" but the various other colours and the blown glass ones are also nice. I'm kind of intrigued by the glow in the dark ones, but in my experience the glow is underwhelming so I'd have to see what they're like before I spent money on one.

I'd like a well, or maybe a lighthouse or windmill...

I like the gazing ball and the windmill. Though gazing balls have been known to disappear or break... Not a real issue at the moment; first, I need to get the plants in the ground, then see how they grow. May be awhile. :-)

I like the look of gazing balls nestled into the greenery - no pedestal. Don't know how hazardous that is for the glass ball, though.

117> There are stainless steel gazing balls - they might be more durable. I kind of wish that's what I had but so far my glass one hasn't given me any trouble.

Glass should be OK. I had one for over 10 years. Its final demise came when a massive snowfall crushed it.

>119 tardis:: they aren't bad looking either. Not as lovely as the early mercury glass ones but still pretty good.

I should've gone running after work, but it was such a pleasant evening that I went gardening instead. (I'll have to pay for this tomorrow morning.)

Remeasured all the strings and boards, tweaked a bit, got them as good as they're going to get; nothing is perfectly square or parallel in this yard, and nature will nudge over the years anyway. Marked locations for the plants.


Placed plant pots, spaced per instructions. The plan is for taller plants toward the middle, tapering toward the perimeter, but expected heights are not precise. This isn't everything, still have a few decisions remaining, but even allowing for growth there's space remaining.


Original post: 5 June 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Enjoying vicariously here!

It's really coming together! It's going to be beautiful.

I am so impressed with your scientific approach to all of your beds. I'm so ad hoc and slap-dash by comparison.

Not all gardening needs to be scientific, there needs to be a balance with the slap-dash as well... ;)

Besides, flowers do not like to be contained within borders, they seem to thrive on E X P A N D I N G...

I like the idea of placing the plants geometrically, then letting them go their own way. It's a small yard. Otherwise, I'd be more free form.

I have been considering placing trees along the street at the side of my house (I live on a corner, and the side is north so trees there won't cast a great shadow over the yard), wondering how to go about this and expecting rather a hassle of interpreting city ordinances and researching appropriate trees and hiring someone to apply brute force, but via a post on a Facebook neighborhood group, I have been made aware that the city has a program! They'll do everything except pay for the tree. But... not native? That's my impression though I need to research. An environmental conservation group, however, has a native tree program. Could coordination occur?

Wow! What a nice program. Still, at those prices, you're actually paying for the labor, as well. How long is your frontage on that side?

I agree, that is a nice program. :)

I could have given you a red oak when you were here!! I have two volunteers in my yard. I'm keeping one, and the other I'm giving to my younger son. However, it's not as if he doesn't have any other trees in his yard!

Is the property to the side of your house your property or city property? If it's city property, you'd be limited to what the city wants. If it's your property, go native!

You may want to check with your utility company about planting trees. My electric utility (PEPCO) had a free tree program this year. I was allowed to choose one free native tree and select where I wanted to put it. They gave me a map so I could locate the tree in an optimum location. A catbird seems to like landing on it although there's not much to the tree yet. :)

The arbor day foundation gave my son and his wife an assortment of trees and shrubs for only a $10 donation. Those trees were very small and easy to plant.

My eastern redbud (the one I chose from PEPCO) is only about three feet tall. It came as a long stick in the winter (it was dormant) and didn't produce leaves until this spring. That was the small tree you saw in the middle of my lawn! :)

I am not quite ready for trees. Let me deal with smaller plants first. The strips of ground at front and side of the house are my responsibility, and there are city ordinances regarding trees, e.g. how far they must be from intersections. As I understand things, going through the city tree program would limit me to its list of trees, but other trees are permitted if I wish to take on more of the burden. Details are not crystal clear, but my brother works for the city government and knows the relevant people, so when I need detailed information I'll be able to get it.

It rained all day today, and the plants in my circle appeared the happiest they've been since I put them in the ground. I watered last week, and my sister-in-law watered over the weekend, but they were still droopy yesterday. Today they're all perky and green.

Today it was time to tackle the vinca at the side of the house. Also had to level the dirt, which was mounded over a tree stump. I now have a wheelbarrow full.

Here it is:


The roots are tenacious, so I'll probably be dealing with them for awhile.


Here it is gone:


Here it has been replaced:


From the native plant conference held here last week:
Gaultheria procumbens 'Very Berry' (Wintergreen) in the front.
Michella repens (Partridge Berry) in the back.


From the native plant nursery I went to a couple weeks ago:
Asarum canadenese (Wild Ginger)


Disrupted spider. Unfamiliar, so if anyone can identify it, please let me know...


And now, sigh, the back yard circle is in the shade for the evening, so I have to go out and make progress...

Original post: 16 June 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Looks as if you're making great progress.

I saw wild ginger at a native plant sale recently but didn't buy it because its blooms were truly UGLY!! Let me know what you think when yours bloom... :D

I can't see your pic very well (aging eyes) but I wondered if it might be this one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse_spider

135: I've seen photos of the flowers, and yeah, they strike me as dubious, but sometimes I'll go for interesting. I like the leaves.
135: Yes! Thanks. It was running away and trying to hide and all the photos are blurry.

I got three more milkweeds, three mountain mints and two catchflies planted in the circle this evening. Too dark for photos, and anyway I'll be continuing tomorrow.

I want to see which native plants attract the best butterflies. So far, I lose!

Ew!! That's an ugly spider. :)

And it bites, don't touch it!

Nice results, good job digging and planting. :)

It eats sweet little pill bugs by piercing their exoskeleton, so I wouldn't trust it with my fingers.

In one fell swoop: the wheelbarrow of dirt, the status of sunflowers, and from the native plant conference


I need to do another round of sunflower repair. A few look like they'll make it, a few that I replanted have multiple sprouts, a few are missing or beyond hope. The winner so far:


Also spruced up a section at the side of the house, but it doesn't look so sprucy to the uneducated eye so no photo.

Original post: 17 June 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Nice! :)

Hah! Know just what you mean about "doesn't look so sprucy to the uneducated eye". I can spend a whole day weeding and fluffing, and I'm the only one who knows where.

Just trying to get through the heat wave here... No rain, so I've been watering. One of the milkweeds collapsed. :-( Everything else that I've gotten into the ground is managing.

Sorry about your milkweed. It is really, really hot here as well.

If y'all are planning to come and see me in Kentucky, bring buckets to haul away all of the free natives you want. I've got milkweed.

Hey! I just identified a wildflower in my garden from my new plant book. It was really hard to identify so I had to go through that book page by page, but it was worth it! I learned that my new "discovery" was a nectar-producing native plant which attracts butterflies! :)

It was a white aven!

147: Oh, how nice, both the wildflower itself and the means to identify it! I haven't seen that one in my yard, or elsewhere that I've noticed.

Pretty flower!

It doesn't look all that spectacular as it's a very small flower, but I'll welcome it to my garden anyway! :)

150: I am happy to have small wildflowers between the official plants.

This morning I did a bit of volunteer work prepping for a fence around a community garden a few blocks from my house, and someone there told me about monarch waystation certification:
http://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/certify.html
There is a seed kit:
http://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/seed_kit.html

Isn't "white aven" the prettiest name?

Wow on the Monarch project. Unfortunately, here in Montana, I see only the rare (slightly lost) Monarch.

The community garden was news to me, mentioned a few days ago in the post of a Facebook acquaintance. It's in a field behind a middle school, visible from classroom windows, and hoped to be the first of several similar areas in the city. The woman who told me about the monarch waystation certification said there's milkweed growing at the edges of the field (I'll walk over and take a look some time), but few flowers to provide nectar, so she's growing those in her plot. I like the idea of having a community plot, but I won't have time to do it justice until my own yard is a little more self-maintaining.

I probably won't order a monarch seed kit as I have had little luck with planting seeds this year. My plants have all done well (knocks wood) so far. I jus plan on enhancing my garden with more butterfly friendly plants and see where that takes me. I have only seen two non cabbage white butterflies this whole season so far.

What I find extremely distressing, though, is that I'm not seeing any of those large butterflies (we used to have several species here = monarch, tiger swallowtail, anise swallowtail, mourning cloak) anywhere in my community, even where I see wide swaths of butterfly friendly flowers. Maybe it's too early in the season? I don't know.

I think that there is simply not enough meadow in the city any more. Plus, all the butterfly friendly places near me are so isolated from one another. How, on earth, would any butterfly be able to find them?

That's why I'm doing a wildlife tally. I want to se exactly what kind of wild life I *am* attracting to my yard. Today I saw a mosquito. Then he she bit me. :(

My Native Species group is very active in community gardens and weed pulls. I have enough work just maintaining my own garden at this time.

Today I moved a stack of bricks so the water faucet would be more easily accessible, and disrupted a nest of ants. Eggs between the bricks, ants frantically scrambling to move them. Oh dear, what to do... I dismantled the stack slowly, layer by layer, waiting while the ants moved the eggs. There was a seam in the sidewalk below the bricks, and ants took the eggs there, or maybe continued along the seam into the plant cover. All hands on deck, didn't take long, and I think most of the ants and eggs got resettled. Stacks of bricks remain for repopulation. Eventually though the bricks will be hauled away...



The plants have been in the circle for a week, but today I cleared away the surrounding weeds:


Original post: 23 June 2012
Edited to change photo source.

155: Maybe it's too early in the season? I don't know.
I don't know either. Maybe we should find out.

How, on earth, would any butterfly be able to find them?
I wonder the same thing.

I have enough work just maintaining my own garden at this time.
Yeah, me too, but I haven't been in this city long and want to meet people.

Hey, Katherine. You're getting there!

Maybe we should find out.

I guess! :)

I wonder the same thing.

LOL!!

Yeah, me too, but I haven't been in this city long and want to meet people.

That's a great way to meet people - by being involved in an activity that you love (sort of like LibraryThing and Bookcrossing for me).

I find it fun to watch the ants scurrying to relocate thier eggs. Poor things! ;)

The "Nature Channel" here in my backyard is boring now. The robin left her nest and stopped batting the wren house. The mother wren and babies are gone. I never even got to see the babies. The male keeps singing, but can't seem to attact any more females. I actually looked into his "dummy nest" yesterday. It's built of twigs, spider cocoons, and one small feather. I guess no lady wrens like it! :)

(155) That's why I'm doing a wildlife tally. I want to se exactly what kind of wild life I *am* attracting to my yard. Today I saw a mosquito. Then he bit me. :(

FYI: the ones that 'bite' are females...seeking blood for their young. Ouch, itch...

I stand corrected! :)

qebo, you are very kind to your ants.

161: I like ants. I was sorry to disturb them, but I've had to step over debris and weeds and get all twisted around turning on the water for the plants, and I'm hoping to persuade other people to tend the plants when I'm away for a week in July. I hope the ants have learned their lesson that bricks are not a sensible place for raising children, but I fear not.

I wouldn't raise kids among bricks! ;)

Ants are okay in my yard (aside from the afore mentioned 'fire ants'), but not in my house. I don't kill any creature without a very good reason.

155: Monarch life cycle: http://www.monarch-butterfly.com/.

Well, the monarch butterflies should be here by now. I see they haven't made it. :(

We had a lot up here in the earlier Spring, Squeaky--maybe they just kept right on going?

They just skipped my place, I guess. :)

Did you leave the light on for them...?

;)

No. Maybe that was it! :)

I just learned from this article that the ant 'eggs' we see are usually legless larvae. The actual eggs are very small. Fascinating stuff.
http://hyg.ipm.illinois.edu/article.php?id=382

Aha! That might explain why ants seem so frantic when their 'eggs' are disturbed: they are really 'babies'. :)

171: Thanks! Photos of the difference: http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/04/02/ant-eggs-versus-pupae/. Yes, mine are not eggs but some stage of larvae. Unfortunately my photos are snapshot quality and I can't zoom in to see details.

Things have progressed since the circle photo of a week and a half ago. I've mulched around it, temporarily to prevent weeds. The plan is to replace the fence with pickets or something more open, and plant along it. Flowers are appearing!

The circle:


Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed):


Eupatorium dubium and Eupatorium maculatum (Joe Pye Weed):


Pycnanthemum tenuifolium (Mountain Mint):
(Identification tentative. It was tagged as Pycnanthemum muticum but so was another plant that is different.)


Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergemot):


Lobelia siphilitica (Blue Lobelia):


Liatris spicata (Gayfeather):


Eryngium yuccifolium (Rattlesnake Master):


Bins of annuals:


Sunflowers:
(Still having troubles with a mystery chomping critter, but five are far enough along to look like they'll make it.)


Butterfly bush:
(I want to replace this with something native, but the damn thing keeps growing.)


Original post: 4 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

My Joe Pye weed is also about to burst into flower. My wild bergemot is just about finished. My swamp milkweed is just about to flower as well.

My husband said he saw a yellow butterfly today, but of course he neither knew what it was nor took a picture of it. I'll be on the look out for it in my garden, though.

Your garden has come a long way. Now, you have so many perenniels, you can sit back and watch them flower every year. :)

Have a safe an fun holiday, Katherine!

It's really looking great! It's going to be great to watch it all coming up next spring!

I like the butterfly bush - even though it isn't native, it's attractive, although the white isn't my favourite colour. I covet the lovely rich pinks and purples, but it's a zone 5+ plant and we're zone 3. I can push the zones only so far - zone 4 plants is about my limit.

My joe pye weed is budding, too. I hacked back all the finished-blooming pyrethrum next to it so it has some room to shine.

It is looking pretty darn good, isn't it! I too like your butterfly bush: healthy, full of blooms, attracting the butterflies. What's not to like? Thanks for the update pics. I always love looking at other people's gardens.

177: Well, it attracts the bumblebees. I've seen very few butterflies. I'm hoping they'll eventually notice the native plants...

Huh. One of the photos that was appearing sideways spontaneously righted itself. Maybe the others will too.

The pile of bricks with the ants? I was over at the community garden yesterday assisting with fence construction, and heard two gardeners talking about wanting old bricks for borders. So I offered mine. One of the gardeners came by this morning with a car. She was fine with the policy of minimizing ant destruction, but she did not encounter any ants. So they did learn their lesson, and now the bricks are gone.

Oh no! Someone/thing vandalized the Cimicifuga racemosa (Black Cohash), within the last 24 hours. I discovered this when I went out to water the strip at the side of the house.

You can see it newly planted in post 80. That's what was lopped off:


It was growing a second branch. That's what remains:


Original post: 4 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

This morning I went out to check the plants and there was a Tetraopes tetrophthalmus (Red Milkweed Beetle) on my milkweed! This is very exciting because I have been wondering how critters will find my milkweed.

My very own milkweed beetle:


Original post: 5 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Huh! I was going to post a picture today, but I find mine is a milkweed bug. Researching the difference...

tom cat? (noting spray on wall behind)

I wonder why (no pun intended!) why someone would lop off a plant like that?

Probably some stupid kid/teen....

184: I was watering the plants.
185: The kid/teen contingent is large, and the activity level was especially high yesterday with fireworks getting set off around and about the neighborhood.

Oh please please please rain. Watching the radar...

ETA: Rain to the east. Rain to the west. NOTHING here.

ETA more: Well a storm whipped through in about 10 minutes, dumped buckets of water (and this after I'd given up hope and watered my plants before dark), cut off the power for just long enough to mess up the clocks, and blew off the top of a tree on the next block, a big leafy tree which appears on cursory inspection to be hollow inside. Smashed a car, but its owner doesn't seem too upset. Also blew over three milkweeds, so I just went out to prop them up as best I could in the dark.

I want a milkweed beetle!! I love that picture of him, by the way. :)

All I found today were those nasty harlequin bugs. Yuck!

188: Isn't it cute? It was still (or again) there yesterday, on the underside of a leaf hanging upside down. I did not see it today.

ETA: I'm not entirely sure I'll think it's cute when I have 100 of them.

We need to be careful what we wish for...

It usually rains after I water, but if I put off watering as we're about to get rain, we DON'T (get rain, that is).

Glad no one was hurt!

The milkweed beetle is back on the milkweed this morning.

I just went back to look at my Pinterest board. It seems that I *did* see a "large milkweed bug" in my yard - just not on my plants. I have on note about the kind I saw here! I should have dated when I saw it. It does say I pinned it 6 weeks ago. Of course, I haven't seen one since! :)

Here's a page with all the milkweed critters together: http://www.restoringthelandscape.com/2011/01/milkweeds-and-their-associated-inse.... All in keeping with the orange & black theme.

After a week of horribleness, a lovely day. Spent a couple hours yesterday evening weeding the triangle and finding homes for the remaining potted plants.

The triangle in March. Note the butterfly bush, which I'd reduced to stubs after several of its branches were broken in a storm.


The triangle in May, before I began constructing the circle.


The triangle yesterday after weeding and cleanup. I want to keep the alliums because they're cool. In the left corner is Phlox paniculata 'David'. In the right corner is Parthenium ariculatum (Wild Quinine), with stems and flowers hacked off because the guy who sold it to me said I should and also they'd gone brown. In the back corner is Penstemon digitalis (Foxglove), not doing so well but showing signs of survival. It will replace some / all of the camas; I like the flowers, and I like the dried stems, but for a month plus the flowers are gone and the stems and leaves slooowly turn from green to brown, also they are multiplying underground and getting crowded. I somehow neglected / avoided taking a photo of this stage. Behind the triangle are the sunflowers, several now with flower buds. In the raised bed are a few sparsely scattered onions, and sweet peas that are wanting to climb.


A sunflower is emerging!


Eupatorium (Joe Pye). I have yet to see any wildlife interested in it.


Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed).



The bins of annuals. Front to back: Chinese forget-me-nots, purple bells, bachelor's buttons.


Original post: 10 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Eupatorium (Joe Pye). I have yet to see any wildlife interested in it.

Same here. LOL!!

Your garden is coming along so well! I like the pathways.

I really like the shapes you have, with your beds and paths.

oh, very nice! The pictures weren't showing for me yesterday.
Thanks for showing us.

Love the layout of your gardens, and I especially love the pathways. I can't recall, did you do those yourself?

198: Mostly. Designed, dug trenches, filled with gravel/sand, roughed in the blocks, then my father helped with leveling the 12x12 blocks, and I filled in the smaller ones. Not a job I'd take on casually again. Looked so simple on graph paper, but it was a lot of strenuous work.

You did a great job!

Sunflower! And more on the way.



Original post: 13 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

You are so lucky. None of mine made it - even to chidlhood. :(

Beautiful! Sunflowers are such happy flowers. Will you eat the seeds or leave them for the birds?

My sunflowers completely failed last year, and survived this year only with repeated efforts. I marked the locations with cylinders to separate sunflowers from weeds, planted multiple seeds in each cylinder, planted multiple seeds again, and again, when a chomping critter destroyed the sprouts. One cylinder is empty after three tries. Others still have small sprouts that may or may not make it. I expect to leave the sunflower seeds for whoever wants them.

Hmm? Cylinders sound like a good idea!

Those top lateral branches on the plant on the left make it look like a jubilant winner - arms in the air; and a pretty leaf-green dress.

I've had no luck with sunflowers either. The slugs simply love the small shoots when they come up. I'm trying to find the best natural way to get rid of them---other than picking them out of my garden by hand . YUCK!!

Donnao, diatomaceous earth is wonderful, but although it is not a poison, you do have to use some care when you spread it.

2WY. I do that to plants too! It struck me the same way. Why is it that sunflowers look so good against a weathered board fence?

205,208: My imagination's not so great, but I can see it now that you mention.

It's RAINING! Yay! The down side is that I did a round of weeding everything this week, and I'll be away next week. I fear what the weeds will do in my absence.

The red admiral butterfly stayed long enough for me to get the camera.


A bee and fly and ant on the sunflower.


Word of the day: a bee stores pollen in its corbicula.

Original post: 14 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Wow! Great butterfly! I've never seen one that looks like that.

Qebo = 1
SqueakyChu = 0

I liked learning the new word as well! :)

http://www.raisingbutterflies.org/red-admiral/
Red admirals want either Urtica dioica stinging nettle ("never touch this plant without rubber gloves") or Boehmeria cylindria false nettle ("lacks stinging hairs") for their eggs and caterpillars.

What plant do you have that it landed on?

Looks like a Butterfly bush...

Yeah, the butterfly bush. Which I want to replace. Butterflies like the nectar but won't lay eggs on it.

Try butterfly weed. It has such a pretty orange flower.

I had that plant before, but my invasive plants must have eaten it up. :(

Lovely visitors, qebo, and good photo captures!

Send me your butterfly bush, I'll take it! :)

Your butterfly is prettier than mine, but here's mine from today! :)


Silver spotted skipper on purple coneflower

qebo = 1
SqueakyChu = 1

My husband saw two hummingbirds fighting over the lobelia cardinalis today! I didn't see them, though. :(

I love your coneflower, too!

When I bought it, it had two of the same butterflies on it...but they flew away before I paid for it. :)

The garden center takes credit for the beautiful coneflower. It was Behnke's. I like to shop there because they identify which of the plants are native plants to my area. That's really nice!

Yay the score is even. That's not a familiar butterfly. I've been thinking about coneflowers but I don't know where to put them. (BTW I'm in California for a week so I can't see anything in my yard. Also it's hard to type on a phone.)

Wherever they get sun, plant coneflowers. They will thrive in dry and poor conditions, too, once they are established.

> 223

Actually, skippers are pretty common around here. It's just that I have had none in my garden for so long!

I was very excited to come today and find an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly on my Joe Pye weed plant. It then moved to the swamp milkweed (just like the book said it should!).

Here's a picture...



qebo = 1
SqueakyChu = 2

I think that's it for local butterflies for me as I've never seen other kinds here except for perhaps an occasional monarch. I'll be watching, though.

I looked up my butterfly on wikipedia and discovered that the one pictured (I took that picture) was a male. The female has a row of blue dots on her hind wings. My husband saw a female Eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly last week on a neighbor's purple coneflower. He took a picture of that butterfly for me on his phone. How sweet! :)

Aw, that was sweet. And how excellent to get another butterfly! I've been away for a week, returning tomorrow. I expect to find more weeds than butterflies. Today I went to the butterfly pavilion at the natural history museum in Los Angeles for inspiration.

Last year I went to a live butterly exhibit at the local Brookside Gardens (Wheaton, Maryland). It was amazing. You can walk into the room which has butterflies flying all around you. They bring back that exhibit with new butterflies each year.

Nice picture!

Oh he's a beauty!

Actually, the eastern tiger swallowtail has always been a fairly common butterfly where I live even though it's rather showy. I don't see many of them any more so the fact that it showed up at all here was great.

An exciting day in the garden! In my absence, plants, some wanted and others not, have been proliferating, and a storm last night caused disarray so repair may take awhile. I stepped out several times to assess the situation, and saw: (1) A red admiral, but I've seen it (or one just like it) before so it doesn't add to my count. (2) What I'm supposing was a summer azure, flitting around the Chinese forget-me-nots. I didn't have a camera, so I'm not certain, but it was much smaller than the cabbage white. Nice to see because one of its host plants is Joe Pye. (3) What I thought initially was a hummingbird because of the hovering and blurry wings, but then I looked more closely... A hummingbird moth, identified by its two yellow stripes as a nessus sphinx moth. This one I caught with the camera:

qebo = 2
SqueakyChu = 2

Original post: 25 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

This was the summer azure that was in my garden earlier this year, but I won't add it to our count either because we hadn't started our little competition yet! :)



Doesn't it look dainty? :)

ETA: Here it looks gigantic, but it is really kind of small. I love this photo. Most of my photos don't come out so clear.

I love your picture of the hummingbird moth. That's so cool, and a great picture!!

My husband saw a female black swallowtail butterfly today and took a picture of it with his phone. I'm not adding it to our count because I didn't see it, but I'll look for it tomorrow! :)

Yeah, I didn't add the summer azure because you didn't, and also because I didn't get a photo. It had white wings with little spots, but it was flitting about and I didn't memorize the pattern for comparison. We could add it to the competition retroactively, but I'd say if we do then you can count it and I am obligated to get a photo.

Also missing the camera were two varieties of bumble bee on the same milkweed, one notably smaller than the other.

Let's get points only for photos of moths and butterflies if we find some that are different. Let's not do retroactive.

Photos are good because then we can for sure identify the species. Well...maybe we could possibly identify the species. Well...maybe we could guess at identifying the species! :)

Forget about identifyig bees!! That was too hard. We'll still try a little, though, with the bees, that is.

Wow, the hummingbird moth is fabulous! What a great photo!

I'm very impressed by both your photo skills. I've been trying as well, and my results are not worth keeping.

236: I googled something like "moth hummingbird yellow stripes" and was a little amazed that my initial impression is the norm, and everyone else also describes it as a moth that looks like a hummingbird and it is named accordingly.
234,237,238: Complete fluke. The wings were a blur, and I snapped a dozen photos randomly, surprised when one happened to catch just the right moment. I'm envious of SqueakyChu's closeups.

From Shenandoah Park's Facebook page:



This Red Admiral butterfly, Vanessa atalanta, flew onto my finger as I was photographing milkweed. She clung on to me as well as she good as I continued to take pictures along the side of the trail, and kept coming back to my finger every time I would get too far from her. I've never seen anything like it...you just never know what kind of new friends you'll make in Shenandoah! If you see this personable little butterfly out in the park, tell her I said "hello"!

So I fixed a problem at work, yay me, and stepped into the yard for a brief break, remembering the camera since I'd forgotten it at critical moments yesterday, and I saw, flitting about on my milkweeds...




It flew away while I was trying to get at it from a better angle.

I checked the difference between Monarch and Viceroy, and mine does not have the black stripe on its hindwings, so it's a Monarch!
http://networkofideas.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/the-monarch-butterfly-vs-the-vice...
http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/monarch_butterfly.htm

qebo = 3
SqueakyChu = 2

Original post: 26 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Woo! Pretty!

I've not been checking out my gardens this past week: with the thunderstorms every afternoon and the extreme heat, I've just not 1. felt like going out in the heat of the late afternoon and 2. had the opportunity to do so.

I do get butterflies, but have not captured any on 'film'. :(

> 239

I'm envious of SqueakyChu's closeups.

Does your camera have a macro setting? That's what captures the details in the close-ups. It's not a particuarly expensive camera, nor am I a particularly good photographer. The camera is a Canon Powershot digital Elph.

> 241

so it's a Monarch!

How cool is that?!!!!!!!

The monarch is the butterfly we're trying to save because it's numbers have been dwindling. You're doing your part! :)

Heh! Our competition is heating up. :)

243: Yeah, it does, but my closeup photos aren't nearly as crisp as yours. Could be the camera, could be I need to fiddle with settings. My camera is also a Canon, SD800, about five years old.

244: How cool is that?!!!!!!!
Completely made my day!

You two are funny! Only gardeners could have a butterfly competition--and on a site dedicated to books and reading, no less!

LOL @ tiffin! The truth is that I hate to leave LT. :)

I just checked out my garden for butterflies, but, alas, all I found were mosquitoes. :(

It returned for a more complete photo, then flew off to a tree.


247: Books? Oh, right.
248: I mostly have bees.

Original post: 26 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

That's a gorgeous photo! You're so lucky to have a monarch butterfly visiting your swamp milkweed (which looks better than my puny one). :)

Three of my milkweeds are looking quite happy, and one of them is developing pods. But a fourth, which came from the same nursery, is scrawny, and I don't know what the difference might be. I also have two from another nursery that are still small.

Hah, got it. Summer Azure flitting around the Chinese forget-me-nots again this evening, and the Cerinthe / purple bells in the next bin.





I say we count them.

qebo = 4
SqueakyChu = 3

Original post: 26 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

It's okay to count them since I'm losing! :D

At least I have my summer azure documented on a picture. I think it was too hot for any bugs in my garden today...although there were crickets (small black ones) as well as mosquitoes.

What are those blue flowers? They're so pretty!

I'm having quite a time with plant height. I seem to have all my plants in the wrong places because I couldn't anticipate their heights correctly. I guess I'll do better next year. My Joe Pye Weed's flowers are way over my head. I had to stand on a chair to get the picture of the eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly!

My husband's insulted that I didn't count the butterfly that he saw. The picture on his phone was so small that I couldn't even identify what kind of butterfly it was. He'll have to get over it. ;)

These close up photos are really fun! Look at the summer azures. THey have zebra-striped antennae! :)

253: It's okay to count them since I'm losing!
You wouldn't be losing if you counted your husband's photo.

What are those blue flowers?
Chinese forget-me-nots. I've planted them in previous years. Non-native but they're annuals in bins which I think is OK.

I'm having quite a time with plant height.
I'm expecting I'll have to move things. I went by the tags on the plants, but some of them gave wide ranges, like 3'-5', and I'd guess they don't reach full height the first year. Recently I visited someone who had a "baby" Joe Pye, supposedly the smallest variety, and it was over my head.

254: They have zebra-striped antennae!
Isn't that cool? I rejected a few other photos because the antennae didn't show up.

This thread is getting long... I'll start a new one in August.

I don't want my husband messing with my own butterfly count. If he wants to, he can start his own count! :D

I'm going to need help identifying this one! I think it's in the skipper family.



qebo = 4
SqueakyChu = 4

It was sitting on the grass. It was very small so I didn't get a good picture of it. I was afraid it was going to fly away. It was sitting with its wings half-open - kind of like a jet plane. :)

Maybe it's a fiery skipper - Hylephila phyleus. Tell me what you think. Mine certainly had large eyes. I didn't see it flying, though. I ran inside, then it was gone when I went back outside. Mine was probably a male as it had orange wings with brown spots.

Check out this fun website!

I don't know why I'm putting my butterflies on your thread, but it's fun to see them all in one place. What do you think?

I think fiery skipper too. I have a book now, Field Guide to Butterflies of North America, and the wing pattern looks just like the female fiery skipper.

260: Hmm, maybe we need a separate thread for butterfly sightings? Then other people can join the competition. :-)

Stepped outside and happened to see this one fluttering around and landing briefly on the butterfly bush. Didn't manage to zoom in before it flew away, but it seems to be a Red Spotted Admiral (Limenitis arthemis).





qebo = 5
SqueakyChu = 4

Original post: 27 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Seems to be butterfly season. Fluttering orange caught my eye as I was standing in the kitchen making coffee, so I dashed outside and followed it around with the camera. A Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia).



qebo = 6
SqueakyChu = 4

(Truly I'm working today, but it's extremely tedious and butterflies are a nice respite.)

Original post: 27 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

LOL!! I can't believe how many new butterflies you're sighting!!

Can I count the cabbage white butterfly? I got a photo this morning.

Yes. Add your cabbage butterfly. I'll go grab a picture of one when one comes by here (probably never again!). :)

How about the little brown moths in the compost bin? :-) (I'd have to (a) get a decent photo and (b) identify them. Together, these may be insurmountable hurdles.)

I think we can do both butterflies and moths. We can go out on a night moth hunt! :)

OK, here's the Cabbage White (Pieris rapae) butterfly of this morning.



qebo = 7
SqueakyChu = 4

A little while ago I saw the Monarch and the Variegated Fritillary again, two orange butterflies flying around in my yard at the same time. And just now, the Summer Azure is back.

I've never particularly noticed butterflies before, don't know what's around in the neighborhood that I might anticipate seeing in my yard.

Original post: 27 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

I think all my butterfies are vacationing in Pennsylvania! :)

I haven't seen a Swallowtail. :-(

They should come to your Joe Pye weed or swamp milkweed. Don't give up! :)

I saw what I think is a lunar moth, yesterday. I'll try to remember to upload a picture (I took several).

Now I'm ultra-impressed!

I have never seen a lunar in real life but I would just love to.

I haven't been able to capture a white cabbage butterfly on film yet, but here's today's butterfly. It's sitting on a daylily leaf in my picture but it was feeding on the threadleaf coreopsis.



qebo = 7
SqueakyChu = 5

Poor thing! Look at it's hind wing. :(

ETA: P.S. It's a Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos).

277: Poor thing! Look at it's hind wing. :(
Which raised the question of whether wings can grow back. Answer: no. But... they can be fixed: http://www.livemonarch.com/hospital.htm !

That's amazing (and the story as well)! I doubt if I'd even try for such delicate repair. This butterfly I saw today seemed to be flying pretty well on its own.

I also doubt if I'd be comfortable cutting off a part of a butterfly's wing - even knowing it needs the balance.

Hey! My butterfly also has those zebra-striped antennae we noticed on otherbutterflies yesterday!

In identifying my butterfly, I was confused by how similar so many of them are. The variegated fritillary (that you saw) and my silvery checkerspot are both brush-footed butterflies (whatever that means!). :)

Wow! You've all been having fun here. Nice photos.

277: ETA: P.S. It's a silvery checkerspot
Didn't you have Pearl Crescent initially? Markings look more like Pearl Crescent photos in my butterfly book.

281: brush-footed butterflies (whatever that means!)
Sez Wikipedia re Nymphalidae family: "In adult butterflies the first pair of legs are small or reduced, giving the family the other names of four-footed or brush-footed butterflies."

281: In identifying my butterfly, I was confused by how similar so many of them are.
Yeah, took me awhile to identify my fritillary, saw a bunch of almost but not quite. Doesn't help that some of the internet photos are mislabeled.

A thunderstorm just passed through. I went outside when it was done and saw several bumblebees huddled upside down under leaves. Awww.

Hope they recover, qebo.

> 283

Didn't you have Pearl Crescent initially?

I did!

You're right. I'm changing it back to a Pearl Crescent (Phyciodes tharos). :D

ETA: Well, 7/8 of a pearl crescent. :(

Silvery Checkerspot: Rear wings have a couple of white spots outlined in black, which yours doesn't.
Pearl Crescent: Front wings have a couple of yellow blobs with black dots at the center, which yours does.

> 287

Heh! See my editing of message #286.

Want to become a park naturalist with me? ;)

I'm impressed...

289: There are two million species so far discovered. I can identify maybe a few dozen.

Well, you have to start somewhere!

Actually that pearl crescent was kind of small butterfly and hard to photograph. I took maybe a dozen pictures of it, and that was the only one that came out. It definitely did not want me to see the designs it has on the dorsal side of its wings! Its preference was to remain incognito. :)

Silver Spotted Skipper (Epargyreus clarus) on the Joe Pye this evening. I ran upstairs to get the camera, and when I returned it was still there.


qebo = 8
SqueakyChu = 5

Also saw both Admirals, Red and Red Spotted this morning.

Original post: 28 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

This morning, a Small Milkweed Bug (Lygaeus kalmii) on the milkweed.


And a mystery caterpillar on a violet. Can anyone identify it?

ETA:
Handy caterpillar identification guide: http://www.discoverlife.org/20/q?guide=Caterpillars.
It's a Variegated Fritillary caterpillar. This is perfect, because Viola is supposed to be a Variegated Fritillary host. Also something has been chewing holes in my violets, but whenever I've looked under the leaves I've seen only pill bugs and millipedes.

Original post: 28 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

You are getting to be quite the expert, Katherine!

Hmmm? So that is where my silver spotted skipper went!

Saw what I think was another Summer Azure, and I had the camera, but it was too small and far away to be sure. Then a few minutes later, a Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui).





qebo = 9
SqueakyChu = 5

Original post: 30 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Try those pictures again. They didn't stay put.
Oh, there they are! Took longer to download.
Nice Painted Lady! I've never seen one.

Ooh, I did get a photo good enough for identification, and it's not a Summer Azure, it's an Eastern Tailed-Blue (Cupido comyntas), similar markings but with a yellow splotch near the edge, also smaller.



qebo = 10
SqueakyChu = 5

Original post: 30 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

Wow! Beautiful!! Both of the butterflies...

My plants need to start sending out more signals to local butterflies! :)

I am worried that most of my butterflies have dropped by once and never returned, so maybe my yard initially seemed promising but didn't pass closer inspection.

..or maybe they were just passing through. Butterflies do migrate!

Skipper on sunflower leaf. Sooo many species of skipper, and this seems close but not quite to several. It flew away when I tried to peek at the underside of its wings.





qebo = 11
SqueakyChu = 5

ETA: Oops. Fixed typo.

(Or should I wait for ID before I count it?)

ETA: Closest I find in my book and SqueakyChu's link is Little Glassywing (Pompeius verna). There's enough variation in images for plausibility, but I'm not certain.

Monarch on the butterfly bush again today.

ETA: And for a brief moment this afternoon, Monarch and Painted Lady and Red Admiral all flying around in the yard at the same time.

Original post: 31 July 2012
Edited to change photo source.

"You should ID it (as best you can/your closest guess) before you count it", says "SquakyChu". :)

Use this website in which you can post your zip code. That will narrow down the number of skippers.

Ever obedient to the rules, I have tentatively identified the skipper. The zip code filter is useful. My butterfly book includes maps of typical range.

Now it's time for a new thread.