Thank you for your comment! 😊 Butterflies are so beautiful in the garden. If you put in a garden for them, be sure to include a host plant or two. That will definitely bring them in.
That December freeze was really bad and unusual for us. We covered most of our beds really well, but we still lost a few plants. I am surprised I lost some coneflower, and none are flowering yet. But the Salvia and Lantana have been blooming so well for instance. Good luck with your garden, and I hope it all recovers well from the freeze. 😊🐛🦋🌺
Hello! Yes, last year was the first summer I grew Tithonia, and I LOVED how it attracted butterflies! I didn't care so much for the foliage (especially when leaves would brown up the growing stalk), but I absolutely loved the blooms and the height. I am growing it again this year and just got my first bloom! 😍
I didn’t know anyone else had a Chinese tallow tree but me. ❤ It’s a very messy tree but mine attracts so many bees more than anything here in zone 8a GA. I’m loving different salvias too. I have some of the same ones you do. This year I went all out. Lol
Lol - our Chinese Tallow tree is "my" tree because my husband didn't want to put it in the yard. I really wanted it because I loved how it looks and how it grows. (He relented). It is a messy tree, but you are so right - the bees love the blooms. The tree just hums in the spring from all the bees on the flowers. Then later in the year when it produces the nuts (or seeds?), the squirrels and some birds can't get enough. ♥️
I'm with you - I have better luck if I direct sow my seeds in the ground. No, I don't have any barriers in my flower beds. I know to never say never, but I don't think I will use barriers like landscape fabric. Do you use barriers?
I usually purchase native milkweed from my favorite nursery, although I have also ordered it. (Like from joyfulbutterfly.com). Milkweed can be difficult to start from seed. I have started balloon milkweed from seed, and it is an annual plant.
Milkweed and butterfly weed are aphid magnets for sure. But the aphids typically don't significantly hurt the plant or slow down monarch caterpillars. I have found hosing off the aphids with water does slow them down. I have also been known to "squish" them off the plants with my fingers. 😊🐛🦋🌺
