Make Way for Monarchs

Last year I started working on making my gardens

a monarch waystation

(you can read about that here).

I was little discouraged because I didn't really see many monarchs.

Actually, I didn't see any.

But I did see some swallowtails, 

so it was worth the work.

This year was entirely different.

I discovered that I have monarch caterpillars all over my milkweed.

And I also see 5-10 monarchs in the yard at any given time.

Hoping to eventually see a monarch chrysalis or 10

on the milkweed soon.

Caterpillars in the Garden

This is the milkweed plant called "Hairy Balls".

I'm pretty sure you can guess why.

And you'd be right to guess that I bought these for the Monarch Waystation

simply because they're called "Hairy Balls".

What can I say? 

I have the humor of a 12 year old boy.

The "balls" are the seed pods and form in late summer/early fall.

They're perennial only in Zone 8 and above, so just an annual here

but you can save the seeds for the following season.

Sadly, I haven't noticed any Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed, 

though I've seen some actual butterflies stopping for nectar.

I do have Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars.

I planted bronze fennel just for them (their favorite food).

While I've been mainly concerned with helping the Monarch population, 

I also want to help butterflies in general because really, 

the world can't have too many butterflies.

In other news, 

I've nearly finished weeding the jungle garden.

With all the hot weather and lack of rain, 

I let the garden go way longer than I should have.  

I'm 3/4 of the way finished cleaning it up.  

And Big E cut down the last of the shrubs we needed to remove.

We still have some stumps to dig out, 

and a large pile of brush to haul to the mulch plant

but it's all coming along.

And once I clean the kitchen, 

I'll share pictures of the new floor.

Diggin' It

Now that Spring has Sprung,
or at least since it's shown up once or twice in between freezing temps,
snow showers and 60 MPH winds,
Big E and I have been working on the outside of the house.
I was anxious to tackle the areas in front of the garage
where two large piles of bricks had been sitting for who knows how long.
Bermuda grass had grown up through the bricks
and snaked its way into the garage.

 I plan to make the area part of my Monarch Waystation,
which will host Common Milkweed and various plants
popular with pollinators.

 Both sides of the garage housed the brick piles. 
Thankfully they're all gone now.

 This side will also be a part of the butterfly garden.
Not that the butterflys, bees and humingbirds won't have other areas of the garden
to enjoy as I'll be planting things all pollinators love,
 I just wanted to provide a quiet corner without a lot of activity from the family.

 The digging up of the new garden beds is going to be pretty labor intensive.
The area we've outlined so far runs the length of the yard which is about 110 ft.

 We also managed to get all the grass dug out from around the tree.
I have already planted some lilly of the valley and transplanted some of the hostas
Miss Bertha had in one of her gardens.
I'll need to put down some landscape fabric in area
and then it will be time to mulch.

Hoping the weather improves so I can keep getting my hands dirty!

Butterflies

Our back pasture is full of purple clover.

Purple clover and butterflies.

These photos can't describe the number of butterflies 

(I counted 23 just near the area I was standing in).