Blue Veronica looks regal in front. "Becky" Shasta Daisies bloom starting in early July and extend into August. A punch of very deep pink is provided by Monarda. Monarda is also known as Bee Balm because it attracts bees, one of which you can see approaching in the lower right side of the photo.
In spring, 2020, I decided to use my patio 5 patio window boxes to grow food for food pantries. I included curly parsley because it can handle the shady light conditions of my courtyard patio. I soon noticed aBlack Swallowtail butterfly hovering around the parsley. Days later, I realized that she was depositing her eggs on the parsley. Parsley is a host plant for Black Swallowtail butterflies. The next day, I noticed normally shy Cardinal who lives around our garden uncharacteristically flying around our patio. The caterpillars were gone. I was furious, but realized it’s just nature at work. In summer, 2021. I got smarter and bought butterfly houses. Now as soon as I see a butterfly caterpillar on one of my host plants, I pluck the plant branch with its caterpillar and put it in a jar of water inside the butterfly house. I check the caterpillars every day to supply new parsley and clean the butterfly house. Then I sit back and watch the metamorphosis show. Of course, I release the butterfly when it signals that it is ready to leave the house (it takes hours for the wings to harden enough to be ready to fly).
Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars are voracious eaters, so plant more than one parsley plant if you want to harvest any for yourself.
This is a Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar in its chrysalis hanging from a thread it spun off a stick that I provided.
This is also a Black Swallowtail butterfly inside its chrysalis. Chrysalises can be ether dark grays/blacks/browns/ or green, depending on what the caterpillar attaches itself to while spinning its chrysalis. If it attaches itself to a brown branch, then the chrysalis is camouflaged with dark colors. If the caterpillar attaches itself to a green plant, then it spins a green chrysalis. This caterpillar attached itself to a clear cereal bowl. Apparently, it can’t spin a clear chrysalis.
You can learn everything you need to know about Monarch Butterflies from the excellent web site, www.monarchwatch.org. You will need 6 Milkweed plants and 6 nectar plants to be qualified for Monarch Way Station certification through The University of Kentucky. America is losing Monarch Butterfly habitat due to several reasons: farming practices are changing. Farmers now grow crops right up to the border of the farmer’s land instead of leaving a strip of “weeds” (aka wildflowers, including Millweed), plus, when farmers use Round-Up, all but genetically modified food crops are killed. The rest of us are encroaching on Monarch habitat by building more and bigger homes and not planting many Monarch-friendly plants after the homes are built. We can all do our part to encourage Monarchs by planting at least some of the land around our homes with Monarch-friendly plants.
To attract Monarch Butterflies, you need to plant Milkweed. (The very tall green plants in this photo). Monarch Butterflies will ONLY deposit their eggs on Milkweed since Milkweed are the only plants Monarch caterpillars will eat. There are numerous types of Milkweed, so you are sure to find one type that fits into your garden plan.
This is the mature chrysalis for one of the Monarch butterflies I raised in summer, 2021. The photo is a bit blurry because it is taken through the clear plastic wall of the butterfly house. But this chrysalis really did get that black at maturity. On the lower left side of the chrysalis, you can just barely see some of the orange in the butterfly’s wings.
Many different flowering plants are known to attract butterflies. If you want Yellow Swallowtail butterflies to visit your garden, be sure to plant Agastache, ‘Blue Fortune’ (Anise Hyssop). This butterfly was so "drunk" on the nectar, that I was able to touch him and he didn't fly away.
Yellow Swallowtail butterflies like Zinnias too.
This is a window box planted with pansies bought at Home Depot on the second floor of my home. This little butterfly found a pretty resting place. Some people think that you can only use native plants in a garden in order to attract beneficial wildlife. Native plants are wonderful, of course, but don’t feel less virtuous if you plant non-native plants. The birds and beneficial insects will be happy and grateful for most any type of plant that they can use for food or shelter.
I am not an expert on butterflies by any stretch of the imagination, but this looks very similar to a Red Admiral to me. Let me know if you think differently.
This handsome fellow is a cicada that I found hiding in summer, 2021. He looks a lot like the 17 year cyclical cicadas, but he’s a few years too early. So I think he is from a different brood.
Gold Finches are so light that they can perch on top of an Agastache, ‘Blue Fortune’ flower. But the Gold Finch’s true motive in visiting this part of my garden was eating the Echinacea, ‘Magnus’ (Purple Coneflower) seeds. My husband and I eat dinner on our patio every chance we get in the summer. For weeks, our dinner entertainment includes a Gold Finch show.
Be sure to provide amenities for wildlife in your garden. A robin enjoys splashing in this copper bird bath. The bird bath is surrounded by a background of Techny Arbovitae as well as Forever Pink Hydrangea on the right and a just-about-to-pop-open Sarah Bernhardt Peony. on the left of the birdbath. Plenty of shrubbery and other foliage provide protective cover for birds and encourages them to congregate in your garden.
While my husband and I were remodeling out back garden in spring, 2020, we had to turn over a lot of soil to create new beds. We were mobbed by robins who were looking for worms. They were quite fearless in approaching us, especially after we started throwing the worms that we unearthed in their direction. One robin even caught a worm in mid-air.
One day a pair of nesting Mallard ducks visited my garden.
If you think the installation of an underground sprinkler system is just a labor saving device for us humans, think again. It’s also a luxury Mallard duck spa!
This is an excellent message from Prairie Moon Nursery in Winona, MN with common sense suggestions for helping Fireflies (or Lightning Bugs):
“Whether you call them fireflies or lightning bugs,
over 150 different species of these mystical beetles make their home in North America - and every single one of them is declining.
Things you can do to assist these whimsical creatures:
1. Create a Space – Fireflies thrive in secluded, moist, organically rich environments. Set aside a portion of your land for a little bit of wilderness; allow a diverse mixture of native grasses and flowers to grow taller than the manicured lawn. Most female fireflies send their signals from perches, blinking like little lighthouse beacons.
2. Don't Use Insecticides – need we say more?
3. Turn Off the Lights – light pollution is easy to fix and instantly reversible. Keep outdoor lights to a minimum to allow lightning bugs optimal communications with each other. No love language? No new lightning bugs.
(Sallie’s Note: I learned from entomologist, Douglas Tellamy that if you leave outdoor security lights on all night, insects cannot communicate. Realistically, we homeowners are seeing an increasing need for outdoor security lights as crime rates rise. Please consider this option: change your “all night long” security light to a motion detector light. )
4. Talk to the Neighbors – the efforts you make on your property are important - but fireflies are not limited to a single plot. Together, we can bring these nostalgic little beetles back from the brink and enjoy their dazzling performances again!
Native plants are key in providing habitat as well as nectar and pollen for adult fireflies. They also enrich the soil with leaf litter, inviting the soft-bodied insects that firefly larvae feed on.
Please visit Xerces Society and FireFly.org for more inspiration.