Outdoor Updates - Butterfly Garden

Hello Everyone!  I hope the weekend treated you well.  Our weekend was uneventful, which in my opinion is just fine.  We managed to get a bit done around the outside of the house, and I have started to lay plans for a butterfly garden.

First, let me just say I love to garden.  I always helped my parents and my grandfather with theirs.  Now that I am on my third house, I think I have refined my ideas of what exactly I want. 

All three house are a bit different.  Our first house had landscaping already in place, but not really to my liking.  We removed some very over sized bushes and trees that were interfering with the concrete walkway.  Then I started to plant my lily patch.  Oh, my poor lily patch!  It was replanted three different times, to accommodate two fence repairs.  When I finally got it done, we moved....ugh.  I would like to report the person who bought our house, loved the lillies and has kept them.  I drive by every so often and look at my hard work.

My second house was an old Victorian with very little room for gardening.  It had no grass in the ten feet of back yard due to a walnut tree.  The soil was so acidic that grass or any other shrub would not grow.  I did have a small patch of landscaping between the drive way and front walk, about 15 feet.  I planted poppies, day lilies, and a hydrangea. 

Now onto my current house.  I hit the jackpot with this one.  It was very  nicely landscaped in the front which also wraps around to the back.  The only sore spot for me was the side of the house by the garage.  There was a bed of hostas there, but I don't like hostas.  Never have and never will.  That was easily rectified this spring with a little digging and removal.  I have planted a double blooming lily on that side with anemone.

While this house is nicely landscaped, I am adding my own touches.  One being a butterfly garden.  I love to watch butterflies, and I have carved out a bit of room in the back to make a nice environment for them.

I started researching this last fall and bought a few plants on clearance at the end of the season.  I bought black eyed Susan's and cone flowers.  This year I have planted lantana and salvia.  I am adding new plants a little at a time in a variety of colors. I have a few more plants to add this year, as host plants for the caterpillars.  The other important piece to a butterfly garden is a water source and resting place.  I bought a shallow glass birdbath stake to serve this purpose.

Right now it doesn't look like much, but I will post pictures throughout the season of the growth.  I am hoping in a few years, I can just sit back and relax and watch the beautiful creatures.  Another bonus of butterfly gardening....it also attracts hummingbirds.