Postcards from the Edge

It's the time of year when we don't go into the woods.

Lantana makes a summer haven for butterflies.

Donna of Garden Walk, Garden Talk wrote about making paths through woods. At the end, she mentioned downsides. Our biggest downsides are poison ivy -- acres of poison ivy from seeds spread by birds -- and rattlesnakes.

We mostly make paths around the woods and through the meadows.

 Erigeron dots the meadows with white.

Even the lime sink remains a pond in a wetter year than usual.

Lantana at woods' edge

There were butterflies out but shy of the camera.

I hope you can pick out the Tiger Swallowtail kind of upper left.

The Butterfly area has Passionflowers and Beautyberry, 

all self seeders along with Lantana south of the woods.

 

Among other wildflowers I found were Wild Sweet Potato Ipomoea pandurata and Elephantapus.

October Bloom Day in the Greenhouse

It isn't cold enough for plants to be inside but I am prone to being caught by an early frost, so they are in early except for the cuttings I keep putting off. This is just a sample

I added extras to the Begonia pots: Spider plants and Foxtail Fern.

Schlumbergeras will have buds soon. I root every

little piece that is pruned or breaks.

Last Hurrah for Epiphyllums. These will bloom 

for one night, soon. Maybe I'll remember to look.

Their fragrance is the best part.

White Lantana outside the greenhouse.

Next year I hope for a glorious white garden.

Look closely in the left lower corner. My camera kept focusing on dry leaves and foliage rather than the

beautiful blue Dragonfly who posed so patiently. 

Happy Bloom Day.

My Best Butterfly Plants for Summer

Everybody has been anxiously awaiting the summer influx of butterflies. They are a little late because, I guess, of the rains. Every day I am seeing a few more numbers and an occasional newcomer not spotted before this season.

At first glance I thought he was just another Tiger. Then I saw the black on his back and the lines of gold that distinguish a Black Swallowtail. The size gives him away, too. Tithonia was his nectar of choice.

Yellow Lantana is late getting started but this Checkerspot found it.

Pipevine Swallowtails are finding Pentas galore. The tall pinks and reds are their favorites but they find white Pentas to be good nectaring, too.

We're seeing Pipevines and Spicebush Swallowtails nectaring on the same plants.

Except for one plant that did not die back in winter,

Duranta is slow to bloom. This Gulf Frit found

the blooming one.

Pride of Barbados is blooming and Esperanza has commenced again.

I see Swallowtails visiting the Petunia patch but not in great numbers.

The best Butterfly attractions here at this time are

1. Tithonia
2. Pentas
3. Lantana
4. Pride of Barbados

Approaching fall, Pineapple Sage, Salvia leucantha and Duranta attract butterflies as well. Plantings for butterflies also provide nectar for hummingbirds. This morning I saw one on Tithonia and later on Pentas, happily sipping alongside butterflies.

Pentas and Pineapple Sage need carrying over winter as cuttings. I rooted more white Lantana for the bed on the south side of the greenhouse. Tithonia reseeds if you pull up the frost-killed plants and lay them with the seed heads where you want next year's plants to grow.

What are your best butterfly plants? 

My Garden Becomes a Photo Studio, sort of

Steve Asbell suggested using a piece of black poster board as background for houseplant shots. Now,  I don't just run to the Dollar Store like it was around the corner -- it's fifteen miles one way. I did have a little pack of cardstock and a piece of cardboard so I improvised.

I want to make a post on winter weeds, the good and the bad. Weeds show up in photos as a blob of green and more green. What do you think of the Henbit above with its nice neutral background rather than weeds and dry grass? I think you could identify Henbit from it.

Henbit is one of those weeds that get to stay because beneficials seek it and the little flowers are kind of cute.  It goes away when the weather gets hot.

Dianthus 'Bath's Pink.'

 

Cardstock backdrop in hand, I was all over the garden.

 

Hyacinth. Pink when it opens.

Dogwood seeds and buds.

 

Early White Azaleas.

I kind of experimented with letting the background show. Yes.

 

Lantana, a favorite of American Painted Ladies when it's warm.

Oxalis blooms and Parsley

 Orchid, inside the house. I had a terrible time with these before because they're in front of a window.

Many of the plants pictured above are here on Secrets of a Seedscatterer.wordpress. Yesterday there was no backdrop so you can see how they look with their normal background. I thought it an improvement, what say you?

Joining Tootsie Time for Fertilizer Friday. Come join the fun!

White Garden around the Greenhouse

Phildelphus inodorus blooming in April

It's a start. I dug two Philadelphus suckers to put at the northwest and southwest corners at front. I wanted little trees that are bare in winter and bloom early spring. Mock orange blooms just after Dogwoods here, with bloom continuing into May. Kept pruned upward, they make a graceful arching small tree.

White Datura, if only for the night fragrance.

 

Big plans, slow progress with these beds. Five of 6 white lantana rooted; really 6 rooted but during the event with the squirrel in the greenhouse one broke off at the soil line.  I stuck another piece in the flat but whether it roots remains to be seen. Five will probably fill the south side bed in short order next summer.

 

Tattered Tiger on White lantana.

 

Ice Follies

I'm still deciding whether to put some white daffodils along the south side. The north side can have most anything that likes shade, maybe some Thalia triandrus Daffodils followed by white Begonias.

 Pink Gerbera

If seedling Gerbera daisies turn out palest pink/near white, they may go on the sunny south side. The daisy seedlings are in 4" pots now and most look great.  The Gerbera above is the one that seeds came from. I think. These are most like species Gerberas, rather than the showy hybrids usually seen in garden centers with fat rounded petals in bright colors.

 

White pentas, palest pink is good, too.

Unless every cutting fails, I'll surely have white pentas along with white lantana. Butterflies seem to like white Pentas every bit as well as brighter colors.

 

Sometimes I have to think of new ways to use old plants. Spider plants abound in pots and planters. They do well in the ground and would make a great green and white edging.

 

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String Lily crinums make a stunning addition.

 

Violas in pots last winter.

Not sure about all white violas; winter needs color.

 

 

Seen though a Camellia tree last winter.

 

I'm always hopeful of blooms and fragrance year around. White or blue hyacinths will scent the greenhouse in winter, daffodils outside in March. No fragrance from my Mock Orange, but warm weather will bring out Daturas for summer nights bloom. Gardenias nearby in June.  Lantanas, Gerberas and Pentas have no fragrance but bloom all summer until hard frost.

I'm linking to Tootsie's Flaunt Your Flowers Friday Fertilizer meme.

 

Do join us for garden pleasures. 

 

 

 

 

 

All June in the Garden

"Wisteria woke me this morning,
And there was all June in the garden;
I felt them, early, warning
Lest I miss any part of the day.
- Ann McGough, Summons

Wisteria bloomed abundantly here in April. I hacked at the vines all through May.

Despite my prunings wisteria is blooming again. It grows up through a box hedge so

mowing keeps it from spreading along the ground, but the vines grow longer and longer.

Gloriosa Daisies or Black Susans Rudbeckia hirta have taken the stage with Purple Heart.

 Madagascar periwinkles just coming up with take the place of BES as they fade. You can't see them, nor the purple Daturas. I'm gathering seeds of Larkspur barely seen at right.

I've pulled most of the Larkspur.

 Daisies have taken over the Yellow Rose Bed while the roses rest.

Persian Shield with a small lavender Pentas.

Pentas are slow to get started blooming well this summer, or is it just early?

I kept some cuttings through the winter and bought two new red recently.

Butterflies find them a real treat, once they get going.

 Red Hot Poker Kniphofia is finally starting to bloom.

Lantana and Purple Heart are good companions.

Brugmansia cutting isn't very big yet and wilts from too much hot sun.

I never cut back all the Vetiver grass. The tan canes make good place markers when

I'm making plans. I just cut them as I need them.

Yesterday I planted out some salvia farinacea cuttings to bring the number of plants back to

last year's 18 I think. Today after we had 0.3 inch of rain last night I scattered some

orange dwarf marigold seed among the salvia.

Flowers and text are from the garden of Nell Jean blogged on Dotty Plants Journal in hot, humid Southwest Georgia.