Proposed Butterfly Garden.

A BUTTERFLY GARDEN

This spring I am going to make a butterfly garden along the side of the garage.
I have begun to dig the garden and it already has two miniature peach trees and two Swan Plants.

Here is a list of the plants which I will put in to attract butterflies.
asters, hollyhocks, snapdragons, verbena, cornflowers, coreopsis, nasturtiums, phlox, pansies, floss flowers, alyssum, lavender and zinnias.

I may also include a feature of some kind - yet to be decided.

I am wondering how long it will be before the no watering ban is lifted. My vegetable garden is a wreck. The cauliflowers and broccoli I planted are all eaten by white butterflies and any tomatoes ripening have split. The only good plant is the courgette, which goes on producing flowers and fruit without any water. I tried to pull some carrots last week and they broke halfway so I had to dig them out as the soil is so hard.
It has been so dry here that the weeds on pathways and the scoria around the potagers have died - one good thing about the drought!
I have spring bulbs in the fridge in the meantime. I have not quite decided whether to plant them in the garden or in pots. I shall probably do pots.

ERMAR's Wonder Garden

OUT AND ABOUT IN THE GARDEN THIS MORNING.
I have not written on my blog for some time, but this morning I took out my camera and went for a walk around and into the vegetable garden to pick fruit and vegetables before the rain came. Then I watered the flower box under the eaves at the front of the house. This flower box is a memorial to my cat Beauty who died a year ago. It is the Wildflower Garden.





Pink and White Cosmos














One of my best roses.

















Sweet Williams with raindrops.

Pinks in the rain.



A few weeks ago as I was getting out of my car a tattered female Monarch Butterfly flew round me and then went over to the Wildflower Garden where I had planted Swan Plants last year. They have been moved over by the garage. She soon found her way to the larger one and stayed a while. After that she circled me again and then flew off up over the house. I think it was the last of the Monarchs I nurtured last year. She pupated in April so I think she wintered over.

My Monarch returns.

I was delighted last week to find four caterpillars.

A baby Monarch Caterpillar hiding under a leaf.



This week I did not buy any vegetables at the supermarket. For the time being the garden is feeding me. Just before the rain came I went out and gathered courgettes, beans, tomatoes and strawberries.

Produce from my potager gardens.

This week I plan to finish weeding the Herb Garden on the lower level and then I can potter and enjoy the fruit of my labours and spend more time in the studio producing an abundance of good quality paintings to sell at a reasonable price!