Monarchs and Viceroys and Ladies, Oh My!

High summer, and the nursery is awash in colour, both from flora and fauna. The rock wall display gardens are still ablaze with colour from coneflowers, rudbeckia, bee balm, sea holly, and more. 

 We found this monarch butterfly chrysalis a few days ago in the nursery. Normally, these are attached to the underside of leaves of various types of plants, but something must have dislodged it. The butterfly inside was still a ways from metamorphosing, as the chrysalis will turn clear before the butterfly bursts out of it.

 Butterfly bush is a great plant for gardeners who want to attract more types of pollinators to their gardens. Here's 'Black Knight' with the unusual and beautiful hummingbird moth sipping nectar from its flowers.

 This is Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium), which grows natively around here but which is also an excellent plant in the garden. It's a tall plant, and likes moisture, so you will want to situate it in a damp to wet area, and give it space to spread.

There's a butterfly in the top of the flowers that looks like a Monarch, but which isn't. Can you spot the differences?

 Here's a monarch butterfly on buddleia. Monarchs need milkweeds on which to lay their eggs, and the caterpillars eat only milkweeds, but the adults will sip nectar from any number of plants.

This is a newly-hatched monarch adult emerged from its chrysalis, and still inflating its wings. 

 And this is the Viceroy, which is a bit smaller than the Monarch, and which has a solid black bar running across its lower wings, which the monarch doesn't have. Viceroys practice biomimicry: they have evolved to look like the toxic Monarch, which birds know to avoid, even though the Viceroy is not toxic. Monarchs ingest toxins from milkweeds, and birds tend to leave them alone in the caterpillar and the adult stage.

 This is quite the year for butterflies. The hot, dry, sunny weather is ideal for them to be actively sipping nectar, laying eggs, hatching out caterpillars, and continuing the circle of life. These are painted ladies enjoying the purple coneflowers planted along the rock wall.

 The best way to attract lots of butterflies to your gardens? Plant flowering perennials, shrubs and trees that they like, and plant them in drifts (lots of one colour at a time) rather than in jumbles of multicolours. You may not want quite this many rudbeckia 'Goldsturm', but these are our containerized rudbeckias, and we group them both for ease of organizing, and to entice the pollinators to visit the 'snack bar' of the flowers.

Other great butterfly plants, aside from those shown in these photos, include Summersweet shrub (Clethra Ruby Spice), Sea holly, Helenium, outhouse flower (Rudbeckia 'Hortensia'), and some of the hydrangeas.

We're closed on Mondays at this time of year, but open the rest of the week 9-5, so do stop by and let us help you design your butterfly garden.

Of Pollinators and Bee Schools

 It's high summer at Baldwin's Nurseries, and everything is bursting out all over. Also, things are quite dry, so we could really use some rain, rain gods. The succulents in these old Crocs don't mind the heat or dry weather...

 And neither does Sedum 'Angelina', shown here preparing to flower. We like the flowers (as do the pollinators, but some gardeners feel they take from the beauty of the plant. What do you think?

 Speaking of dry weather, here's a terrific plant that does well in hot, dry weather, (once it's established, of course. This is Globe Thistle, (Echinops ritro), a steely-blue flower that attracts all kinds of pollinators, from bees to hummingbirds.

 Are you growing ferns in your gardens? Whyever not? They aren't just for shade or for wet areas--some of them are quite tolerant of sunny and even somewhat dry conditions, like this lady fern. They're also deer resistant, which is a plus in our wildlife laden world.

 The lavenders are great bee-magnets too. We have had a number of hummingbird moths around this summer, and we're hearing the same from other gardeners, too. We don't know why the apparent rise in population other than more gardens are being planted to be pollinator friendly.

 Grasses tend to be drought tolerant once they are established, and this particular one is unique in that it's one of the few pennesetums that is hardy in our region. 'Karley Rose' has dainty flower heads of a rosy pink, and they look striking planted out with something with similar colouring...

 ...Such as Rudbeckia 'Cherry Brandy.' This variety of Rudbeckia is sometimes short-lived as a perennial, but we do know a number of gardeners who have gotten it through the winters just fine. It's such a striking colour, we can't resist it!

The Echinaceas are coming on strong, and they are brilliant shots of colour from now til frost--providing you remember to deadhead them as the flowers fade. They're great bee and butterfly plants, too. 

We put a couple of beehives in here at the nursery this spring, and they've been fascinating to watch. We're learning more about the bees all the time, and we get questions from others who are interested in learning more as well. As a result, we're having a 'bee school' on Saturday, August 11 (rain date Aug 12) for a maximum of 20 people, here at the nursery. The cost is 25.00 and includes lunch, and the workshop runs from 10-2. Bring along a small jar to collect your own honey, and come find out all the 'buzz' about beekeeping. Contact us at the nursery for details or to reserve your spot.