Pretty and Pink

Posted: March 18, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Gardening | Tags: , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

I was amazed that my Azaleas were so full of flowers this year. They have not looked well most of the year and we had water restrictions over the summer. Of course, they are not as nice as my six-foot-tall ones that died.

Every flower bud opened making the shrub lush with pink flowers.

I had been watching this Pipe-Vine Swallowtail butterfly in the backyard looking for a flower(they all froze) to feed on. It took a couple of passes by the sugar feeder, but it did not know how to use it. I was happy to see it feeding on the Azales.

Many years ago I had a Loropetalum struggling in the backyard. It had some life left, so I planted it in the front with a little prayer. It ended up living and growing 10 feet tall. Normally, they are trimmed to 4 feet and kept bushy.

The Loropetalum is very graceful with fluffy pink flowers and is also known as the Chinese Fringe Flower.

If You Plant It, They Will Come

Posted: August 30, 2020 | Author: | Filed under: Gardening | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

I mentioned on a previous post, that I was trying to grow the correct Passion Flower to attract the Gulf Fritillary Butterfly.  I finally got it right.  Several have arrived.

The Butterflies got to work and laid eggs which have already hatched into a new generation.

Even more exciting, I found five Pipe-vine Swallow Tail caterpillars on my Aristolochia fimbriata.

The nurseryman was correct with his advice that the butterflies would come.  The plant is nearly gone, but that was the plan.  I collected some of the seeds for next year’s plants and butterflies.