Start A Butterfly Garden! (page 7)

kaik

It was very warm day, about 80F and nature is in fully spring mode. I see even my crape myrtle to bud leaves. I finished mulching all my backyard, and I had replaced my dead mountain laurel. I also bought bunch of dahlias so I will plant them in my sunny side of the backyard. Lilly-of-the-valley are out, phlox is blooming, and daphne has recovered from a winter.

My big disappointment is one of the rhododendron, it started to drop leaves, so I am not sure if it will survive. On the good note, my bumblebees are awaken from the winter, and I also seen butterflies. Lawn looks great, last year I had more damage from the winter.

GrreatTeacher

The dandelions were out, but they all lost their heads when my hubby mowed the lawn, today.

I always feel a little bad about that...

Xanthippe

GreatTeacher I always feel sad when I mow the lawns and chop off the heads of the daisies. I love lawn daisies, they always remind me of my grandmother's house when I was a little girl. I loved to visit her, she was a lovely lady, always smartly dressed, she loved hats and she loved me unconditionally. She had quite a big garden, vegetables I think and lots of daisies on the lawn.

I planted lupins, two viburnums, a mock orange, photinias, euphorbia, red campion, centaurea and a cape daisy yesterday. I'm creating a new bed where there was just an overgrown mess of ivy and weeds. It's been a lot of work but I'm looking forward to some beautiful flowers. Oh my aching back!

Half banana

Kaik, I'm curious as to where you live, is it the Czeck Republic? The reason I ask is because crepe myrtles don't flourish well in the UK because they need a lot of strong sunlight to flower. If your mountain laurel has died and rhododendron is not doing well; is your soil acid enough?

Half banana

I meant Czech not Czeck

Heaven

More bulbs up at Dad's place but no flowers yet. My Monarda/bee balm is coming up as are my Columbine but flowers are probably 2 to 4 weeks off. The Dandelions are coming up but not flowering yet. We still have chilly/cold nights with frost. I think the Lamb's Quarters is also up but with only 2 teeny tiny leaves it's hard to tell what they are... could be some lettuce too.

kaik

Half banana, I live in the Eastern part of USA. Here, the crape myrtles grow from Washington DC south and along the coast up to Delmarva peninsula. My M-I-L lives in New Jersey at the shore, and she was not successful with crape myrtles at all. There suppose to be a new varieties hardy to zone 6 (Washington-New York City), but I do not think they been proven considering we can see the winter temperature as lows as -20C in NJ. Crape Myrtles do well in hot humid summer, which is most of the eastern part of USA along the coast between Texas to Delaware. I never seen a crape myrtle in Europe. I have also chaste tree and this grow well. I can see them as well in the Czech republic around Prague and southern Moravia.

My story with rhodos: We had utility dig and they destroyed last year a row of rhodos along the house. I had replaced it with another one, but I think it did not get established and is suffering. I am lucky with traditional USA based rhodos like catawbiense which grew into huge size over these years. However, other imported plants had not established. I had rhodo Novaya Zemlja and it died, because it could not tolerate the summer heat. Mountain laurels are known to be difficult. I have one well established, but the plant next to it died this winter. I have not seen many people planting them because they are plants for a higher elevation and do not get well established along Eastern seaboard. I see a lot of mountain laurels up the Shenandoah, Blue Ridge mountains and West Virginia like Dolly Sod Wilderness.

kaik

Czech Republic has two climate types, depending on the elevation and proximity to the Northern Sea/Black Sea. Most of the country is at a elevated plateau having harsh winter, and wet summer. This is valid for Sudeten Mountains, and for a region delineated by line Dresden-Prague-Linz. This is zone 5B-6A. The area around Karlovy Vary is very cold and even in summer can experience a frost. This is caused by cold air sinking into the valley. Bavaria across Bohemian-Bavarian mountains has also one of the coldest temperature in Germany.

Eastern part (Zone 6B to 7A) of the county has continental climate, it is a part of the Pannonian basin with low precipitation and a short winter. My grandparents were from southern Moravia where my ancestors lived there since the Middle Ages. They had vineyards under Palava hills, they grew almonds, apricots, peaches, water melons, asparagus, tomatoes, paprika, artichokes, butter squash without problems. Some people were also successful with propagating figs. If I even decide to live back in CZ, than the option will be either Prague for a quality of life or southern Moravia around Palava due good weather and peaceful tranquility among the vineyards.

Xanthippe

Heaven I'm growing some Monarda, bee balm from seed at the moment. I haven't grown it before. Is it invasive, only it's of the mint family isn't it? I'm also growing Borage because the bees love it. You're supposed to plant it outside but I'm not sure tiny seedlings will survive the slugs in my garden so it was on my kitchen windowsill and now I've potted the seedlings on and put them in a cold greenhouse. They did flop a bit for a few hours but then perked up and are growing strongly now. I want to attract lots of bees and butterflies and it has such lovely blue flowers. It's also an edible herb.

talesin

The spring flowers are out - crocuses and snowdrops, and some others.

And a sure sign of spring - a visitor to our drive-by-peanut window. : )

Crocuses ...

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