Butterfly Garden
In the fall of 2005, I had decided that the two lilac bushes that were planted in the middle of the front yard had to be connected. It was difficult to mow, the plants were still small, so they needed some protection, and it was just not all that appealing. So the new butterfly garden was born.
To create the bed, I used a modified version of lasagna gardening, where I trenched the area to create a triangle shape (with rounded edges). Then I laid down a 4-6 sheet layer of black/white
newspaper to smother the weeds and grass and put on a layer of
compost, topsoil, and grass clippings. I planted a couple hundred
spring flowering bulbs in the bed along with two butterfly bushes I got on clearance for $.99 each. I lightly mulched the area and waited for Spring.
In the Spring of 2006, I added a couple dozen perennials that I purchased from Bluestone and perennials that I winter sowed myself. Funny how a bed can fill up so fast. There wasn't much room for annuals that year, but I did manage to add a few geraniums, zinnias, dwarf cosmos, and amaranthus.
The plant inventory for 2006 was as follows:
- Daffodils
- Crocus
- Football Mums
- Rudbeckia 'Prairie Eyes'
- Pineapple Sage
- Butterfly Bush
- Geraniums
- Salvia Nemorosa Lubeca
- Hollyhocks
- Digitalis (Foxglove)
- Creeping Moss Phlox
- 'David' phlox
- Perennial Alyssum
- Dianthus Horatio
- 'Autumn Joy' Sedum
- Potentilla 'Gibson Scarlet'
- Blue Sea Holly
- White Bleeding Heart
- Hybrid Tea Rose
- Lupine
- Zinnias
- Amaranthus
- Lilac
- Golden Chain Tree
I plan on updating these photos sometime in 2010. The first three photos are from Spring 2006 and the last three are from that same summer.
