Standing in the Garden Center...

When I woke up this morning {quite early, I might add, complements of Leo... our Black lab... thumping his tail like a one-dog rhythm band}. I thought of a helpful butterfly gardening hint that I wanted to share.

I usually end up at one of the mega garden centers to buy plants. And when I first started my garden, I would shop, armed with my list of recommended butterfly nectar plants. But because I didn't know what the flowers on my list actually looked like, I would find myself confused by the endless varieties, wondering what to buy. And let's face it, the employees are usually busy and sometimes it's hard to find a knowledgeable person to help.

I used to think that the brighter or prettier the flower, the more butterflies it would attract. But I found, that this just wasn't true.

Then one day, as I was trying to decide, I noticed that there were bees and a few butterflies, hovering around a particular group of plants and it occurred to me that this might be a great way to choose nectar flowers.

That's when I started just standing and watching...and the plants with the most bee & butterfly activity are the ones I would buy!

So, when you're choosing flowers, don't be afraid to just stand back and watch for a moment...and if you see a women standing in the middle of the garden center, watching too, come over and say hello, because it's probably me, deciding on the next nectar flower for my butterfly garden!

The sun is shining!

Yippee! The sun is shining today! We've had so much rain lately, that I think I was beginning to mold...

As I was driving to jazzercise this morning, I was thinking about what I would talk to you about today...Firstly, I just had to share how excited I am! This weekend Clyde & I had a brainstorm for a line of children's gardening seeds. It's totally cute and I know retailers will carry them (or at least I hope so!). As soon as I'm a little farther along, I'll share the packaging design with you. I can't wait!

Back to butterfly gardening....

If you are like me, you might feel a little overwhelmed at planting an entire butterfly garden all at once. I still can't remember the names of all the plants and what they look like, so I always think it's a good idea to start out simply.

If you buy one plant for your butterfly garden this year, let it be Purple Coneflowers (Echinacea Purpurea)! They are a terrific perennial (they come back each year) and butterflies just can't resist them.

Last summer I found a bunch on sale at Home Depot and went kind of crazy and bought 15 plants thinking that I would add them to the garden. Well, I got busy { and by busy, I mean lazy}, so rather than planting I just moved them, in their pots, to my back deck. I put them up on the railing and clustered them all together, so the butterflies could easily spot them.


Oh my gosh, I was amazed! I had so many butterflies on my deck, providing me with terrific photo opportunities! I got much better photo's than I would have, if the plants had been in the garden, mostly because I could take pictures right out of my kitchen window or set up my camera on the deck and just click away, if I had a few extra minutes... and the butterflies were always right there!

Then in the fall, when the potted coneflowers were starting do die back, I planted them in my garden, where I know they will reappear this year!

I will do this again this summer! I love having butterflies right on my back deck...and this gives me a good excuse to not have to immediately plant every new addition to the garden!

In the middle of winter...

Well, here I am, starting a butterfly blog in the middle of winter. I sat down to write today and thought to myself, this is crazy! As I looked out of my office window and saw bare trees and a dreary sky I just couldn't imagine what in the world I could possibly write about. So I thought I might as well start at the beginning...

I used to own a chocolate factory. Yep, that's right, just like Willy Wonka. It was a wonderfully fun family business. I invented the recipes and designed the packaging, my husband, Clyde ran the business end, my son & daughter did retail marketing, shipping and web design and my mom made her world famous caramel, pecan pretzels, for customers who lined up at the door.














But as things are in life, circumstances have a way of changing...My daughter had her second child and was ready to be a full time stay at home mom, my husband was dreaming of retiring & fly-fishing and my son was ready to move on to new challenges and I didn't want to run the business by myself.

So we decided to sell...

At first I thought, this will be great! I'll sleep late every day, loads of time to do whatever I want, no agenda, my days stretching out endlessly in front of me...bliss....

Yikes! [my thoughts come to a screeching halt]

Days and days of what?? I tried to think of what I would do, what I was interested in, however it seemed that my mind couldn't remember a time before chocolate...what did I used to like to do, before I was up to my elbows in gooey, chocolate every day?

I just couldn't remember...

Then on a whim, I bought a butterfly habitat kit with painted lady caterpillars for my then 2 year old granddaughter - when the caterpillars arrived, I was fascinated by them and decided to buy another kit for her later, and raise these myself (what a bad Nonnie, I am).

Well, I got sucked in to the butterfly world, a little at a time...my vegetable garden gradually got eked out with more & more butterfly caterpillar host plants and nectar flowers until suddenly it wasn't a vegetable garden any longer...it was a butterfly habitat!

Then last summer I visited the Shady Oak Butterfly Farm in Florida and learned to identify the different species of Butterfly eggs. An entire new world awaited me! Suddenly I could spot the tiny butterfly eggs that were everywhere in the garden and in the "wild" areas on our property.

It became an obsession...I couldn't stop looking...every time I left the house, my eyes were scanning the foliage for butterfly eggs...Passionflower vines for Fritillary , Tulip trees for Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, Willows for Red Spotted Purples and and Thistle for Painted Lady's.


In the garden, I would spend hours scouring the Fennel & Dill for Black Swallowtail eggs. My magnifying glass, collection container and camera always in hand.

Before I knew it, my back deck was becoming a nursery for tiny eggs and baby butterfly caterpillars & chrysalis. Screened enclosures everywhere...it was out of control! But somehow amid the chaotic mess, I had found something...my passion!

That was last summer...

So, here I am...in the middle of winter, on a bleak and dreary day, thinking about the possibilities of spring and looking forward to my butterfly garden of summer.

I hope you will come along with me, on my journey and keep me company. It's going to be an amazing year of butterfly gardening and I'd love to share it with you...

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