Monday, August 20, 2018

Butterflies Are Free



 Lately, whenever I step out our Looney Bin door, I am reminded of the mediocre movie "Butterflies are Free". Goldie Hawn has never been a favorite actress of mine but those hippie dippie movies of the 70's still have a special place in my hemp lovin' heart. Mostly though it was Eileen Heckart, who played the mother of main character "Donnie", that I enjoyed most.

She and my mama were twin acerbic souls.

Back to the winged creatures in my yard. In the spring I announced to anyone who feigned interest, that all I wanted was color in my kitchen garden, lots and lots of color. A few herbs, tomatoes and beans were fine as well, but a vibrant hue was my primary goal. Even with our long dry spells here, I've gotten my wish. 






Along the narrow sidewalk leading to the Looney bin I've planted marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, a few perennials, rudbeckia and calendula. Now after several months the flowers have covered over much of the sidewalk! I mulched with lots of straw and/or rotten hay after the plants were about a foot high and this certainly helped keep the moisture in our soil.




This proliferation of blooms along the walkway and within the kitchen garden itself, has attracted more butterflies, bees and other beneficial insects than we have ever seen here.  Often, we'll sit outside and just watch the butterflies hover, twirl, land, take off, and pirouette from one flower to another. 





Some are so light and fast I have not yet been able to catch them with my camera but the monarchs (we have lots of milk weed plants) are very cooperative, allowing several closeups. 




At night the spiders come out to play, spinning elaborate nets. Huge Orb-weavers are very prevalent this year and although I don't appreciate running into their circular artwork while dashing out for a late evening chore, I do appreciate their industrious nature. 


If only I could be so productive of an evening! 

I'll be sad to see it all die down this fall but already I'm making plans for adding additional floral variety to my kitchen garden to attract more butterflies, good natured bugs and bees. 

18 comments:

  1. What a lovely kind of wild and happy cottage/kitchen garden. If I was a butterfly, I'd want to be there too! We've had more than our fair share of the winged beauties this year, but not as many orb spiders. Lots of Wolf ones though. Glad you got your water sorted out!

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    1. Wild and happy... pretty much sums up our life here.

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  2. Beautiful. I'm sure you're already aware, but a few purple Buddleias would really finish the job.

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    1. I do need those! Going on next year's wish list. Thanks Cro.

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  3. Enjoy your wild garden while it lasts. And just look at that chocolate sunflower. It's a knockout. Mulching is the way to go if you need to watch the water use.
    Alphie

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    1. I ordered several different types of sunflowers this year. Most grew far beyond expectations. This year I'll save lots of seed.

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  4. I've noticed many more butterflies this year as well. Nice spider shot!! -Jenn

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    1. Thanks Jenn. Keith held a flashlight on it at an angle while I took the shot from my android phone without a flash. I did not use zoom just got very very close. Kept expecting it to leap at me like they do in the movies, but it did not.

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  5. Beautiful gardens! We have tons of praying mantis in the garden and are raising some monarchs in the house. I love those rust colored sunflowers.

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    1. Those sunflowers came all the way from China, I think. I bought some seeds on line but they were supposed to be the shorter Teddy Bear sunflowers. Instead I got this 12 foot tall giants. Still, I love them.

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  6. Ooh, be still my beating heart :)
    What gorgeous flowers, and so prolific !
    I've noticed more yellow butterflies this year than any other, and Dragonflies....everywhere.
    We planted Black-Eyed Susan flowers under a flag pole, this year the seeds spread and have covered an entire field.
    Thank you for sharing your beauty with us.
    Hugs,
    ~Jo

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    1. Compliments from you Jo are well received! I so love the gardens at your home. We did have a bit of rain this week and so colors are even brighter. Hugs back.

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  7. i know this is weird to most people but i HATE butterflies. since i was a little girl, they always attack me. my family thinks it is funny but butterflies have it out for me. they dive bomb me and land on me and fly in my face. they are really ugly big bugs with nice clothes.

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    1. "Big ugly bugs with nice clothes" You crack me up! We all have our bug idiosyncrasies don't we? I am happy to see praying mantis out and about but generally they do not delight me as butterflies do. It's like in-laws. We may recognize their worth but their company may not be so treasured.

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  8. Glorious! Color like that just lifts the spirit. So neat with the Looney Bin posing in the background. Very picturesque!

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    1. Thanks Leigh, I worked hard to be picturesque. To the right there is the old icky house half torn down and if I pan too far to the left you see the very high weeds not mowed in a while. Behind the grain bin is laundry that is often on the line a minimum of two days and behind me is the leftover garage sale items still not put away!!

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  9. Hi Donna :) The garden looks lovely. That's one thing I neglected this year...flowers to attract the beautiful butterflies and bees...I was concentrating so much on the potatoes and other veggies. But I see the value in it, not just for pollination, but for beauty! Lovely shots!

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    1. Thanks Rain. Regarding flower gardening, we all do what we can do! It's literally taken me decades to grow such a large flower garden, I'm a slow learner.

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