Milkweed is the food plant for Monarch caterpillars, and the flowers are nectar sources for many types of butterflies. If you are located in the suburbs, where there aren't many Monarchs, and you want to attract Monarchs to a clump of milkweed, you will have to create a large enough patch of milkweed to gain and hold the attention of the Monarch. A few isolated plants may not be enough to trigger the "here is a place to lay eggs" switch in a Monarch's brain. Similarly, a small patch of blooming milkweed might not be enough to cause a hungry passing butterfly to stay around for long to feed - most animals seem to instinctively look for larger patches of habitat, which in the case of a hungry butterfly would be nectar-prodicing plants. So, I think you need to create a large patch of milkweed or other nectar plants to attract feeding butterflies. If you live in an area where there are lots of butterflies then a few isolated flowers might see lots of use by butterflies. However, in the suburbs, which are pretty sterile as far as butterflies are concerned, you'll need a much larger patch to attract and hold butterflies. I think you should work on a patch of at least 50 square feet of milkweed - that is a 5 ft by 10 ft rectangle (could be any shape, of course). I would be surprised if a 50 square foot patch didn't attract Monarchs to lay eggs within the first year or two. For nectar plants a patch of 50 square feet should also be adequate to attract butterflies and encourage them to hang around a while. In both cases, more is better. Monarchs travel long distances and their travels take them to all sorts of places, including cities and suburbs. Idoubt there are many spots within the range of the Monarch that aren't at least occasionally visited by a passing Monarch, so you will have butterflies passing by your garden. All you need to do is create enough habitat to keep them there a while. Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is a good larval plant for Monarchs and a good nectar plant, but many people prefer Butterflyweed (Asceplias tuberosa) or Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) because they have showier flowers (but lack the nice smell of the flowers of common milkweed, in my experience). Also, Common Milkweed spread rather vigorously in the garden, which can be a pain. I am talking about milkweed species that grow well in the eastern US. You might have different species native to your area, althoguh I am pretty sure that Butterflyweed will grow well across almost all of the US and much of Canada. There are many different types of nectar flowers. One easy way to discover which nectar flowers grow native in your region is to visit the woods or countryside and look for butterflies feeding at flowers. I think it is nice to have nectar plants that bloom throughout the summer and fall, so you'll need more than one species of plant. Good Luck

"How did you determine how much you can afford to build / how much you need / etc.? We started with discussions on desired lifestyle and goals for house. What activities did we need to plan for? What sort of space would they need, and could it be shared? You need to have these discussions before you start drawing up floor plans. Many of the construction details and materials are driven by the desire to use minimal energy for heating and cooling, to have low ongoing maintenance, and to minimize water usage. Did you say, "We can build this many square feet", or "We can spend this much money"? We have an upper limit, based on wanting to fund the building out of the sale of the current house ... square feet is determined by life style. And we're not into McMansions, we're into efficiency. One goal is to get it into as small a footprint as possible. Did this change much as you built and your budget dwindled? We've identified places where costs can be cut, and what can't be cut. We could do some DIY, and leave some things unfinished, use less expensive finish materials. Did you start with your wants and downgrade as necessary, or did you start with the budget and determine what you could have for that money? After the "how do we want to live in a house" discussions, we started with the dimensions of and the desired view from a California king bed ... seriously that was what has driven about half of the floor plan. The plan was radically revised a couple of times as the possible lot to build on changed ... you HAVE TO take the site into consideration. To get the view, the bed has to be placed against an inner wall on the second floor, facing a large, low window or a door, aimed in a certain direction. To the bed's dimensions we added clearance for access (in a walker or wheelchair - we're geezers) and the desired bookshelves and small wardrobe. Bed placement determines door placement ... which controlled bathroom placement, which controlled ... you see where this goes. To get to the second floor bedroom, we needed stairs ... and the SO's size 14 shoes controlled the tread depth, and the building codes controlled the riser height. That in turn controlled the height of the main entry. Kitchen size was determined by appliance sizes, workspaces, need for certain size walkway, etc. We will have a large pantry because it's a small town. Need to buy in bulk and have a place to store it. It's mostly been lifestyle, activity and traffic pattern driven after that. The need to "age in place" meant that one bedroom and full accessible bath had to be downstairs. ============ Some of the things we are doing to keep cost down: * Square floor plan with almost no hallways (American Four Square influenced) * Kitchen designed to use "standard" appliances - niche for frig instead of counter-depth, etc. * Straight run counters (galley kitchen) and simple layout, simple cabinet design, probably local cabinetmaker. * Standardizing bath fixtures and finishes (you get a better deal on the tile, and the contractor doesn't go nuts remembering what goes where) ============= I could easily increase the cost of the house by 50% by using the fancy stuff: designer tiles, "pro" appliances, ornate trim, and expensive lighting fixtures. I'd rather spend the money on books, art, and travel. =========== What about resale value? Screw resale value. That's the heirs' problem :)

Hick14 and Kimber95 - Hello to my house building friends in IL! I'm doing a "NO MORE RAIN" dance tonight! Make it stop! Hick14 - How exciting! Our house is being built just off Rt 78 if you ever want to stop and look at it. I'd love to see pictures of yours! Ours won't be finished until June.....When is your hopeful move in date? Welcome to GardenWeb! I love seeing everyone's pics and getting helpful advice. Kimber95 - Very exciting for you, too! Isn't this rain and cold weather awful if you are trying to build a house?? It looks like you are progressing nicely. I stopped out at our building site today, and oh the mud!!! Yuck, yuck, yuck. I can't wait for the roof to be on and windows and doors on so it will be protected from the weather. ..................................................... cursivesailor - Big check! I hear ya! The foundation, basement, garage was a big one. The checks have slowed down a bit for a while.....but I'm sure there are plenty more bills to come. tdog..only a month ago breaking ground. Wow! You must have busy builders. crescent50 - Beautiful setting! Welcome all! What an exciting journey we are on together.

CEFreeman, I think you're my NEW best friend!! Omg, I love reese and since my new oven went in, it's cookie-dough from the bag as I *try* in vain to get it on that cookie sheet and into the oven. Oh so many fails ;) But like Legallin, I actually love the smell of french fries in the deep frier and such. But I grew up with my mom doing that all the time. I guess those range hoods always pulled the "stench" out enough for me, and I maybe it's a little cultural?? What we grew up with, so it smells like home? Or maybe these folks aren't rotating their oil enough?? I always filter mine before storage (if I'm reusing), refrigerate and replace often. We also only leave the oil out long enough to cool and then place it in glass jars. I like to think all of that helps... Certainly no grease stains on my parents' ceiling after 25 years in the house and my mom fries daily at least. Or the type of oil?? We've always been a canola oil family, so maybe it's lower odor?? ...wonder what deepfried cookie dough would taste like?? ;) ...especially if it was wrapped around a reese peanut butter cup... ;)