Thanks Bella!

Looking very pretty.

Wow, everything has really filled in beautifully.

Rhonda

Congrats, it is starting to look like a pretty and happy place to be. Good for you!

Silvia

Thanks all! I'm pretty happy with how quickly it is maturing.

Wow, can your plants read!!!

Have any butterflies/hummingbirds/bees found your goodies?

Irma,

Thanks! I'm seeing lots of monarchs, sulphurs and Gulf frits now. No swallowtails yet...keeping my fingers crossed. Each day I am seeing more, I was disappointed at first but now have high hopes.

In this part of Florida, we'll only get migrating hummers (had two females for 3-4 days about as month ago) until late summer then should have them through the fall and winter until they leave for cooler sites in the spring. I should have plenty of nectar plants for them when they come...salvias, lion's ear, pentas, honeysuckle, hamelia, firecrackers, shrimp plant, agastache.

Rhonda

WOW it looks great!

Thanks Rita!

Beautiful! Your milkweed looks great, should be bringing lots of Monarchs.

I have Milkweed all over my various beds and the Monarchs are plentiful. I have observed that they do not lay their eggs until the milkweed goes to seed. They enjoy the nectar of the flowers and wait until the plants seed to lay eggs.

My gardens are a bit wilder looking than yours so not as pretty. I do have swallowtails but have been doing this for a few years. Some like my lemon tree and others must have the parsley and dill. Very hard to keep alive in the heat.

Jane

I should have plenty of nectar plants for them when they come...salvias,
lion's ear, pentas, honeysuckle, hamelia, firecrackers, shrimp plant,
agastache.

You forgot the porterweeds, especially the purple since that is their absolute favorite. Looking great Rhonda ;-)

Thanks Jane! I was thinking my milkweed was looking sad (I always hope they stay as pristine as when planted) so your words are encouraging.

I normally would have a less organized garden but I must get all my plants in this space. But, I like that it forced me to plan :)

My neighbor has citrus trees and since she's a snowbird and up north now, I'm hoping a giant swallowtail will find the trees. I know that sounds bad lol

I planted dill and parsley in pots and you're right...it's hard to keep alive in the heat.

Tom, thanks for the kind words and for reminding me.

I also forgot the red porterweed and flowering maple that are growing from cuttings so graciously provided by you :) And, the 2 bottlebrush that are getting their second flush of blooms now.

And I have pentaspetes phonecia started from seed provided by another GW member. Welcome back to gardenweb!

Rhonda

The biggest butterfly attraction in my garden is Lantana. I have others but when that is blooming it's the only one they seem to want to go to. For Hummingbirds it's the Coral Honeysuckle and Bottlebrush. But I have many others. Zinnias are great but I don't have any in my front garden this year.

Rhonda, I'm impressed with growing pentas from seed! And how do you like your red porterweed? I have both blue and purple varieties. The purple is a BEAST. I cut it back very, very hard each February or March. Already it has grown as big as it did last year all season. The thing is huge. The blue is more reasonable. It makes a nice shrub form without running over its neighbors.

Tom (tomncath), I haven't seen you here is such a lonnnnnng time! SO HAPPY TO SEE YOUR POST! Hope all is well with you. I go back and revisit your old posts frequently. Most recently, it was for your tomato bucket setup. Wonderful to see you here.

Carol in Jacksonville

Rhonda, all the visitors in your garden are having fun. the garden looks very well planned.

Tom, I am so glad that you are back with us, I was shocked and happy at the same time this morning, hope to see you more often, don't leave us alone!

Silvia

Odd migrating hummer season just passed for me. The two birds I had in early May virtually ignored everything blooming over the feeders. A little use of purple porterweed and firebush, but nothing else. No use of the coral honeysuckle, cuphea shumannii or David Verity, or the salvia Amistad.

Hi Silvia & Carol. I'll try to be better about hanging around. I still don't like the web format changes to this forum though :-(

Your butterfly garden looks amazing. I like the balance of the plants an colors. What are the plants by the grow sign?

wow wow wow!!!!! that is amazing in such a short time!!! Beautiful!!!

Rita,

Yes, lantana is always a favorite...especially of the Gulf Frits and zebra longwings (which I haven't seen yet this year). They don't show up well in the pics but I planted them all along the outside edge of the garden. It still amazes me that bottlebrush is such a hit with the hummers as the flowers aren't tubular, really just filaments. But, they do love them.

Carol,

Pentapetes phoenicia is not a penta at all, they're in the mallow family like hollyhocks. They're an old fashioned plant that Thomas Jefferson grew at Monticello. A Gardenwebber on the butterfly site sent me some seeds :) I love the purple porterweed as it is popular with butterflies and hummers. I had red porterweed in Williston and it didn't do well there. But, I have higher hopes for it here as everyhting seems to grow here LOL Tomcath sent me some cuttings that I still have in pots. He also sent me some flowering maple cuttings. I'll provide an update once they are planted.

Silvia,

I had to do some planning on this garden to make sure that I got all my favorite plants in. I fear that I will need to divide and share next year LOL

Tom,

The only 2 migrating hummers I had a month ago used the plants (Amistad and shrimp plant) the first day then only used the feeders the remaining days of their stay. Go figure.

GardenGal,

Thanks for the kind words. The orange plant is Leonotis leonurus, commonly called Lion's Ear. I love the unique flowers too and hummers use it as well.

SMC,

Thanks! I am amazed at how quickly it's filling in. But then again, I have never gardened in SW Florida before. Things grow so fast here LOL

Rhonda

What a lovely garden! I am going to use it for inspiration when I set up a butterfly garden next year.

I wish I could send some Swallowtails your way. I have some very young citrus trees in pots and last year the caterpillars pretty much devastated a few of them. This year I tried to shoo them away from my new citrus but I lost that battle and the caterpillars are in the process of making sure I have no leaves left on my plants :-(!

VM,

Thanks for the kind words. If you have any questions when setting up your garden, please ask here or on the Butterfly Gardening forum....you'll get lots of support.

I have dill and parsley for the swallowtails and my neighbor has lime trees, so I'm hoping that some will show up and lay eggs.

Maybe I should just go to my favorite nursery and buy a tree just for the cats :) Of course, I always check any plant I buy to see if it has cats that I can bring home LOL

Rhonda

Rhonda, your garden is looking wonderful! So well planned and well tended too! Butterflies know a good thing when they see one! Please show us again before long!

Thanks Anna! I will post new pics every few months. Just since these pics my bottlebrush have started blooming heavily again :)

Rhonda

Rhonda, thanks for the info and the link on the not-a-pentas plant. I learn something here every day!

Carol

You're very welcome Carol. My ideal is to learn at least one new thing every day :)