Around the yard

It has been a busy week around the garden. Last Saturday was the plant show at Fairchild Gardens, I had a fantastic time with my sister. Okay, we have totally different taste in plants, she calls mine weeds and I feel hers are boring exotics with no potential for attracting wildlife to her yard. She looks at that as a good thing since she doesn't want the nasty little worms eating her plants. Little does she know that my son and I have plans to put in a butterfly garden for her grandson.

I got several native plants, and finally convinced my husband that another tree would look good in the front yard, we put in a necklace pod ( sophora tomentosa). Now I think it looks a bit lonely so needs some plants around it. I also got some more plants for the area in the bed in front of the pool, hoping to make that area more attractive to the butterflies by having more nectar plants. I put in a wild sage, (lantana involucrata), the native tick seed or coreopsis and a porterweed. I also bought my son a larger coontie (zamia pumila). He really likes those and the one he bought is very small and they are not fast growers. I still have a cassia to plant somewhere in the yard today. It is a host plant for some of the sulphur butterflies, which we see, but they hardly ever land, so I would like to attract more of those to our backyard.

Other than planting, we have had a few visitors, we have gulf fritillary and monarch caterpillars, and we just found some more giant swallowtails ones this morning. I am thrilled to be getting those, but wish they would give my wild lime just a bit more time to grow. I may have to take those off, get some of our key lime leaves and raise them indoors, so this poor plant can get a few more leaves. I also admit, I wouldn't mind trying to get a picture of an adult. I did see one this week, but couldn't get close enough. We also may have seen the hummingbird again.