# Michigan Butterfly Garden: Before & After Photos



## Oxalis (Mar 20, 2016)

*Before Photos*

With spring moving in, I've begun work on our horrid front-yard landscaping. With the tortoise garden in the backyard, we have spent much more time landscaping that area (we've only lived in the house for 3 years this August). @Prairie Mom suggested I post before and after photos of what will hopefully become our butterfly garden sometime later this season. My fiancé and I are huge fans and advocates of native gardening, which supports the natural ecosystem of a particular area. Even adapting native gardening in a small area, such as your yard, can really have a positive effect on the environment! I have adapted some native plants (that are safe for my Russian to eat) into my tortoise garden and you can see those in my photo albums or here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...-russian-tortoise-enclosure-and-garden.92343/

The ultimate plan for the front yard is to get rid of all the pesky lava rocks and "Windsor stones" and to replace that with new, fresher topsoil and wood chips. I think the wood chips in the backyard are a nice pine bark and we'll probably purchase the same again to match. By late summer, our butterfly garden will (hopefully) be full of milkweed (_Asclepias incarnata_), purple coneflower (_Echinacea purpurea_), maybe Joe-pye weed (_Eutrochium_ spp.), spiked blazing star (_Liatris spicata)_, bergamot (_Monarda_ spp.), and other plants that butterflies and hummingbirds love. Most of these plants should be native to Michigan or the Midwest area of North America, woo hoo! I've heard that if you want monarchs, plant _Asclepias incarnata_; and if you want swallowtails, plant dill (_Anethum graveolens_), so I may also get some dill. The milkweed is not only food for the monarchs, but it is also the plant where they lay their eggs. They cannot survive without milkweed! If this kind of gardening interests you, check out MonarchWatch.org. This is a huge project, so don't expect to hear back from me for quite a while!! XD

My fiancé is out studying for an exam, so I'll be getting a workout all by myself! Here's the very front flowerbed, just outside the front door. What you can see is a lot of dry, nutrition-less dirt where most of the lava rocks have been removed. I'm still racking some up from this area. They go down almost a foot deep!  Under that layer is some plastic tarp, which will also be removed. Almost directly under that is clay. When the housing developments came through the area in about the 1950s or so, they removed all but a tiny bit of topsoil, leaving our darn yards with more clay than we need.  We have a couple random plants down already, and they will need much more topsoil in the future. My fiancé wanted a heather plant; we put down a Chinese lantern plant that happened to really thrive; there is some milkweed; and a cardinal plant that may or may not live...  These plants are mostly still dormant from the winter.



Just last night we finished pulling out that giant root ball from the hole you can see! My fiancé did a "caber toss" kind of thing with it yesterday and got 6'!  It's pretty heavy. It was a large bush, severely overgrown, that the previous homeowner did not prune at all!  The top branches were just about growing into the gutter at the roof when I chopped all the branches off last season. Plus its absence allows more sunshine into our front room window there, where most of our plants are growing (including my precious lime tree).  I have 2 or 3 more stumps of these to remove this spring.



Here's a weeping cherry tree, which I'm thinking was planted with the original landscaping. Our neighbor across the street had one too and removed it because it doesn't seem to do very well. We've removed a lot of dead branches from it in previous seasons. Maybe it just likes to be pruned a lot. I'd personally like it entirely removed eventually and replaced with a native ornamental tree (assuming there is one).  Serviceberries are nice. The weeping cherry drops a lot of sticks and makes quite the mess. On the right is my yucca, which hasn't grown much since I planted it last year (but maybe its roots are just growing first). I really like their flowers, so it's kind of a random plant for the butterfly garden.  We like a lot of plants...




Here's the back of the front yard on the side of the house; you can see my finch feeder in the distance. Rabbits live under our back deck and often run under the fence, moving around a lot of the lava rocks. I'll be raking them and bagging them up to leave out in the garbage each week, a little bit at a time. There is NOTHING else you can do to get rid of these darn rocks!  They're incredibly frustrating to get rid of, so I advise you to seriously consider whether you want these in your garden before purchasing them! The lava rocks really take up a TON of space, which means we'll more than likely need a giant pile of topsoil dumped off at our house to refill our flower beds! 




It's only 44°F out today, so I'd better keep moving to stay warm. The sun has moved up in the sky a little so now it's back to work!


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## Yvonne G (Mar 20, 2016)

The sides might not be tall enough. I love the configuration.


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## Oxalis (Mar 20, 2016)

Shovel's broken. Fiancé's gonna kill me... 






Yvonne G said:


> The sides might not be tall enough. I love the configuration.


Which sides? If you mean for keeping the bunnies out, we've given up on that. They go wherever they like and it doesn't bother me any. But that's easy for me to say since all my tortoise plants are enclosed and safe, while all of my fiancé's are out and got nibbled on by the rabbits over the winter! XD


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## Oxalis (Mar 20, 2016)

Here's the front of our house before we bought it; lush, but kind of hidden behind those big bushes. We really wanted to open up our front window more. There's also nothing in the front flower bed except for lava rocks, so hopefully all of our flowers really add some much needed color to the yard. You can see there's another bush (that's now a stump) on the opposite side of the garage, and more lava rocks, so that will come out as well. Sigh. I need to hire some assistants!!


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## Yvonne G (Mar 20, 2016)

Oxalis said:


> Sigh. I need to hire some assistants!!




Tell me about it. I wish I had an "assistant" or two to help me with my weed problem


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## Prairie Mom (Mar 20, 2016)

Oxalis said:


> *Before Photos*
> 
> With spring moving in, I've begun work on our horrid front-yard landscaping. With the tortoise garden in the backyard, we have spent much more time landscaping that area (we've only lived in the house for 3 years this August). @Prairie Mom suggested I post before and after photos of what will hopefully become our butterfly garden sometime later this season. My fiancé and I are huge fans and advocates of native gardening, which supports the natural ecosystem of a particular area. Even adapting native gardening in a small area, such as your yard, can really have a positive effect on the environment! I have adapted some native plants (that are safe for my Russian to eat) into my tortoise garden and you can see those in my photo albums or here: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/thread...-russian-tortoise-enclosure-and-garden.92343/
> 
> ...


You're Shera the Princess of Power!!!! I can't believe the lava rocks are a foot down! I never use pebbles in my yard just because of that. I have solo dug many a garden bed and it's not for the weak hearted Your home and garden setup are BEAUTIFUL!!! I'm so excited to see all you do!


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## Prairie Mom (Mar 20, 2016)

Oxalis said:


> Shovel's broken. Fiancé's gonna kill me...
> 
> View attachment 168121
> 
> ...


Ba ha ha ha! I have a shovel that I broke the end of last summer just like this. I still have the blade. I use it to pick up tortoise poop


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## Oxalis (Mar 21, 2016)

Prairie Mom said:


> You're Shera the Princess of Power!!!! I can't believe the lava rocks are a foot down! I never use pebbles in my yard just because of that. I have solo dug many a garden bed and it's not for the weak hearted Your home and garden setup are BEAUTIFUL!!! I'm so excited to see all you do!


Thanks so much! I'm so tired from yesterday!! I don't think anything will get done after work today. 


Prairie Mom said:


> Ba ha ha ha! I have a shovel that I broke the end of last summer just like this. I still have the blade. I use it to pick up tortoise poop


Aww, thanks! Turns out my fiancé already heard the wood cracking on it so we bought a new one and a holder for the hose at the hardware store yesterday. When we got home, we got another big stump out of the ground and removed a couple branches from a tree that were growing over our garage. Small achievements!!


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## Jacqui (Mar 23, 2016)

Oxalis said:


> Shovel's broken. Fiancé's gonna kill me...




Lol that's what my son does with shovels (and other tools)


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## Oxalis (Apr 25, 2016)

I spent most of this weekend recovering from a busy work week and catching up on dishes and laundry! Unfortunately that pushes the butterfly garden further down on the to-do list.  But to update, hubby had to remove all the Chinese lantern plants (_Physalis alkekengi_) we threw in there last season. They were beginning to take over the area and were circling around hubby's heather plant. The nights are still rather cold, so the milkweed has not yet begun its spring growth. The weeping cherry tree (which we may end up removing eventually) is now flowering so I'll be sure to get a photo of it later today.

I think I have all my seeds together, so if I can clear enough ground of lava rocks in the next few days, I'll be able to get those in the ground!!!  I'll post which seeds I've planted once I do so. The trunks, branches, even roots of those annoying bushes we removed made some great firewood once they dried out (which didn't take long at all)!  So we're slowly progressing...


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## Oxalis (Apr 25, 2016)

Our weeping cherry tree:




I filled up the trash can with lava rocks so I'm done for the day!


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## Oxalis (May 1, 2016)

Updates!  Recently, we tore out the Chinese lantern plants (_Physalis alkekengi_) from the front yard, worried they would take over the area. Here they were, growing back with a vengeance:




Hubby's parents "gave" us some of the yuccas in their yard they no longer wanted ("gave" as in, he dug some up in the cold and rain last night) and we planted them in our yard this morning. Which meant we needed to clear some lava rocks out of the front area to provide more dirt for the plants. While we did rake some away from the front flower bed, we tried to redistribute them and cover some with more dirt. We found some nice black soil underneath so we figured we'd put down the rest of our seeds and see what happens. The seeds listed below have different germination codes so I haven't a clue what, if any, will come up!

Here you can see the seeds sprinkled about with about 3 or 4 different varieties of bulbs (which were free from my aunt and I've no idea anymore what kinds of flowers they are).





The best part was opening up the milkweed pod we'd harvested last fall and spreading the fuzzy seeds into the garden! 




Here are the seeds we planted:


Roundstone Native Seed Co. - Butterfly and Hummingbird Mix [Contains: 4 native grass species and 15 native wildflower species: Common Milkweed (_Asclepias syriaca_), Butterfly Milkweed (_Asclepias tuberosa_), Blackeyed Susan (_Rudbeckia hirta_), Purple Coneflower (_Echinacea purpurea_), False Sunflower (_Heliopsis helianthoides_), Spiked Blazing Star (_Liatris spicata_), Bergamot (_Monarda fistulosa_), Royal Catchfly (_Silene regia_), Joe-Pye Weed (_Eupatorium fistulosum_), Swamp Milkweed (_Asclepias incarnata_), Cardinal Flower (_Lobelia cardinalis_), New England Aster (_Aster novae-angliae_), Rigid Goldenrod (_Solidago rigida_), Great Blue Lobelia (_Lobelia siphilitica_), Little Bluestem (_Schizachyrium scoparium_), Indian Grass (_Sorghastrum nutans_), Virginia Wild Rye (_Elymus virginicus_), Switchgrass (_Panicum virgatum_)]
Burpee Mammoth Dill (_Anethum graveolens_) - Apparently the swallowtail butterflies love it. You could smell the dill from just the seeds!
Prairie Moon Butterfly Weed (_Asclepias tuberosa_)
Prairie Moon Rose Milkweed (_Asclepias incarnata_)
Prairie Moon Michigan Lily (_Lilium michiganense_)
Prairie Moon Prairie Lily (_Lilium philadelphicum_)
Burpee Zinnia Giant Flowered mix - Butterflies apparently love zinnias!
Burpee's Bee and Butterfly Flower Mix (More info here!) - We got this packet for free at the Belle Isle Nature Zoo.

Here's the front after Hubby finished raking out the new soil, which should have mixed the seeds around more too. Soon we'll be able to cover the area with mulch and remove the Windsor blocks (exchanging them for the yuccas to Hubby's parents!).  A lot of the lava rocks we raked toward the weeping cherry tree, so we're "renovating" in sections!


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## Oxalis (May 2, 2016)

Surprise! Last day of my semester and came home to open the koinobori in the mail!  Just in time for Children's Day on May 5 (celebrated in Japan). I love the carp wind sockets and we're big on multiculturalism -- I know we're not in Japan.  I wandered from the traditional ones so we could make it our own tradition. And yes, the little green one represents Steve the tortoise!


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## Yelloweyed (May 8, 2016)

Yay for Steve's koinobori. During Christmas our mantle is full with stockings, 4 for human family plus 8 for non-human family.


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## Oxalis (May 27, 2016)

UPDATE: Very happy to report that our recently planted milkweed is still doing quite well, and we haven't had very much rain lately, so it's good to know that these plants are so tolerant of our weather. 

I will post photos when we get home; we have some seedlings coming up although who knows what everything is since I seed-bombed the heck out of everything. It looked like there were mostly weeds outside the area where we mulched, obviously. 

Also super happy that hubby and his dad started loading up some of those pesky Windsor blocks last night. They will be using them at their cottage to prevent erosion as they reside on a hillside. Otherwise, we had planned to sell the blocks on Craigslist, but I like this idea better -- it's less money my parents-in-law have to spend.  So all good stuff. The only crummy news is that the heat (and a lack of extra time) has kept us from working in the yard more and our replanted yuccas don't seem very happy. Good thing they were free! Photos coming this weekend!


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## Oxalis (Jul 28, 2016)

Crazy growth in our "butterfly garden" so far!  And unfortunately, lots of weeds, and with school, I haven't had time to pull them all out yet. 

Here's the first sunflower I've grown!!  I just threw the seeds in the dirt on a whim because I'd had the seeds for a year or more and didn't think they'd be viable anymore. There are a couple more stalks, one that gets more water and sun and it's twice as tall as this one but the bud hasn't opened yet. So more sunflower photos to come.


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## TerrapinStation (Jul 29, 2016)

Very cool. The squirrels will have a heyday with that sunflower come fall..... 

Best of luck!


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## Momof4 (Jul 29, 2016)

My butterfly garden died in our heat 

Yours looks great!!


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## Oxalis (Jul 30, 2016)

TerrapinStation said:


> Very cool. The squirrels will have a heyday with that sunflower come fall.....
> 
> Best of luck!


Thanks! I'll need it!!! 


Momof4 said:


> My butterfly garden died in our heat
> 
> Yours looks great!!


I'm sorry to hear about your garden! I haven't spent nearly enough time caring for it this spring because of school. I'm hoping to have an even better garden next year. Hubby just weeded the other day, so it should perk up our milkweed.


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## Oxalis (Jul 31, 2016)

Here are some more photos from the other day. I threw some zinnia seeds down and they really went to town!




We found some more milkweed when it bloomed too. We put down more milkweed seeds than anything else, so I'm not surprised.  I didn't see any dill come up so that was a bit of a bummer, but I'll try again next year. Hubby tore out most of the grassy looking weeds in these photos and we actually found more baby milkweed plants. Yay!


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## Oxalis (Jul 31, 2016)

I took lots of study breaks today. One was up to Lowe's so I purchased (why not?) and planted a new hollyhock (different flower color than the plant in the tort garden) and an orange coneflower.  They look nice for now; hopefully they still do tomorrow too!


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## Oxalis (Aug 12, 2016)

Oxalis said:


> Shovel's broken. Fiancé's gonna kill me...
> 
> View attachment 168121


Hubby was smart enough to put "world's best shovel" on the registry. This steel one seems fairly unbreakable, but we'll see!! XD Here's our front garden at the moment. I just watered. The hollyhock and orange coneflower are some of the newest additions.




Here are the sunflowers. NO IDEA how these came up; I swear I only had two, maybe three, seeds! The tallest is probably around 7 feet (2.1 meters) tall.


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## Oxalis (Aug 12, 2016)

I realized I didn't include the pretty flower photos! Here is the pretty pink and yellow hollyhock (_Alcea_ spp.) from Lowe's:




Our orange coneflower, (_Echinacea_ spp.), which likes more water than we've been receiving in rain; also from Lowe's:




Another photo of the lovely _Zinna_ spp., on which I just missed a butterfly photo opportunity!!! The little swallowtail was too quick for me, but he was definitely checking out the zinnias. So despite them being annuals, I will definitely get more next year, especially because the butterflies clearly do like them, but also because they stay in bloom and are colorful for quite a while!  (Our yard could really use the color!)




Here is the "butterfly weed" milkweed (_Asclepias tuberosa_), which has grown a bit. Some of it's still in bloom.




Our swamp milkweed (_Asclepias incarnata_) has grown a bit taller and is already seeding!! Crazy plant, this one is. XD


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## MichaelaW (Aug 12, 2016)

Oxalis said:


> I realized I didn't include the pretty flower photos! Here is the pretty pink and yellow hollyhock (_Alcea_ spp.) from Lowe's:
> 
> View attachment 183390
> 
> ...


Try growing zinnias from seed. They get huge!


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## Oxalis (Aug 12, 2016)

MichaelaW said:


> Try growing zinnias from seed. They get huge!


I think these were from seed!


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## Prairie Mom (Aug 12, 2016)

Oxalis said:


> Here are some more photos from the other day. I threw some zinnia seeds down and they really went to town!
> 
> View attachment 181975
> 
> ...


So cool and SO IMPORTANT that you planted Milkweed. I'm so impressed


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## Prairie Mom (Aug 12, 2016)

Oxalis said:


> Hubby was smart enough to put "world's best shovel" on the registry. This steel one seems fairly unbreakable, but we'll see!! XD Here's our front garden at the moment. I just watered. The hollyhock and orange coneflower are some of the newest additions.
> 
> View attachment 183383
> 
> ...


Looks really great! I also love that the tortoise statue is "drinking" from the rain spout


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## Oxalis (Aug 13, 2016)

Prairie Mom said:


> So cool and SO IMPORTANT that you planted Milkweed. I'm so impressed


Thanks, we love to support the butterflies! 


Prairie Mom said:


> Looks really great! I also love that the tortoise statue is "drinking" from the rain spout


He keeps the wind from blowing our downspout away.  He has a very important job.


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## Prairie Mom (Aug 13, 2016)

Oxalis said:


> Thanks, we love to support the butterflies!
> 
> He keeps the wind from blowing our downspout away.  He has a very important job.


Cute and functional!!!


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## Oxalis (Sep 13, 2016)

The garden is really starting to improve and turn into a native garden! We've removed more of the Windsor blocks along the edges of the garden and weeded as often as we can. We're still pulling out lava rocks, slowly making our way around the house.  We may have a trailer over this weekend to fill it up with more rocks, yay! But most important, we recently visited a native nursery and picked up some fun plants: prairie smoke (_Geum triflorum_); nodding onion (_Allium cernuum_); hairy bush clover (_Lespedeza hirta_); purple prairie clover (_Dalea purpurea_); wild bergamot (_Monarda fistulosa_); and two Michigan lilies (_Lilium michiganense_). We fenced off the lilies to help them get established. They seem to be quite difficult to grow. I've lost my other one so I imagine either the rabbits ate it or it just died because it wasn't happy. I'll have to get more photos as new flowers grow, but here are a couple photos from Labor Day weekend that I never got a chance to post.





Even now the zinnias are still in bloom!!  I'm so getting more next year!


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## Oxalis (Oct 25, 2016)

We finally got married! Huzzah!  I wanted to decorate the tables at the reception with gourds, and the extras ended up on our front porch. 





Coincidentally, I used the zinnas in the photo for my bouquet.


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## MichaelaW (Oct 26, 2016)

Oxalis said:


> We finally got married! Huzzah!  I wanted to decorate the tables at the reception with gourds, and the extras ended up on our front porch.
> 
> View attachment 190457
> View attachment 190458
> ...


Congratulations!!!


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## saginawhxc (Oct 26, 2016)

Congratulations!


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## Oxalis (Oct 26, 2016)

MichaelaW said:


> Congratulations!!!





saginawhxc said:


> Congratulations!


Many thanks!!  I was able to get Steve the tortoise in a few photos that morning, so I'll have to share them when the photographer gets back to us.


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## Yvonne G (Oct 26, 2016)

(Looking forward to the pictures)​


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## saginawhxc (Oct 26, 2016)

I told Steph that when we get married I want to have the sulcata march the ring out to us. She didn't think it was a good idea, so I told her I can't marry her if she doesn't see the awesomeness of that.


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## Yvonne G (Oct 26, 2016)

saginawhxc said:


> I told Steph that when we get married I want to have the sulcata march the ring out to us. She didn't think it was a good idea, so I told her I can't marry her if she doesn't see the awesomeness of that.



Well, it IS awesome, however, you'd probably lose the ring (and the tortoise) before it made it down the aisle.


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## Oxalis (Apr 1, 2017)

Just picked up a clementine blue columbine from Lowe's that I couldn't pass up.


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## Gus. (Apr 16, 2017)

I wish my garden looked like that. Great work!


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## Oxalis (Apr 18, 2017)

Gus. said:


> I wish my garden looked like that. Great work!


Thanks! I'm hoping to do more this year too.


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## MichaelaW (Apr 18, 2017)

You are such an inspiration!


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## Alicia Hoogstra (Apr 19, 2017)

Where are you located in MI ?


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## Momof4 (Apr 19, 2017)

I tried last year but everything died! 
It either got eaten by rabbits, we had broken sprinklers and 100 degrees days. They never had a chance. 
I was so sad. Plus, I spent a fortune on the plants!


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## Alicia Hoogstra (Apr 20, 2017)

If anyone is interested I have several perennial plants that are SUPER butterfly magnets. I would be happy to share...(free)! Also check out Cheerios's "Save the bees", they are giving away free seeds to attract honey bees.


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## Oxalis (Apr 26, 2017)

MichaelaW said:


> You are such an inspiration!


Many thanks!! My husband and I are really enjoying increasing the Michigan native plants in our yard.  It's better for the birds and butterflies who already live here.


Alicia Hoogstra said:


> Where are you located in MI ?


Around the Detroit area.


Momof4 said:


> I tried last year but everything died!
> It either got eaten by rabbits, we had broken sprinklers and 100 degrees days. They never had a chance.
> I was so sad. Plus, I spent a fortune on the plants!


Aww, I'm sorry to hear that! I've had trouble with a few plants, but most of my hubby's plants in the backyard have been nibbled on by rabbits, mostly just during the winter. All of my tort plants were fine because they were caged off. Maybe try more native plants? I know milkweed is great for monarchs but not even deer will touch it.  There are some native California milkweed species, according to USDA Plants: https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=ASCLE And if they seed like ours did this past year, you won't run out of milkweed any time soon!


Alicia Hoogstra said:


> If anyone is interested I have several perennial plants that are SUPER butterfly magnets. I would be happy to share...(free)! Also check out Cheerios's "Save the bees", they are giving away free seeds to attract honey bees.


Sweet! Thanks for sharing!  We're very concerned about our honeybees over here!! An important lesson to help plant more native wildflowers in your area.


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## Oxalis (May 25, 2017)

New Michigan butterfly plants in the ground this year, from a local native nursery, *Wildtype*:

Lead plant, _Amorpha canescens_
Pussytoes, _Antennaria neglecta_
Angelica, _Angelica atropurpurea_
Golden Alexander, _Zizia aurea_ - I got three of these! 
Bearberry, _Arctostaphylos uva-ursi_
Common milkweed, _Asclepias syriaca_
Sweet everlasting, _Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium_ (formerly _Gnaphalium_ sp.) - This plant seems just like maple syrup! 
Wild false indigo, _Baptisia lactea_

I'm hoping to get A LOT more native plants (like a whole tray's worth) once I've opened up more space.




The hollyhock (at the back of the photo) is already super big. The swamp milkweed (in the front middle) is very happy near the downspout! 




The bearberry plant is in a cage because I was told it's a very fragile plant, and the rabbits worry me!




I specifically picked these species because they're on the south side of the house, which is generally full sun and drier soil, which they can tolerate. I know the plants are just babies so far, but hopefully they survive the rabbits and spread all over our front yard.  We still have a long way to go in regards to pulling out the lava rocks and replacing it with better soil and pine bark mulch (especially since we're not calling a company to come pull out the rocks for us).  We're also planning on replacing the trees in the front landscaping (a weeping cherry and a crab apple) perhaps with species closer to natives as well; I'd love an American smoke tree (_Cotinus obovatus_) if we can find one for sale. Lots of work to do!


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## Alicia Hoogstra (May 26, 2017)

It's going to be amazing!!!!!


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## Alicia Hoogstra (May 26, 2017)

I have the native prickly pear I would be happy to send you, if you'd like.


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## Oxalis (May 27, 2017)

Alicia Hoogstra said:


> I have the native prickly pear I would be happy to send you, if you'd like.


I have some too, in our backyard. I'm _really_ hoping it flowers this year. I think the rabbit may have pricked himself on the spine the other day...


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## Alicia Hoogstra (May 28, 2017)

Mine took 2 years to bloom. Now the blooms are beautiful!


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## Alicia Hoogstra (May 28, 2017)

Do you have bee balm? I have lots and would love to share


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## Oxalis (May 28, 2017)

Alicia Hoogstra said:


> Do you have bee balm? I have lots and would love to share


Thanks!! We do have a little bit. One of mine came back super quick from the winter. I'm expecting it to grow even bigger this year.


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## Oxalis (May 28, 2017)

Oxalis said:


> Sweet everlasting, _Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium_ (formerly _Gnaphalium_ sp.) - This plant seems just like maple syrup!


Sorry, I meant "smells just like maple syrup."


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## Oxalis (Jun 16, 2017)

Alicia Hoogstra said:


> Mine took 2 years to bloom. Now the blooms are beautiful!


Muahaha! Our backyard _Opuntia_ is beautiful with blooms, finally! 




I have some photos from our front yard butterfly garden to post later too.


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## Alicia Hoogstra (Jun 19, 2017)

Beautiful!!


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## Oxalis (Aug 8, 2017)

Update: The happy little Monarch stopped by our swamp milkweed recently!  We were walking back from the store and luckily grabbed a few photos from our crummy dumbphones. ^_^


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## Oxalis (Aug 8, 2017)

Seems I forgot to post some photos of our flowers too! Our hollyhock is some ten feet tall and had lots of blooms in July.




The "native genotype" _Opuntia_ bloomed this year too, with nice colors.




Stevie enjoyed a nice cactus flower snack this summer too. What a lucky butt! XD




Everything really grew this year, despite an obvious need for rain this season. But our native plants are adapted to the occasional Michigan summer drought and are doing well. It is important to try to water them a little more their first year in the ground, so they can get better established. Our serviceberry (_Amelanchier_ spp.) was shorter than me this spring and now it's way taller than my husband (who's 6'). We can't wait to see which birds the berries attract!


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## Alicia Hoogstra (Aug 13, 2017)

Here are a few pictures of my happy little visitors!


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## Alicia Hoogstra (Aug 13, 2017)

And..more of my gardens


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## Oxalis (Aug 13, 2017)

Alicia Hoogstra said:


> Here are a few pictures of my happy little visitors!


Awesome! Is that globe flower _Alium_?


Alicia Hoogstra said:


> And..more of my gardens


Looks lovely! I was about to ask you how gardening was going for you this year.  I can't wait till ours looks like that.


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## Alicia Hoogstra (Aug 14, 2017)

The Globe flower is Globe Thistle. I do have Alium too


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## Oxalis (Aug 14, 2017)

Alicia Hoogstra said:


> The Globe flower is Globe Thistle. I do have Alium too


Ooooo, _Echinops_ spp. Very nice! I just might look into that plant, especially if the butterflies enjoy it. It's not a native but maybe Steve will enjoy snacking on it.


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## Oxalis (Apr 29, 2018)

2018 updates: We're still working to slowly renovate our butterfly garden. We removed a non-native crab apple tree and may replace it with a smaller, native tree or shrub, like a serviceberry. Some of the native wildflowers are slowly beginning to grow back from the winter. Here is a robin's nest above our garden. She has 4 little eggies inside the nest now.


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## Oxalis (May 16, 2018)

The anemones have flowered and look delightful!







The flower of the prairie smoke opened and gave it a nice poofy hairdo. It grew a lot since the winter!!




Hubby made some small progress by planting some native butterfly plants that I helped him pick out. I'll have to ask him which plants these are. We plan to put down more of the pine bark mulch throughout our butterfly garden. We need so much more mulch... 




I also forgot to plant my zinnia and dill seeds!!


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## Oxalis (Jun 1, 2018)

The yuccas are growing stalks this year, which means pretty white flowers! ^_^


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## Maro2Bear (Jun 2, 2018)

Nice thread of your garden project. It’s all looking good. Any luck with the milkweed? I gathered some pods last year...great native weed for the natural garden effect.


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## Oxalis (Jun 2, 2018)

Maro2Bear said:


> Nice thread of your garden project. It’s all looking good. Any luck with the milkweed? I gathered some pods last year...great native weed for the natural garden effect.


I think so! The little plants to the right of the yucca should be milkweed. I think we have two species growing now. I plan to get lots more; that and golden Alexander. Lots of butterfly plants!


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## Maro2Bear (Jun 2, 2018)

Oxalis said:


> I think so! The little plants to the right of the yucca should be milkweed. I think we have two species growing now. I plan to get lots more; that and golden Alexander. Lots of butterfly plants!



A really good butterfly plant is a perennial called JoePye weed... it really grows well, to a nice height, perfect for the back part of your garden, etc.

From wiki, Eutrochium purpureum, commonly known as purple Joe-Pye weed, kidney-root, sweetscented joe pye weed, sweet Joe-Pye weed, gravel root, or trumpet weed is an herbaceous perennial plant in the sunflower family.


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## Yvonne G (Jun 2, 2018)

Oxalis said:


> I think so! The little plants to the right of the yucca should be milkweed. I think we have two species growing now. I plan to get lots more; that and golden Alexander. Lots of butterfly plants!


No, those look like horseweed to me, not milkweed. A very obnoxious weed that if allowed to go to seed will give you hundreds, nay I say, Billions of plants next year - all over your and your neighbor's properties!


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## Yvonne G (Jun 2, 2018)

I LOVE this thread! Thanks for the update.


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## Maro2Bear (Jun 2, 2018)

Yvonne G said:


> No, those look like horseweed to me, not milkweed. A very obnoxious weed that if allowed to go to seed will give you hundreds, nay I say, Billions of plants next year - all over your and your neighbor's properties!




I agree, hard to know exactly what plant, but none of those non-yucca plants look like milkweed to me. But...maybe, upper lefthand corner, circled here in red, might be...can’t see the leaves clearly. But.... it’s all looking good!


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## Oxalis (Jun 2, 2018)

Maro2Bear said:


> I agree, hard to know exactly what plant, but none of those non-yucca plants look like milkweed to me. But...maybe, upper lefthand corner, circled here in red, might be...can’t see the leaves clearly. But.... it’s all looking good!
> 
> View attachment 240688


Thanks for the tips from you and @Yvonne G. I can't say for sure what's in the butterfly garden at the moment. My husband is more of the natives "expert" but often forgets to weed... I would instead call myself an expert of the tort plants in Steve's garden, since I have to be sure he's eating what's safe for him.


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## Oxalis (Jun 19, 2018)

Some of our front garden at the moment. The milkweed has its ever charming orange flowers, and my lovely yuccas bloomed this year! <3 I also don't remember planting blanket flower there, but hey, there it is! I pulled out much of the horseweed, thanks to @Yvonne G for identifying it. 




Trying to get some more plants established although we've really been busy with other projects so far this year. I have a variegated yucca and other butterfly plants like _Monarda_ spp. and false indigo (either _Baptisia australis_ or _Baptisia lactea_). And a robin's nest. We have so many robins this year!!


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## Oxalis (Jun 23, 2018)

Yvonne G said:


> No, those look like horseweed to me, not milkweed. A very obnoxious weed that if allowed to go to seed will give you hundreds, nay I say, Billions of plants next year - all over your and your neighbor's properties!


Now that you've pointed it out to me, I've found tons more in the backyard too!


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## Maro2Bear (Jun 23, 2018)

Remind me to send you some Joe Pye weed later this year.... nice tall plant, perennial, and the butterflies love them once flowering.

So the one circled did turn out to be milkweed? Looks like it.


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## Oxalis (Jun 23, 2018)

Maro2Bear said:


> Remind me to send you some Joe Pye weed later this year.... nice tall plant, perennial, and the butterflies love them once flowering.
> 
> So the one circled did turn out to be milkweed? Looks like it.


Yup, we have some milkweed there and it's in bloom now. The orange flowers have added some much needed color to our cloudy days.




Obviously lots of weeding still left to do.


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## Maro2Bear (Jun 23, 2018)

Oxalis said:


> Yup, we have some milkweed there and it's in bloom now. The orange flowers have added some much needed color to our cloudy days.
> 
> View attachment 242861
> 
> ...



Great...what plant there with the milkweed is putting out those orange flowers? Almost looks like Yarrow. Really bright... weeds...yep, they are part of the process, aren’t they. We’ve had close to 15 inches of rain over the last two months....mix in some 90 degree days, and presto changeo - weeds!


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## Oxalis (Jun 23, 2018)

Maro2Bear said:


> Great...what plant there with the milkweed is putting out those orange flowers? Almost looks like Yarrow. Really bright... weeds...yep, they are part of the process, aren’t they. We’ve had close to 15 inches of rain over the last two months....mix in some 90 degree days, and presto changeo - weeds!


So the stalks with the larger leaves should be common milkweed (_Asclepias syriaca_), and the orange flowers are another species of milkweed called butterfly weed (_Asclepias tuberosa_). In the U.S., there are well over 50 species of milkweed in the _Asclepias_ genus, if you look on the USDA Plants Database!


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## Oxalis (Aug 22, 2018)

What I think is the red-spotted purple stopped by our massive cup plants recently.


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## Oxalis (Aug 31, 2018)

We're officially a monarch hangout!! Yesterday I found a caterpillar on one of our milkweed plants. Of course he picked the smallest of our milkweeds to chomp on. He's pretty big, so I'm hoping to see a chrysalis soon. I'm so glad the monarchs have decided our yard is a suitable enough location to lay their eggs.


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## Maro2Bear (Aug 31, 2018)

Oxalis said:


> We're officially a monarch hangout!! Yesterday I found a caterpillar on one of our milkweed plants. Of course he picked the smallest of our milkweeds to chomp on. He's pretty big, so I'm hoping to see a chrysalis soon. I'm so glad the monarchs have decided our yard is a suitable enough location to lay their eggs.
> 
> View attachment 250096



Nice updates, lots of progress!


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## Oxalis (Aug 31, 2018)

Maro2Bear said:


> Nice updates, lots of progress!


Thanks!! We've been remodeling our kitchen so I haven't been doing as much gardening as I would have liked this season. I do have a couple baby milkweed plants to put in the ground to start expanding this garden more though.  My ultimate goal is to get one of these signs in my front yard!!


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## Oxalis (Nov 11, 2018)

The pumpkins my husband and I carved for Halloween this year, next to all of the gourds that our garden grew. I got one that was part gourd; I named him "Lumpy."


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## Oxalis (May 6, 2019)

Mama robin's eggs hatched in our front yard. The little babies are growing quickly!


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## Oxalis (May 11, 2019)

*Big update!!* The other day, hubby and his dad cleaned out almost all of the lava rocks from the west side of the house and filled in the area with fresh dirt. Yesterday, we picked up a number of native seedlings from the Wildtype nursery that should be tasty for our butterflies.  I wanted to start with some variety, hoping that most of these get established and really fill in the area, and then add something different next year if we end up with additional empty space. I drew up a "plan" for where to plant everything (taller plants in the back) and hubby put them in this morning. He added some of the dirt from our compost bin, so I hope that helps them grow faster. I also found some Burpee mammoth dill seeds in our fridge so he threw them in wherever there was empty space (these aren't native but butterflies tend to enjoy them). We have a few more milkweed seeds from our plants last year that we can add as well. The Penn sedge kind of lines the garden from the lawn.

*Full list of our new plants:*

Jacob's Ladder (_Polemonium reptans_)
Butterfly Weed (_Asclepias tuberosa_)
Swamp Milkweed (_Asclepias incarnata_)
Tall Sunflower (_Helianthus giganteus_)
Marsh Blazing Star (_Liatris spicata_)
Blue Lobelia (_Lobelia siphilitica_)
Western Sunflower (_Helianthus occidentalis_)
Pale Purple Coneflower (_Echinacea pallida_)
Purple Coneflower (_Echinacea purpurea_)
Yellow Coneflower (_Ratibida pinnata_)
Beebalm (_Monarda fistulosa_)
Horsemint (_Monarda punctata_)
Beardtongue (_Penstemon digitalis_)
Wild Indigo (_Baptisia tinctoria_)
Ironweed (_Vernonia missurica_)
Black-eyed Susan (_Rudbeckia hirta_)
Tall Tickseed (_Coreopsis tripteris_)
Pennsylvania (Penn) Sedge (_Carex pensylvanica_)
Mammoth Dill (_Anethum graveolens_)

Here is the area previously:



Oxalis said:


> View attachment 168079



And this morning:




One of the Jacob's ladder (_Polemonium reptans_) was in bloom when we purchased it. I love the purple bell flowers!




The prairie smoke (_Geum triflorum_) in the front of the house is in bloom. It's grown since last year. It's also from Wildtype.




At least one of our anemones came back and is already blooming (we randomly threw in some bulbs we'd gotten for free).




Many of the native plants from the front yard are coming back nicely.




All that's left to clear of lava rocks is the corner of the flower bed where the weeping cherry tree is, and the small flower bed on the other side of the garage. We may also replace the cherry tree with something more native, like an American smoketree (_Cotinus obovatus_), which is native to Tennessee, Arkansas, and a few other states. And then lots of weeding. Weeding forever.


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## Pearly (May 12, 2019)

Oxalis said:


> *Big update!!* The other day, hubby and his dad cleaned out almost all of the lava rocks from the west side of the house and filled in the area with fresh dirt. Yesterday, we picked up a number of native seedlings from the Wildtype nursery that should be tasty for our butterflies.  I wanted to start with some variety, hoping that most of these get established and really fill in the area, and then add something different next year if we end up with additional empty space. I drew up a "plan" for where to plant everything (taller plants in the back) and hubby put them in this morning. He added some of the dirt from our compost bin, so I hope that helps them grow faster. I also found some Burpee mammoth dill seeds in our fridge so he threw them in wherever there was empty space (these aren't native but butterflies tend to enjoy them). We have a few more milkweed seeds from our plants last year that we can add as well. The Penn sedge kind of lines the garden from the lawn.
> 
> *Full list of our new plants:*
> 
> ...



Can’t wait to see this garden grow and all the Visitors that come for all that yummy nectar!


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## Pearly (May 12, 2019)

Oxalis said:


> *Big update!!* The other day, hubby and his dad cleaned out almost all of the lava rocks from the west side of the house and filled in the area with fresh dirt. Yesterday, we picked up a number of native seedlings from the Wildtype nursery that should be tasty for our butterflies.  I wanted to start with some variety, hoping that most of these get established and really fill in the area, and then add something different next year if we end up with additional empty space. I drew up a "plan" for where to plant everything (taller plants in the back) and hubby put them in this morning. He added some of the dirt from our compost bin, so I hope that helps them grow faster. I also found some Burpee mammoth dill seeds in our fridge so he threw them in wherever there was empty space (these aren't native but butterflies tend to enjoy them). We have a few more milkweed seeds from our plants last year that we can add as well. The Penn sedge kind of lines the garden from the lawn.
> 
> *Full list of our new plants:*
> 
> ...



Can’t wait to see this garden grow and all the Visitors that come for all that yummy nectar!


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## Oxalis (May 14, 2019)

Pearly said:


> Can’t wait to see this garden grow and all the Visitors that come for all that yummy nectar!


Me too!!


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## Oxalis (Jul 7, 2019)

I must say our butterfly garden is quite the success this season! First, some photos from early June I never got around to posting:

A double rainbow and some good rain.




A mysterious yellow flower I don't remember planting. I looked in 4 wildflower books to no avail, so it must be something store-bought. Looks like a bulb plant.




Fluffy prairie smoke (_Geum triflorum_) flowers seeding.




Growing plants under the front window. Some are probably weeds now; we're waiting for them to bloom first.




Some of the new plants on the side of the house. One of the butterfly weed (_Asclepias tuberosa_) is almost ready to bloom.




Columbine in the backyard in bloom. The hummingbird stopped by a few times for it.




Hubby's southern blue flag iris (_Iris virginica_) in the backyard.




And now here are the photos from today!

Hubby trained a native rose to grow up the back deck railing. If we ever build an arbor/trellis, we'll definitely get this plant for it. The bees love the flowers! It's either _Rosa carolina_, _R. setigera_, or _R. palustris_, I'm not sure at the moment.  It has grown very well and was nicely pruned at a smaller size by our local bunnies. There's also a monarch butterfly on the black-eyed Susan at the left of the photo.




More rose blooms with a bunch of other natives: black-eyed Susan (_Rudbeckia hirta_), spiderwort (_Tradescantia_ spp.), green-headed coneflower (_Rudbeckia laciniata_), and possibly some _Monarda_ spp. too. The columbine looks like it's seeding now.




The butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is now as brightly colored as it's going to get!! We have seen a monarch caterpillar on it but with so many milkweed plants out there this year, he's gotten hard to find.




It smells very fragrant out there today! There is some standard purple coneflower (_Echinacea purpurea_) as well as a 'Cheyenne Spirit' variety that appears more reddish orange; non-native hollyhock (_Alcea_ spp.); and the tall stalks in the back are common milkweed (_Asclepias syriaca_).










And the little blazing star (_Liatris_ spp.) behind the yucca is just starting to bloom.


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## Maro2Bear (Jul 7, 2019)

Everything looks great! Nice update.


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## Oxalis (Jul 10, 2019)

A few more photos of our plants:

This should be red baneberry (_Actaea rubra_). The fruit is poisonous, true to its name, but the native plant does provide some nice decoration.




Here's how the new plants are doing. In their first year, they should be using more energy to put down roots than to grow taller. I expect most of them to flower in their second season.




Along our fence, we have some wonderful cup plant (_Silphium perfoliatum_), the tallest of which measure at about 8 feet. I can't say enough about how much I love this plant! The name comes from the rainwater cupping ability of the leaves, which are fused around the stem. Although the flowers are rather unexceptional, pollinators love them. When they seed in the fall, the goldfinches go crazy for them. We're happy to keep this plant in our backyard as the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service lists it as "threatened" in Michigan.




Looking upward, I'm dwarfed by the cup plant.




More of our orange and purple coneflower.


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## Oxalis (Jul 23, 2019)

The swallowtail stopped by for some coneflower. The monarch landed on some milkweed leaves and looked like it may have even been laying eggs on them. We'll see. More photos later!


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## Oxalis (Jul 24, 2019)

Two types of _Monarda_ in bloom in our butterfly garden: Beebalm/Horsemint (_Monarda punctata_) on the left, and Wild Bergamot/Bee Balm (_Monarda fistulosa_) on the right. We've seen lots of butterflies this summer, so we're really loving our new garden!!


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## Pearly (Jul 27, 2019)

Oxalis said:


> Two types of _Monarda_ in bloom in our butterfly garden: Beebalm/Horsemint (_Monarda punctata_) on the left, and Wild Bergamot/Bee Balm (_Monarda fistulosa_) on the right. We've seen lots of butterflies this summer, so we're really loving our new garden!!
> 
> View attachment 277161



Absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE your pictures!!!! Gorgeous flowers!!!!!


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## Oxalis (Aug 2, 2019)

Pearly said:


> Absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE your pictures!!!! Gorgeous flowers!!!!!


Thanks so much, @Pearly!! I am just astonished at how few seasons it took to turn our yard into such an amazing ecosystem! It seems like all we did was put down some native plants, and then the plants did their thing, propagating and attracting the many pollinators that call Michigan home. This year, we've seen all kinds of organisms calling our yard home, like birds, bunnies, butterflies, dragonflies, hummingbirds, and some insects I've never seen before. We have increased the biodiversity so much for just a quarter acre of space. When I see so much wildlife enjoying these plants, I remember that we put those plants down for them, and not for us, and then I feel part of something so much bigger than just my backyard.
















Hubby's _Hibiscus moscheutos_ 'Kopper King' in bloom:


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