Michigan Butterfly Garden: Before & After Photos

Oxalis

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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. :tort::tort:
 

Oxalis

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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. :)

robin.jpg
 

Oxalis

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The anemones have flowered and look delightful!

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

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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... :confused:

front_garden.jpg

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

Oxalis

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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!
 

Maro2Bear

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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

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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!
 

Yvonne G

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I LOVE this thread! Thanks for the update.
 

Maro2Bear

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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

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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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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. :D
 

Oxalis

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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. ;)

yucca_flowers.jpg

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!! :eek:

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Oxalis

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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! :confused:
 

Maro2Bear

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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.
 

Oxalis

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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.

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Obviously lots of weeding still left to do. :rolleyes:

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Maro2Bear

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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

Obviously lots of weeding still left to do. :rolleyes:

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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!
 

Oxalis

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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! :)
 

Oxalis

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

red spotted purple.jpg
 

Oxalis

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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. :<3:

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