The Yellow Farmhouse Garden

Many gardeners are becoming interested in growing butterfly gardens. I will be putting together a list at work at the MBGNA gardens, for an exhibit garden about attracting butterflies. Today I’ll write about flowers that the adult butterflies readily come to for nectar. An even more ambitious garden is one that includes plants that the larvae of butterflies need to eat, but that will have to be another blog.

Butterflies are looking for flowers that have lots of nectar and a good landing platform for them to cling to. Small tubular flowers are especially adapted to the butterflies’ probiscus- its’ specially shaped tongue that works like a straw. These tubular flowers cannot be too long or the butterfly cannot reach all the way down to the nectar which is usually at the base of the petals.

So after a quick look at my favorite flower catalog, Select Seeds, I’ve come up with this list of flowers for attracting butterflies.

Thyme

Valerian

Heliotrope

Asclepias incarnata (common name-Red Swallowwort)

Phlox

Allysum

Verbena (all the different kinds of verbena are good. The Verbena bonariensis is very easy to grow here in Michigan)

Thistle

Scabiosa

Columbine

Chrysanthemum

Herbs (many of them are good nectar flowers)

Milkweed (attracts at least 17 different kinds of butterflies)

Queen Anne’s Lace

Liatris (common name Gayfeather)

Gaillardia

Butterfly Bush

Echinacea purpurea (common name Purple Coneflower)

Violets

Lilac

Yarrow

Rudbeckia hirta (common name Black Eyed Susan)

Monarda (common name Bee Balm)

Lupine

Marigold

Daisy

Lavender

Other things you will want to consider when you plant your garden is to have a sunny site yet sheltered from the wind. Butterflies get tossed around by a breeze fairly easily. A shallow container of water is good too. Even just a mud puddle is beneficial to them. They need to absorb some minerals from the mud.

If you want an in depth look at butterfly gardens go to the Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary web site and click on Butterfly Gardens.

Happy Gardening! Bye now, Judy

Here is a virtual Valentine’s Day gift to you, a loyal reader of our blog. 

We only wish that we could give you these Valentine’s Day Flowers in person!

Bob and Judy

All too often, when we look around at our landscape in Southern Michigan, what we see is actually not Michigan plants, but alien species of plants from other countries. Any roadside has quack grass, brome grass, Queen Anne’s Lace, chicory, and dandelions growing along it; all weeds and all aliens. Of course not many Native Michigan plants would grow in a spot that is constantly disturbed by snow plows in winter and lawnmowers in summer. Prairie plants, which are Michigan natives, could grow along our roads if they weren’t mowed, and in a very few places they do.

Alien plants colonize disturbed areas very quickly. Their seed usually likes to germinate in freshly disturbed soil such as a roadside. Weedy aliens are not choosy about rich or lean soil. They are considered weeds just because of that and also because they produce so many seeds which are distributed as far and wide as possible. Native plants are usually choosier about soil and habitat, but once established and growing well, they can usually hold their own as long as the soil is not disturbed.

Historically our native prairies thrived in spots in Southern Michigan because those sites were regularly burned. Either started by lightning strikes or intentionally set by Native Americans. So prairie plants are usually deep rooted and have crowns where the growing stems emerge from, safely below the surface of the soil where they’re not killed by fires.

Some species of oak trees are adapted to fire, too. Their bark is thick enough that the living inner cells of the tree are not damaged by the heat of a grass fire sweeping through. So historically in numerous spots in Southern Michigan we had landscapes of widely spaced oak trees with special prairie plants growing in the soil in between the oak trees. These are called oak openings or sometimes referred to as savannas.

When Michigan was first settled, the first places to be farmed were usually these open areas. The settler would naturally be attracted to spots where he didn’t have to go to all the labor of cutting down the trees before he could begin to plow the soil and get a crop in. For this reason many of the oak openings and their special plants were lost. Since the Native American were pushed out, other oak openings were not burned anymore. So in the few openings that weren’t plowed, the shrubs and saplings of the adjacent woods started to grow in the rich soil , shading out the oak opening prairie plants. The edge of the woods slowly crept into the prairie and displaced the prairie plants.

One of the exciting aspects of habitat restoration (and I mean exciting!) is the use of fire to reclaim those prairies. Controlled burns have been used now at least for 20 years to help the prairies that are left, keeping them healthier by burning out the aliens, shrubs and trees that cannot survive the fire and reclaiming their lost edges.

In another blog I will tell you about the places in S. Michigan were these kinds of restoration practices are happening.

Bye now,

Judy

There was an unusual conference in Lansing last Friday and Saturday. It was the Stewardship Network’s “The Art and Science of Habitat Restoration”. Dedicated nature enthusiasts from all over Michigan convened to learn more about restoring native habitats.

Michigan is very fortunate to have numerous unusual habitats. From lakes and forests, swamps and marshes, bog and fens, to prairies and sand barrens. Along with the habitats are some rare plants and animals. We have plants in Michigan that are found nowhere else on earth. So it’s no wonder that we have alot of dedicated people who are ready and willing to do the often back breaking labor of restoring habitats that have been damaged.

We’ve lost huge amounts of native habitats to sprawling development. But we also lose unusual habits to changes in drainage patterns, roads being cut through natural lands, ORV use in delicate ecosystems, damming up rivers or straightening rivers. We even lose habitats to other plants – very aggressive weedy plants that take over and crowd out the native plants. Those weedy plants are usually alien plants brought to this country from overseas. Examples are purple loosestrife, brome grass and even some shrubs. We don’t usually think of shrubs as weeds, but certain ones are, such as common buckthorn, autumn olive and bush honeysuckle.

So what do people do when they restore native landscapes?  The majority of the work is weeding out the plants that have invaded the area.  Some alien plants are pulled out before they set seeds.  Some are cut. but if common buckthorn is just cut, it will send up new shoots producing more buckthorn than before,  so the stumps of the cut shrub must be treated with herbicide to kill all the roots.  The herbicide is “painted” on, not sprayed, with a special sponge tip applicator.  This puts the herbicide only where it is needed.  With certain herbicides this method can even be used in wetlands.

Restoring native landscapes is a fairly new science,  so this conference was very useful in sharing the details of methods that work the best.  The people attending ranged from scientists and biologists and botanists to regular people that volunteer their time doing the labor.

I’ll write you more next time about the speakers and classes at the conference, places that have been restored and plants that have saved.

Bye now, Judy

For years I have been looking for a way to keep my feet dry in the greenhouse and garden.  A lot of water gets sloshed around in the greenhouse  and my feet often  get wet and stay wet all day. The same is true out in the garden on a morning covered with heavy dew .

I’ve tried slip-on boots, the type that go over your shoes… they are too heavy to wear all day.

Galoshes are out of the question, for the same reason.

Disposable over boots are OK, but the don’t hold up to a lot of walking.

Wellington’s (known as “Wellies” in The British Isles) keep my feet the driest, but they are a little heavy and rub against my leg at the top of the boot when I walk.

This week the answer to my dilemma  arrived via UPS… a pair of “LawnGrips” garden shoes.

I opted for the short-top, non-steel toed model.

When I first put them on, they felt tight and uncomfortable. I was  disappointed because the advertisement claimed that they had a roomy toe area and gave your feet plenty of space.  I immediately took them off and planned to send them back.

The next day however, I decided to give them another try.  Low and behold, after about 15 minutes of walking, the shoe material started to relax and conform to the shape of my foot.

They turned out to be a very comfortable shoe, today I even  forgot that I had them on.

These LawnGrips kept my feet dry in the greenhouse and outdoors in the slushy mess we call snow.

The bottom of the shoe has a tread pattern with rounded edges that minimizes the sticking of mud  and debris to the bottom.  This avoids the biggest complaint I have about hiking boots in the garden…all of those tiny tread spaces tend to pick up and hold mud.

Like any product, it is not perfect and has it’s “Archilles  heel” :).  The top of the shoe has a stretchy porous material where the tongue is located. This allows water to get in if a direct stream of water hits that spot.  It’s a minor problem under most conditions.

So far I have not needed the put in an extra insole despite walking on the concrete greenhouse floor all day.

They are not available in stores yet but can be found at a number of vendors on-line.

They set me back about $85 , but if they hold up for the rest of the season, it’ll be well worth it.

Bob