If you are on the fence about starting a garden in 2021, and have watched all your neighbors jump into growing everything under the sun, then read the following guest post from Carrie Spencer of TheSpensersAdventures. The images are property of TheGardenDiaries. Gardening can seem intimidating when you’re just starting out. Fortunately, most plants are …
Continue reading "How to Get Started Gardening (Without a Green Thumb)"
'Jeana' Phlox is one of the top pollinator attracting plants in my garden in the dog days of summer. Attracting dozens of butterflies and other assorted bees, my patch starts in the late morning with a few butterflies and by the end of the heat of the day, the plants look like they are fluttering …
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After picking out dead honeybees from a honeycomb frame recently, I pledged to use only plants that are neonic free. Neonics or neonicitonoids have been implicated in recent bee declines as well as other factors, such as loss of habitat and the game changer bee parasite- varroa mite. There are a number of studies that …
Continue reading "Updated: Neonic and Pesticide Free Nurseries"
If anyone ever asks me what flower draws the most butterflies to my garden, I don't hesitate to say- Mexican Sunflower. Tithonia rotundifolia 'Torch', attracts beneficial insects such as hover flies and minute pirate bugs, and of course- butterflies. This coarse textured plant grows up to seven feet high in my veggie garden and meadow …
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Visitors looking over my garden in the fall, always ask what the strange-looking plant is that is forming large hairy pods. Growing in my veggie garden, because of the amount of space the plants take, my Gymnocarpus physocarpa, or "Hairy Balls" are a conversation starter. A Milkweed family member, another common name is Balloon Plant. …
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Top of the list is a little-known mint, called Mountain Mint for attracting pollinators of all kinds. Penn State trials have identified this plant as a bee magnet for sheer numbers of pollinators that it attracts.
Milkweed, an ignored plant of the road side, is making a comeback with gardeners and people concerned with the environment. A fascinating plant valuable to many insects, including the Monarch, is essential to providing food and shelter for many animals and insects.
The last stage of Monarch raising is the most magical-transforming into a butterfly! This generation of butterfly will make the 3000 mile journey to Mexico of California.
Raising Monarchs inside to observe their incredible transformation is simple if you have a good supply of Milkweed and an easy to make enclosure made out of a tomato cage.
Raising Monarch Butterflies inside can be a fascinating activity for kids and adults. Milkweed and a few supplies is all you need to get started.
