Category Archives: Southwest Florida butterfly garden

An upgrade

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After visiting other gardens an idea struck, and the the wheels started turning.

I love going to other gardens and seeing the name of the plant, especially when I have no idea what it is. I figured it would be beneficial in ny garden because of course I’ve had that “oh crap” moment where I forgot a name of a plant just added to the garden.

So, I did some researching and found name plate garden stakes and jumped onto my cricut and started designing. I made two tonight and love how they turned out. Of course with any project I do, there will definitely be some tweaking on the design to further perfect the outcome.

Just another step in the continued reimagining of my butterfly garden oasis.

New pathways

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I’m really excited about the two pathways that are going through the butterfly garden.

The brick pathway is through the first portion of the garden, which is complete. My daughter painted them years ago, but the paint has since come off, or fading a ton. I may have to scrub them clean, so she can create new designs on them again.

The stone pathway I began today to go through the second portion of the garden.

This pathway, although is very time consuming, I’m loving how it is turning out. My husband brought bricks home years ago and I never knew quite what to do with them. I started getting rid of them, a little every week, until an idea sprung.

I am now using a sledge hammer and breaking them to create another artsy pathway. It’s a huge jigsaw puzzle putting all the broken pieces together.

The best part of today, of course was watching the variety of butterflies that visited the garden while I was out there. We had monarchs, gulf fritillaries, orange barred sulphurs, great southern whites, dainty sulphurs, Cassius blue, polydamas swallowtail and one I got extremely excited about, the giant swallowtail. I sure have created an oasis!

This video shows a polydamas swallowtail, orange barred sulphur and gulf fritillary.

Truly amazing

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The last of my polydamas swallowtail butterflies emerged today after being in its chrysalsis since before Thanksgiving 2024 in the butterfly house. It’s truly amazing how long they can overwinter. Our Southwest Florida temps did get a bit cold this winter, but it’s been pretty warm for some time now.

It flew directly to my daughter’s favorite bench in the garden where it hung out for quite some time, allowing me to admire its beauty a little bit longer.

Rewarding

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I’ve been in the garden nonstop since last week pulling weeds, trimming plants, laying a new pathway and of course planting new plants before laying mulch down.

Today I targeted a new section of the garden, a path going into the newer portion.

Its always rewarding to get your hands dirty and making your vision come alive, a vision that often times is a fluid approach when it the garden.

This morning after I planted a white zinnia in a pot my daughter painted, a gulf fritillary found the nectar and had quite a feast. The best part, I was not too far away and the butterfly was not bothered by me at all.

An Easter male monarch

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The last of the huge influx of monarch caterpillars emerged today, Easter morning, in our butterfly house.

This beauty is number 632 monarchs that we have raised.

There is a ton of nectar plants in full bloom in the garden, an Easter feast. Its absolutely gorgeous with all the colors. Here’s a blanket flower. They are everywhere!