Certified

Posted on May 5, 2026 by SweetButterfly Bliss

I have worked really hard over the last six years to plant natives in my butterfly garden.

This year has shown me why planting native is so important – with the extreme drought SWFL has experienced – my plants not only thrived, but multipled in some cases.

The starry rosinweed is a perfect example of a thriving native plant. I added a second one to my space this year, more in direct sunlight. The flowers are stunning and the leaves add a great hue of green to the garden. This plant thrives in hardness zones 9b to 10a. It can spread 1 to 2 feet and grow 2 to 5 feet in size.

This year has shown me why planting native is so important – with the extreme drought SWFL has experienced – my plants not only thrived, but multipled in some cases.

Once spring hit this year, I spent a lot of time in the garden cutting back plants and making room for additonal walkways to finally finish my designated garden space, as established plants have continued to grow in size, despite the lack of rain, beautifying my space.

Another plant that is thriving are my coontie plants. All of them have new growth, which is incredibly encouraging. This is the host plant for the atala butterfly, a stunning butterfly that has found my garden once.

The coontie is native to Florida and grows well in zones 8a to 11. They spread 3 to 5 feet, and grow 1 to 5 feet in height.

Over the years I have visited other gardens that have had certified wildlife habitat signs, which definitely sparked my interest. So with that thought tucked away, I continued to add more plants to the garden. Although I have some plants that are not native, they have been added for either a host or nectar plant for butterflies, the vast majority are native to my area.

This week I received my National Wildlife Federation certified wildlife habit sign, which I will display proudly.

It’s truly rewarding to plant a variety of butterfly host and nectar plants and watch my space transform into a destination for butterflies, bees, ladybugs and more.

Finally rain

Posted on May 2, 2026 by SweetButterfly Bliss

Southwest Florida has had a pretty extreme drought this year, so when it actually rains, I get really excited. I am happy that my garden is mostly native, with well established plants, as it still thrives with the lack of rain we have been experiencing.

I just finished working on the garden – 3 weeks of hard, yet relaxing and gratifying work.

It seems as though every spring I get pulled into the garden for a reimagined look. Although, a good portion was left the same, I added new walkways around my well established plants, redesigned other walkways, curbed the garden to separate it from the yard, and layed 40 plus bags of mulch down.

The rain came in handy because I of course added new plants to fill new spaces. These are still becoming established.

I try to add a new butterfly host plant to the garden every year to see what more I can attract.

The nectar plants seem to remain the same for the most part, as it has been trial and error of what grows well in my sandy soil.

The Black Eyed Susan was one of the first flowers I planted six years ago. Unfortunately, both times I tried adding it in the garden it did not do well. Now that my garden offers both shade and sunny areas I decided to give it another try. The rain definitely helped with this plant tonight.

The zinnia and lantana are new, yet old plants, that I replenish every year, as they are butterfly favorites.

Some of other plants pictured below are in multiple spots in the garden, while the butterfly bush was just too beautiful not to add to the space.

25 and counting

Posted on May 22, 2025 by SweetButterfly Bliss

A few weeks ago I began a new project garden, inspiration I saw from another garden. That project – identifying plants with garden metal labels.

I have done two different fonts and today completed all 25 labels I received using my cricut machine.

It has been a great project as it has given me the opportunity to take inventory of what I have. The great part, I still have more plants to identify.

I have tried to plant natives in the garden, as they can tolerate whatever weather Southwest Florida throws at them, and they multiple and fill in empty space quite nicely. A good example of this is the blanket flower and coreopsis, otherwise known as tickseed.

Here are a few of the flowers that have been identified so far.

Rain kissed garden

Posted on May 4, 2025 by SweetButterfly Bliss

According to the local news, Southwest Florida is experiencing its greatest drought in 8 years!

It was such a welcome sound to hear the rain coming down this morning, kissing the garden. It did not come down long, but it was an awesome downpour. With the overcast sky, the ground hopefully will stay wet for a while, giving the roots time to soak up the much needed moisture.

Here’s just a few of the butterfly nectar plants.