Category: Zinnias

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Butterflies in the TheGardenLady’s garden and in Cape May

 

ThisGardenLady was just out raking leaves- not the first time this summer. (In another post, I will write more about the trees on my property that make raking a year round endeavor). Just as I was about to start cursing the trees, what looked like a fresh young Monarch butterfly flitted around in front of me, going from flower to flower, to take me out of my evil frame of mind. It was so fresh looking, it must just have emerged from its chrysalis.  This Monarch stayed near where I was raking for quite a long time so that I could enjoy its beauty.  Then an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail joined in.

Butterflies are one of the joys of having a flower garden. I do not have as many zinnias in my garden as this YouTube lady has, but you can see how butterflies love zinnias if you watch the video above.

Did you know that the Monarch butterflies on the East Coast of the United States fly to Mexico to over winter? And before they fly over the ocean, these butterflies must fill up with food to be able to make this journey. Watch this video to learn more.

 

Cape May seems to be the last stop for the Monarch butterflies on that big flight. So if readers want to see this amazing migration stopping point, drive down almost to the tip of the peninsula and island in New Jersey to the town called Cape May Point- 12 minutes south of Cape May.  Stop at the Cape May Bird Observatory in Cape May Point. Go to the Cape May Point State Park. In this area there is a monitoring program where people are tagging, counting and now weighing the Monarchs. You might be able to join in.  This tagging started on Sept. 1 and will continue through October 31.

I was told that they are seeing huge numbers of Monarchs this summer. If you walk around Cape May Point, you will see a lot of houses with signs that say the house has an award winning garden. You might even see people counting the butterflies in some of these gardens.  If the owners are outside, you can ask if you can see what makes the Monarchs so happy in these gardens.

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Should One Buy or Harvest Seeds?

morning glory seeds by oceandesetoiles

TheGardenLady received this question from someone called the Chicago Urban Gardener:

 I recently read and enjoyed your article on morning glories, in which you describe how you start the plant from seed. I was curious to know, however, whether you buy your seeds or harvest them from the previous year’s plants (I know that morning glories quite often self-seed). If the latter, how does one harvest and store morning glory seeds for planting next season? Do you have any general recommendations for collecting and storing seeds from annuals and perennials?

When I was a child we always collected the marigold and zinnia seeds and a few vegetable seeds. And we were scrupulous in digging up gladiola bulbs to replant the following spring. We were very frugal.

I do collect some seeds but not many. Propagating by seeds is fun, educational and a challenge. But it is not something that I really do. My gardening emphasis is on having flowers, not seeds. Toward that end, I deadhead flowers to force more flowers to bloom. This means I try NOT  to allow many plants to go into seed. Of course, at the end of the growing season you often find seeds even if you were not trying to produce seeds.

Continue reading “Should One Buy or Harvest Seeds?”

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To Eliminate Bad Insects You Must Attract Good Insects

Lady Bugs by Roger Lynn

TheGardenLady just attended an entomology lecture the other day. Insects are interesting and one has to learn how to deal with them both with indoor and outdoor plants. The safest way to get rid of the bad insect pests is to encourage good insects to your place. These beneficial insects do an amazing job keeping your garden pest free. By using pesticides or insecticides, you know that you will be killing off the good insects with the bad. So unless it is the last resort, you want to avoid poisons. You want to know how to encourage good insects by planting plants that will support the beneficial insects at all stages of their lives.

What are some of the good/beneficial insects? We all know about honey bees, butterflies and Lady bugs but here is a more complete list with photos of other beneficial insects.

Continue reading “To Eliminate Bad Insects You Must Attract Good Insects”