There are more ways to add color to the fall garden other than planting a new crop of mums. Each fall, we enjoy the colors provided when the Red-spotted Purple butterflies, Limenitis arthemis, stop by to feed on the sweet nectar secreted by the white-topped pitcher plant, Sarracenia leucophylla. Depending on the angle of the
Sipping from a Dangerous Pitcher Read More »
We’ve not had the greatest of luck growing many of the super showy fritilarias (bulbs), but we’ve fared far better with fritillarys. The common name for both the plant and insect, derive from the Latin word fritillus, which loosely translates to “checkerboard pattern”, in particular, the stunningly beautiful, Gulf Coast Fritillary, Dione vanillae, which showed up
A Checkered Past…from Fritillaria to Fritillarys Read More »
When we built our retirement home a few years ago, we surrounded the patio with pollinator plants, one of which was a mass of the native Eupatorium purpureum ‘Little Red’. For the last few weeks, we can sit in our screen porch and watch a steady parade of butterflies. This amazing perennial, which forms an
Little Red is Butterfly Bait Read More »
One of the little-grown, but fabulous native milkweed species is Asclepias perennis. In the wild, this amazing plant is found from Indiana south into Texas, where it grows in seasonal flood plains, swamps, ditches, and otherwise wet areas. In the garden, however, we have found it very happy in average to moist garden soils, as
White Swamp Milkweed Read More »
Just finishing up its flowering show in the garden is the baptisia cousin, Pediomelum piedmontanum ‘Columbia’, commonly known as Dixie breadroot. Commonly, probably isn’t exactly the right word, since this southeast native is anything but common. In fact, it’s only known from three counties, one in Georgia, and two in South Carollina, hence a G1
Flowering for over a month now is the Southeast (NC to Alabama) US native, Ampelaster carolinianus. This odd aster is actually a woody vine, and our plant below is growing on our 7′ tall deer fence. As you can see in the top image, it’s a great fall attractant for Monarch butterflies. The stems remain
Just finishing its flowering season is the picture-worthy, fall-flowering native, Chromolaena ivifolia. This fascinating Southeast US (Florida west to Texas and south to Central America) native was a eupatorium in a former life, before being relegated to a genus that sounds more like it should be in the title to a follow-up to the Macarena
Our entomologist, Bill Reynolds just alerted us to a Eastern Black Swallowtail that had just emerged from its chrysalis. The wings emerge folded and damp, needing to be hung out to dry before attempting flight. Bill placed it on a nearby dwarf crape myrtle, while we all gathered to watch the wings dry. These fascinating
The Swallowtail tale’ Read More »
North Carolina’s official state butterfly, the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly has been photographed nectaring non-native plants (otherwise known as exotic-plants). It’s not clear if there will be an uprising to renege its status as NC’s state butterfly, replacing it with another species of butterfly which only visits native plants. Gardeners on the other hand can
NC’s State Butterfly Nectaring Exotic Plants; Photos Show! Read More »
Looking lovely in the garden this week is the amazing native small tree, Aesculus parviflora var. serotina ‘Rogers’. Despite this amazing plant being native only in Alabama, it thrives in gardens well north of Chicago. This named selection was discovered in the early 1960s in the yard of University of Illinois professor Donald Rogers, and
Summer Buckeye Time Read More »
