March through June are full of green growth, spring flowers, cloudy days mixed with fair ones, and rain. July 1, the faucet turns off and the sun turns on. Summer flowers begin to bloom. In early July in our corner of Virginia, many of the butterfly attractors begin to open up, and host plants have … Continue reading Early July in the butterfly garden
Time has slowed down since the pandemic began. Weekend errands, drives to and from the aquatic center, and swim meets are all gone. We planned to sail on Saturday. We had the boat hitched up and drove further away from our house than we have in 72 days now. But the highway was closed, and … Continue reading Weekend of green leaves, books, and flowers
I’ve spent the past five days in the open air. I am on my annual garden vacation. Instead of listening to news of the coronavirus, I’ve been outside in garden gloves and hat. Over the past five years we’ve lived in our house, I’ve killed a lot of grass to create flower beds for butterflies. … Continue reading My work is (mostly) done. Now I can enjoy the garden.
A lot has happened in the garden since my last update in May. Flowers have blossomed and gone to seed, and now that we’re in August, butterflies are everywhere. Everything starts out so fresh and clean in June, and by August things are looking pretty raggedy. But August is when the butterflies are laying eggs. … Continue reading The summer garden
The garden is is peak bloom right now. Pollinators buzz busily, and the bigger butterflies are starting to find their way to the flowers I planted for them. These are mostly just the close-ups. I published more photos on Andrea’s Gardening Blog if you like photographs of gardens and flowers. Continue reading Photos from the butterfly garden
A friend asked recently what it is about gardening that I love so much, and with such intensity. What is so compelling? What do I get out of it? When we moved into our house, it was surrounded by nothing but mowed grass. A vast expanse of green blades, all the same height, all the same … Continue reading Welcome back, little critters
