Butterfly Garden

 

My backyard is a blank slate, a nightmare of a blank slate. As is stands right now, it's just a giant mud pit from hell, that still has a few pieces of construction equipment in it. Are you getting a feel for my mood here? 

This yard has a lot of problems, but timing is the biggest one. It's spring (almost), so we can't expect to get grass to take hold. Our baby grass will just burn up in the June sun. But we'll try anyway, I'll happily waste a bag or two of grass seed this spring.

Since the slate is blank, I really want to carefully create some structure in the garden. I want to put up a fence between our yard and our neighbors, unfortunately I can't afford it right now. Janet and I have enjoyed living without the fence that came down when we lost our other tree during Hurricane Irene. She and I created two gardens along our mutual property lines with a stone path that got up easily to each others back doors. But I really want a puppy someday and I don't think she'll like it in her yard all the time. When you have a dog, fences make good neighbors, right? If a fence is going to happen, now's the time. 

Also, I want to judicially pick and choose trees and bushes that will give my landscape 4-season appeal. I want my backyard to have great winter interest. Winter is depressing enough, I want some evergreen's to look at! Again, we all know that you need to plant the trees and bushes in the fall.

So what do we do? Live with a pit of mud and invite the weeds to take hold? I don't think so. 

So here's the plan!! I'll have the contractor set in the fence posts in the next month or so and then when we have the money, Don and I will add the rails and pickets ourselves. The posts will give the yard a scene of it's boundaries. In the mean time, I'm seeing oilcloth party banners strung from post to post!!

This week we enjoyed spring like weather, it was 75 degrees so I had to get outside and do something!! I started creating a curvy line of bricks and wood I've found laying around the yard, to separate the future garden beds from the eventual grassy areas.

But, what are we going to put in these beds this spring and summer?? As I logged on to Pinterest to look through my garden board it dawned on me... BUTTERFLIES, I want butterflies!! I'm going to buy a bunch of wildflower seeds and create a butterfly garden. I am so excited!! I can't wait to get the kids over to the Great Big Green House to pick out our seeds. 

Check out this great website I found, it gives you a list of the butterflies that you get in your state,  here's Virginia!! They also have a list of plants that each butterfly likes best. This will be a great family project, but, don't tell the kids that I'm seeing a science lesson here!! 

Happy end of February, spring is coming!!!