If your soil is like most, it’s more suitable for creating a clay-fired pot rather than growing plants. One way I get around this problem is that whenever I put in a new plant, I remove the old soil with a bulb planter and replace it with my new soil mixture. Here’s my recipe:
5 gal bucket of compressed dried peat moss.
1/2 – 5 gal bucket bucket of old soil dug out of the old holes.
1 bag 40# potting soil – don’t just buy cheap top soil. I pay $2 for a 40# bag from Home Depot or Lowes.
2 large chunks of natural charcoal, pulverized by a brick.
1 handful of 10-10-10 fertilizer.
Note – if you’ve got lots of extra cash, the pros use “Turface” as an amendment also.
I’ve tried it out, but was not impressed for what it costs.
If you’ve ever wondered why there aren’t 1000’s of butterflies flying around, here’s one of the reasons. Painted Ladies lay eggs on my Pearly Everlasting every year and even though they try to pull the leaves together and use silk to protect themselves, wasps seem to find a way in to get to them. Here’s a picture of a painted lady larva which has become the host for a wasp larva in the white cocoon. I’m keeping the cocoon in a sealed plastic tube to see what sort of wasp emerges.
Gymnocoronis spilanthoides, Senegal Tea, is a pond plant which attracts Monarch butterflies without equal. I usually buy it at a aquarium supply store in St. Louis for about $8/bunch. I’ll stick each cutting in some soil and place it in the pond and watch it grow. While the flower is not much to speak of, the fall Monarchs just love it and as the one picture shows, the plant seems to have some sort of chemical which the Monarchs love. I pulled out about half of the plants one day to make more room in the pond and the next day, you can see 27 Monarchs sucking on the roots.
Here’s a video take at the Missouri Botanical Garden.
In the Feb/March issue of Horticulture magazine they made a beginner’s error. They talked about Rue being a host plant for Black Swallowtails, but then showed a picture of Meadow Rue (Thalictrum), which is nothing like the Rue (Ruta graveolens), Swallowtails are looking for. Make sure you get the right one when you’re at the nursery. Note – rue might give you a rash, but I’ve only had one person tell me that they had a problem with it.
Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’ , is normally a zone 8 to 10 plant according to the Missouri Botanical Garden. In St.Louis, normally a Zone 5 area, we experienced temperatures in the Zero degree range this winter. I took a suggestion from a friend and moved some of it right next to my concrete basement, covered it with some mulch and it survived and is sending up shoots this spring.
This turned out to be my best hummingbird nectar plant. I rarely saw butterflies on it.
I’ll be doing my “Ten Commandments of Butterfly Gardening” program this Saturday at Powder Valley – 10 am. Arrive early and you get a free plant and seeds to attract the monarchs heading our way. I’ll be using pictures, video and hands-on exhibits to teach you everything you need to know to create a butterfly paradise.
Reservations – call – 314-301-1500
Topics included garden design, host and nectar plants, native plants, sun/shade and lots more.
I just ordered what might be the perfect butterfly bush. It’s called “Blue Chip,” and I ordered it from WaysideGardens.com. It claims to be a miniature that you can put in a pot and doesn’t need deadheading.
If you’re familiar with the story in the bible where the loaves and fishes were multiplied to feed many people, you can do the same sort of thing with your Asclepias incarnata, Swamp milkweed.
Violets are a bit aggressive in my yard and garden and will take over a garden if allowed to do so. I was digging up some violets surrounding one of my milkweed plants and in the process I was able to divide the milkweed into twenty-three plants. I potted twenty-two and put one back in the original location. I’m not sure if they will all come back, but even if only 50% make it, it’s an easy way to increase your milkweed plant population.
What do you do with your empty yogurt cups? I’ve found that by collecting them over the year (yes I do eat a lot of yogurt), I have some perfect container for new plants. I just burn 3 holes in the bottom of each cup with a hot screwdriver (make sure the fumes go downwind), and you’ve got a perfect size pot for a new plant. In this picture I have 250 new milkweed seedlings.
Now is the time to get out your pruning shears and get viscious. This is a Hackberry tree which wants to grow to be 60 feet tall, but I’m purposely cutting it back to keep it down to a manageable size. I enjoy watching the American Snouts lay eggs on this tree and it’s only possible if I keep it below six feet.
I’m also using the same tactic on Sweet Bay Magnolia, Heptacodium miconoides, Buttonbush, and St. John’s Wort and all my Butterfly Bushes. It may seem a bit drastic, but the trees and bushes don’t seem to mind.
