Today’s photos are from Christina Stiern.
I’m sending some pictures from my garden in Defiance, Missouri, featuring early August blooms and some beautiful garden visitors. To see more of my garden, you can follow me on Instagram @tamingruggedacres
Monarch resting on a ‘Pee Wee’
oakleaf hydrangea (
Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Pee Wee’, Zones 5–9) leaf. ‘Pee Wee’ is a dwarf selection of the oakleaf hydrangea typically staying in the range of 3-to-4 feet tall, while the regular species can get as tall as 6 or even 8 feet.
American painted lady on Allium ‘Millenium’ (Zones 3–9). This butterfly usually overwinters in Northern Mexico and the U.S. Southwest, migrating back north each summer, often in large groups. The caterpillars feed on a wide range of plants, including sunflowers, thistles, and hollyhocks.
Seeing double! Two silvery checkerspots sharing butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa, Zones 3–9). Though only a few species of caterpillars can feed on the leaves of milkweed, many butterflies will feed on the nectar of the flowers. The caterpillars of the silvery checkerspot feed on many plants, including asters, sunflowers, and coneflowers.
Silvery checkerspot side view.
Silver-spotted skipper on
Allium ‘Millenium’. The caterpillars feed primarily on black locust (
Robinia pseudoacacia, Zones 3–8).
Black swallowtail on
Allium ‘Millenium’. The caterpillars of this incredible butterfly feed on many common garden plants, such as
carrots, parsley,
dill, and
fennel.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to gpod@taunton.com along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
If you want to send photos in separate emails to the GPOD email box that is just fine.
Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!
You don’t have to be a professional garden photographer – check out our garden photography tips!
Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here.
Fine Gardening Recommended Products
Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes
Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
Featuring gorgeous photography and advice for landscapers, Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West is dedicated to the idea of a new nature—a hybrid of both the wild and the cultivated—that can nourish in our cities and suburbs.
The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees
Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
The Nature of Oaks reveals what is going on in oak trees month by month, highlighting the seasonal cycles of life, death, and renewal. From woodpeckers who collect and store hundreds of acorns for sustenance to the beauty of jewel caterpillars, Doug Tallamy illuminates and celebrates the wonders that occur right in our own backyards. He also shares practical advice about how to plant and care for an oak, along with information about the best oak species for your area.
Bird Houses for Outside Clearance with Copper Guard, Cedar Bird House Outdoor, Bluebird Finch Swallow Wren Chickadee
Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
1-1/2" ENTRANCE HOLE SIZE: SISTERBIRD bluebird houses for outside have a properly-sized entrance hole, through this blue bird houses for outside you can attract desirable species to your bluebird house, such as Bluebird, Wren, Tree Swallow, Chickadees, etc. While this blue bird house excluding predators and unwanted occupants, for example, European starlings. HIGH-QUALITY MATERIALS: SISTERBIRD birdhouse kits for kids and adults use untreated, unpainted cedar. bluebird nesting box has a rough surface, and birdhouses for outdoors can give birds a foothold as they enter and exit the cedar bluebird house. Cedar of birdhouses for outdoors clearance also can keep out weather-related damage. SAFE HOME FOR FLEDGLINGS: SISTERBIRD Bluebird BirdHouse Box with copper predator guard around the entrance hole can help young birds against predators. These birdhouses for outdoors interior grooves, like a small ladder, help young birds leave the cedar bird houses for outside, especially swallows and bluebirds. A great birdhouses for outside clearance for creating a trail. EASY AND FUN TO ASSEMBLE: Just use a screwdriver, you can experience the thrill of working with your family to build blue bird houses, and feel the pride that comes from building a bird nesting box for little birds. You can also DIY, paint it, making blue bird box special and unique, build your own blue bird houses for outdoors. EASY TO CLEAN & REUSABLE: SISTERBIRD wooden bird houses front door opens for easy cleaning after fledglings have left. When the season is over, clean out the blue bird boxes for outside and save bluebird birdhouses for outdoors clearance for next spring.
Comments
What a butterfly haven! Congratulations. I just planted Allium "Millennium" for the first time this year, so looking forward to adding some attraction. Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures.
Thanks, @mgol1068! That allium is the best — you will love the reliably green foliage and month-long flowers that attract so many different types of pollinators.
Love your butterfly pics.
Thanks, @treasuresmom!
Beautiful! I haven't seen a single monarch here this summer (south of Charlotte NC) which is worrisome, but all of the other usual suspects are plentiful. My patch of butterfly weed gets larger year after year and is a fan favorite, as well as butterfly bushes, lantana, veronica and salvia.
Thanks, @BTucker9675! I had only seen two monarchs here and was privileged to capture this one on camera. I discovered several monarch caterpillars last night on my butterfly weed, so they have been around when I haven’t been looking.
Great photos! If I was on Instagram I'd follow you for sure, your photography is amazing! I love that photo with two butterflies in it! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, @SimpleSue! You should set up an Instagram account - super easy to do, and so many inspirational gardeners on there to follow and learn from. All of my photos are taken with my trusty iPhone 6S.
Log in or create an account to post a comment.
Sign up Log in