Central Florida...Butterflies & Blooms

Butterflies reign over my gardens this summer!  We watch spellbound, as though our watchfulness will deter them from abandoning our offerings.  Now, you can rightly surmise that we are oldsters, easily entertained.  Salvias, firebush, pentas, Mexican sunflowers, and pagoda plants surround our front porch where we enjoy our morning coffee, awaiting their arrival.  They have varied tastes, but the pagodas and sunflowers seem to be favored.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail...pagoda plant

Giant Swallowtail...pagoda plant

Giant Swallowtail and Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

And now, matching bookends.

Pagoda plants also entice our hummingbirds.

Our Passionflower Vines and Milkweed have hosted lots of Gulf Fritillary and Zebra Longwing caterpillars.  This one was just drying its wings one morning, after emerging from its chrysalis.

Mexican Tithonias are always decorated with Zebra Longwing and Gulf Fritillaries.

Coneflowers are another attraction...

Last butterfly picture, I promise.  There were six Gulf Fritillaries on this Penta, but I could only get four to sit still.

I haven't posted since the middle of June so the following photos will give you an idea of what's been blooming the last two months.  Gingers have done really well since drought conditions are over...

Disney Ginger

A variety of Curcuma Gingers

Angel's Trumpet

Clematis

Gloriosa Lilies

Shade gardens, always colorful.

Blue Ginger, blooming soon...my favorite ginger!

Thanks for visiting.  See you in Fall.

Gingers Are Blooming

I love ginger lily plants!  They can color up a shade garden all summer long, never minding the heat.  The blooms on my 'Disney' ginger lily are seven inches tall and the plant itself is six foot.  This one is planted in shade, getting only dappled sunlight.

Curcuma, another ginger lily, also blooms all summer long.  They multiply rapidly, and should be divided more often than I do. 

My purple blooming curcumas are making me wait for their blooms, they're just getting started.

A nearly white bloom...

Hostas are blooming too...

Bleeding Heart Vines on the fence, white and purple.

My favorite new plant of this year is my Blackberry Lily, Iris Domestica.  Tiny flowers that remind me of toad lilies, about an inch and a half across.

I started these purple coneflowers from seed in February.  I'm thrilled to be getting my first blooms...

The coneflowers are planted in front of another summer bloomer, Tithonia,  Mexican Sunflower.

I'll save the rest of my blooms for a later post, and give you an update on my chickens.  They're about 12 weeks old now...half way to becoming egg layers!  We let them out to free range every evening, but 'free' has it's limitations.  No, they are not allowed in my shade gardens, but they have plenty of area to roam.

This one looks mean, but she's a sweetheart...they all are.

They rarely stand still when they're out, unless they dig up something good, so this is what most of their photos look like.

Until next time...