Every morning our cardinal vines are visited by hummingbirds. Except of course this morning — the one where i tried to capture them with my camera. I stood there as still as i could until my arms started to fall asleep and my eye (that was pressed against the viewfinder on my camera) started to water. But the vine is so pretty! It's an annual and we plant it every year just for our seasonal visitors.
Here it is rambling up and over our yew shrub in the front yard. Pete had the wonderful idea to use the shrub as a natural trellis, and it's been a beautiful addition to our garden.
The monarch butterflies, though few, are here each day fluttering around to the many native plant species we selected especially for them.
monarch on butterfly bush, Black Knight |
They particularly love (as in they circle around our entire garden and 99.9% of the time land on this plant) Liatris Ligulistylis or Meadow Blazing Star.
I check our milkweed every day with the hope of seeing a little monarch caterpillar, but none sighted so far.
Sadly, Monarch populations are down so much and they really need our help. The Xerces Society has a number of wonderful resources and information about what you can do right in your back yard. Even if you have a very small area you can plant a pollinator feeding station. It's all about picking the right plants for your area. Check this guide for more info. A wonderful plant no matter where you are: Zinnias. They attract all kinds of bees and butterflies (including this Black Swallowtail), and they come in so many beautiful colors!