What I've been up to.

    Havent blogged for quite some time, I have been so busy with working on my back yard. With it already being spring here in florida I have been as busy as a carpenter bee.


My bare back yard has transformed in a butterfly/ bee/ bird garden. I have planted pampas grass as an accent plant and a place for frogs to hide. 2 Mexican Sage for the Hummingbirds to sip on, Yellow milkweed for the monarchs and bees to feed on. Carnations because well the smell good, Fern leaf lavender, and normal lavender for the honey bees, Blueberry bushes for myself and the birds, Lollipop verbena for butterflies and many many more.

Today my hard work is paying off! I have mocking birds and cardinals hopping around my plants, Butterflies on my butterfly bush, carpenter bees everywhere, honey bees like nobodys business, and tree frogs are starting to show up!

OH! Since I live in florida how could I not buy a Passion Flower vine for our state butterfly? So I managed to snag one of those at Lowes.

If you live in central florida I highly suggest heading over to Duncheons nursery, its right there at 54/41 near the post office. Everyone is so nice, the plant selection is great and the prices are reasonable.

This is a butterfly bush I bought from them, you can see its doing its job. I have drainage problems in my yard so I mounded dirt so it will drain properly.

Attract Florida Zebra Wing Butterfly

      These are one of my personal favorites when it comes to butterflies, a Native of Florida and the state butterfly. These are pretty simple to attract to your yard, all you need are the right plants and you will have them in no time!

Here is a list of plants that will attract the Zebra Wing Butterfly:


Porter Weed- Florida friendly perennial with little purple flowers on stalks. Plant in Full sun.

Fire Spike- A tropical plant with broad leaves that blooms in late summer, It will bring butterflies in                         drones. Especially humingbirds. Dies back at frost but quickly recovers. Plant in Full Sun
                  Also does well in Filtered sun. I had this growing under the shade of oak trees as well.

Butterfly Bush-  This wonderfully fragrant bush is sure to bring in butterflies, thus the name. It smells                               something fantastic and is so beautiful when it blooms, coming a variety of colors to                               choose from. Plant in Full sun.

Fire Bush- A florida native, this bush is very drought tolerant and makes a beautiful hedge. Becoming                     covered in tiny red tube flowers, this bush attracts hummingbirds as well. Growing                                 moderately fast it will fill in any spaces where you need some privacy. Berries also attract                       birds. Plant this in full sun.

Passion Flower vine- Choose the native variety. It looks nicer, and is the host plant for the Zebra                                           Wing caterpillars. If you dont have a host plant in your yard you wont be able to                                      enjoy the constant flutter. Instead you get only fleeting moments of them. Passion                                    flower vine is very resilient to the munching of caterpillars and I barely noticed it                                    when they were on mine. This fast growing vine makes a perfect addition to any                                    garden. Plant in full sun and don't over water.

This is not the native variety of passion flower but they use this as well.

Help the Monarch Butterfly

No garden is complete until you have constant flutter of some Monarch Butterflies. Sadly these beautiful insects are in a decline due to a number of factors ranging from habitat loss, to herbicides and pesticides.
You can easily help out these fluttering friends! They are honestly very easy to attract, all you will need is the following:

1. Garden space/ or Patio.

2. Milkweed.

That's it! If you go for the bare essentials. Milkweed is the host plant for the butterflies caterpillars and also its nectar source when its older.

Milkweed is easily grown in a container or in the ground. Simply give it full sun and water and it will thrive. Whatever you do, do not use fertilizers or pesticides. It sort of ruins the point of gardening for them if you use harmful chemicals.

Plant varieties of milkweed if possible, along with other nectar sources for best results and a beautiful garden. Plant tall shrubs to give the caterpillars a place to make chrysalis. The best part about milkweed is that it will readily re-seed and you can collect the seeds to plant indoors for next spring depending on your region.