Evolution may be the key word when describing this adventure in gardening. The gardening project started out as something to do in my spare time. That seemed reasonable to me. With the economy in a train wreck and my customers having a tough few years it looked like I would have lots of time and possibly even ease into retirement before things picked back up again.
Fortunately, life and the economy, decided it wasn't time for me to retire from the job I enjoy so much. But I had this garden and all these creative ideas on what to do with it. Creating the garden, it's layout and make up, has been a creative effort. I am seeing the design and development of the garden almost as you might an art project. Much of the layout thought process is similar to creating a good picture.
Now the sweat part ? That's a whole nuther deal. I admit I don't work in the yard or garden in the summer. I water and fiddle with it some but leave the major projects until cooler weather. These first weeks of October brought cooler air into South Texas. The high 80's are very pleasant when your used to 100 plus.
When the cooler weather hit I went into action. My big challenge was the same as most urban dwellers. Very little sun hits our back yard. What little sun I do get has already been taken up by the "rose garden". Now I have an entire second half of the back yard shaded by 15 young oak trees. What do you do with shade ?
I wanted to see more wild life in the yard. Doves and grackles were getting old. The squirrels and occasional coons and possums helped but I wanted something else. I wanted to cash in on the big Monarch Butterfly migration that travels through San Antonio each year. Someone told me the hummingbirds would enjoy the same plants as butterflies. The nursery I patronize gave me some hand outs that told all about shade loving plants and especially those that were attractive to hummingbirds and butterflies.
He explained all about the migration and what the little beauties needed from the back yard gardeners. I wrote it all down and started planning for when summer was over.
The butterflies take two generations to migrate from the north all the way down into Mexico. On the way they need colorful small flowers to feed on. They also look for a place to lay their eggs so the might enable the next generation to finish the migration pattern after the parents lay eggs and die. I learned the pretty winged ones search for specific types of milkweed according to type of butterfly.
I was also told the Monarchs love several type of milkweed but a favorite grows locally. They lay the eggs on the "Texana White Milkweed". The eggs emerge as larva and immediately begin to devour their host plant. Once they develop into full grown butterfly, away they go, and the plant grows back for the next season's butterfly babies. Hence the second generation sends it's young off to find that special rendezvous somewhere down Monterey way.
Now it was my job to build the little buggers a place to do their relay tag team migration thing. I knew the local hummingbirds would benefit as well.
To make a long story longer, I spent a good deal of the summer trying to get all this squared away in my head. What plants would feed both butterflies and hummingbirds yet live well in the shady area. How much space would each plant require ? What colors would look right and where should they fit ? Where in the yard would all this fit ?
Luckily, I wanted to line the opposite side of the yard. The right side of the yard is bordered by a wooden fence and the rapidly growing rose garden. The left or shady side also has a wooden fence. This side sits there looking very bare. I decided to place the Hummingbird's Cafeteria along this wall.
I would still need a place to establish what I now call the Butterfly Nursery. I've taken some of the left over limestone 4 by 4 cut block I used to line the other beds and laid it out between our rocking chair patio and the tree swing further out in the yard. It looks perfect. That's next.
I hope you can see what I did to prep the flower beds. The limestone cut block has to be hauled from the supplier some 20 miles away. First you have to take it to the scales, weigh it, pay for it, then stack it on the truck. My small Toyota, made in San Antonio, carries 800 pounds fairly handily. I bring the rock back to the house, back up to the back yard gate and load it rock by rock onto my little garden wagon. It's then taken round to the soon to be garden and lain out according to plan.
The second bed ingredient I use is three inches of Pecan mulch. On this project I hauled 45 bags of the fifty pound size. Most of it went to the long wall bed. The rest will be used for the butterfly nursery and the roses. That's a lot of bags to haul three at a time on my little wagon.
The third thing we have to have is good organic potting soil from garden.ville. They are a local supplier for anything for the lawn and garden, dirt and rocks that is. The dirt comes in 40 pound bags if they are dry. Some are wet and I swear they feel like 50 rather than 40. I used 80 bags at over 6 bucks a bag but I know I have the best darned dirt available to mankind. ( I added this later---this was a mistake. These plants will thrive is some of the worst dirt available---they are indigenous...I got sold a load of b.s. )
The kind gentleman who taught me about the Monarch's also told me about a man out in Medina, Texas. He said the Medina Landscape Nursery has all the indigenous plants favored by the butterflies and hummingbirds. He's 70 miles from my house but the drive was nothing. The trip to the nursery was an education in itself. I have never seen so many butterflies in my life. Just walking around his garden was a wonderful experience. The first thing you notice is the smell. It is the most delightful smell I have ever encountered. Try to imagine three or four hundred thousand blooming plants within twenty five feet of every place your walking.
The second thing you notice is the butterflies. They are everywhere you look. Even more amazing is the variety of butterflies. I have never seen so many different types of butterflies. Amazing, beauty everywhere you look.
Medina Gardens Nursery, Medina, Texas has just about every kind of indigenous flower you might want for your hummingbird and butterfly garden. Ernesto is an amazing man. If you have a chance use them, please do. His is more than a business, it's a commitment to help keep nature working.
Please enjoy the progress shots. I will finish out the butterfly nursery in the coming weeks and try to get pictures and a post up on that as well. Thanks for coming along on my little gardening adventure.
This garden and story brought to you by "the usual suspects" at:
The Boomer Magazine
Sponsored by
John Boykin
The Hard Hat Photographer
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