One of the largest categories on our site Dan330.com is gardening. Most of the articles we write are from our own gardens. But every once in a while we find a garden so fantastic that we need to go visit and share what we found. This post takes a look at my neighbors butterfly garden. I am going to share a little bit of the background on this garden and then show you the beautiful flowers and butterflies that have grown there.
I live on a high voltage power line and every few years Xcel Energy comes and cuts down all the trees and brush growing on their easement. My neighbor had a mess after they were done and wanted to make it a little prettier so he made a butterfly garden plan. He started by surveying his back yard. Then he used a machine to dig up the top few inches of soil which got rid of most of the plants and brush that was there. Then, he put some compost and dirt back to make sure the soil was healthy enough for the seeds to grow.
His butterfly garden plan took one pound of seeds, which was a mixture of annuals and perennials. He planted in the spring and when the weather got hot, the garden exploded. At the end of the summer, he said he will cut down all of the plants and remove the debris after the first frost. This will help many of the annuals to re seed themselves.
One of the interesting things that happened in the garden was that milkweed grew up. This was an unexpected surprise but very welcome as this is a very important plant to the lifecycle of the Monarch butterfly.
At the end of the day, planning a butterfly garden is a win-win for everyone. He has a beautiful garden in his back yard, Xcel Energy won’t have to cut the trees and brush again, and all the neighbors and walkers on the path get a beautiful garden to walk by. Plus, with the variety of plants and the milkweed, the garden is helping our pollinators and butterflies.
I took hundreds of pictures of the garden. Some of my favorite are below:
