As usual, I had completely forgotten today, being the 15th of the month, was Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, or GBBD is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens and I only remembered about it when I saw a GBBD post on a blog I follow by Dorothy at Gardening with Nature.
Before I even read Dorothy's post, I had "rescued" a newly emerged Monarch butterfly that was lying on the ground near the bird baths I was filling. It didn't look so good and when I put my hand down to it, it climbed on board. So with this butterfly sitting on my hand, I looked frantically around the garden looking for a flower with some nectar for him.
Luckily I discovered that although most of the Dallas Red Lantana has succumbed to the freeze we had at Thanksgiving, there were still a few blooms in the sheltered area underneath the Southern Wax Myrtle. I put the butterfly there and hoped he would be okay.
Then I read Dorothy's post and saw that, among many other plants she has blooming, she happened to have some hanging baskets of pansies. It occurred to me that pansies would be a simple addition, they would offer some color in the garden that would probably last until spring and they would also offer nectar to any other butterflies that happen to pass through.
So I hit the road to Lowe's and was pleasantly surprised to find that they hadn't completely cleared out the garden center and filled it with Christmas trees, as many places do. I purchased some 12 packs of different colored pansies and headed home.
Incidentally, as I drove back into my subdivision, I saw a Monarch butterfly floating around the pansies planted in the bed at the entrance. I like to think it was the one I had "rescued" earlier in the day.
I planted them in containers, among the frostbitten Lantana I'm hoping will come back in the spring, and I planted them in the island bed.
Not much, I'm afraid, but more than I had in the garden 12 hours ago -- and the nice thing is, they will last well into the spring.
Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.
3 comments:
Very nice. I won't plant pansies until March 17th... seems like ages from now. Thanks for joining in for bloom day.
Lovely purchase for Bloom Day! I depend on Pansies for winter color. If you pinch off the old blooms before they set seed, they will keep on blooming until the summer heat kills them.
Have a wonderful week!
Lea
It's hard to beat pansies, or their little cousin violas, for winter color. Moreover, they are such happy blossoms. They always perk up my mood whenever I see them.
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