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| Butterfly Weed has long-lasting orange flowers. Mine are bracing for the arrival of monarchs and related butterflies. |
One reason to avoid news channels is the constant, vague statement that an area is bracing for an upcoming event. I am curious to find out how a region can brace.
I am bracing for the butterfly season - seriously. That was a Kardashian emphatic statement, reason enough to avoid them.
Butterflies are another matter. People notice them most of all, because they are relatively rare, perhaps because grass is not on their menu.
How do I brace for the butterfly season?
The season starts a year or two early with planting butterfly loving vegetation in a sunny location. That starts slowly and builds steadily.
I have planted - for the butterflies:
Butterfly Weed - a reliable orange flower that attracts the monarch family.
Monarch butterfly plants - There are a number of them, closely related. I kept ordering them until they took over the entire width of the front patio.
Joe Pye Weed - lavender and musk fragrances, flowers with hundreds of tempting places to feed from the flowers. It may reach higher than 9 feet this summer.
Clethra - Summer Sweet, or Cinnabon Shrub - sugar and cinnamon fragrances, tiny little bottle brush flowers, very slow to grow. People brace for the aroma and light up - "What is that?." Butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds line up for sensory overload.
Various mints - bee balm, cat mint, mountain mint. Plants with tiny flowers attract delicate butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.
Pokeweed - a real feeder - flowers and fruit for butterflies, birds, and bees. They do not need to be bought or planted. Birds plant them, with fertilizer, through God's air express facilities. The birds' favorite plant (no equal) is Poke, and they cheerfully enjoy the berry. They jettison the berries and add some fertilizer.
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| If God manages butterfly plants so well - like this Joe Pye Weed - how much more will He do for those who believe in Jesus Christ, the Lord of Creation? |
