The Beauty of a Flower

A few weeks ago the coneflowers began to bloom in our trailer garden.

Fresh and lovely, they begged to be photographed.



Though stunning in any light, I was very pleased when the clouds briefly parted and the evening sun shone down on their faces.

Two weeks later the same flowers are holding their own, even among the young upstarts. Their petals may not be as fresh, but their centers are raised higher...and their beauty endures.

Queen Butterfly and Tropical Milkweed

The Tropical milkweed in Happy Camper Butterfly Garden is doing what it does best—attracting butterflies.

In this case it's a Queen butterfly.

Her mission is to lay eggs on the milkweed, which is flowering and producing seed at the same time.

The milkweed pods are bursting open and revealing the many seeds stacked inside.

Milkweed seeds dance in the breeze for a time and then let go to fly to places both near and far.

I'm sure to find new milkweed plants sprouting in our garden soon and I hope to find little Queen caterpillars, too.

Butterflies and Host Plants

A newly planted butterfly garden at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge was aflutter with butterflies last Saturday.

Common Buckeye on Indian Blanket

A Common Buckeye posed nicely for me on an Indian Blanket flower, which happens to be one of its host plants. 

Host plants are important in attracting butterflies to your garden. Each variety of butterfly has specific types of plants that it will lay its eggs on. That plant then become food for the caterpillars when the eggs hatch.

Palamedes Swallowtail on Cowpen Daisy

The Cowpen Daisy, also known as Golden Crownbeard, was the most popular flower in this garden. It was attracting dozens of Palamedes Swallowtails as well as other butterflies and pollinators. Based on what I saw, this is a flower that I should add to my own garden.

Palamedes Swallowtail

I'd love to attract the Palamedes Swallowtail to our garden, though I've never seen any in our area. Perhaps we are out of its range, however it wouldn't hurt to try by planting one of its hosts, Sweet Bay, which is also a host plant of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail which we see frequently.

Duskywing on Cowpen Daisy

Also attracted to Cowpen Daisy for its nectar was a small butterfly which I think is called Horace's Duskywing. Oaks are its host plants. 

This butterfly was a little bit faded and missing the tip of one of its forewings, but it was still going strong. I've observed butterflies far more tattered than this one maneuvering in flight like they were newly emerged from the chrysalis. I've learned that butterflies are tougher than they look.

Bordered Patch Caterpillars on Cowpen Daisy

Soon we began to notice clusters of caterpillars on the Cowpen Daisies. A plant that is a great source of nectar and a caterpillar host is a bonus in any butterfly garden. I'm definitely planting this flower as soon as I can locate a source.

We later identified the caterpillars as the larva of the Bordered Patch butterfly. I wish I would have been able to get a picture of one. There were probably some around, judging from all the caterpillars we saw.

The butterfly garden at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge was just planted this year in April, but it's off to a great start.

Fresh Veggies on the Way

It's amazing how much a vegetable garden can change in a couple of months.

This is how our garden looked on February 24.

And this is how it looked yesterday.

We've begun to harvest the first of the zucchini, picking it before it gets too big.

And it looks like a bumper crop of yellow squash is on the way.

John has put a PVC frame covered in bird netting around the tomato plants to protect them from the mockingbirds.

I most certainly do not want anything getting our tomatoes. Homegrown tomatoes are the main reason I wanted a vegetable garden in the first place.

We've harvested all of the romaine lettuce, the peppers are putting on fruit, the cucumber vines are blooming, and the herbs are strong and healthy.

Fresh veggies are on the way.

Home Away From Home

The weather was perfect this weekend. We arrived at the trailer on Thursday evening and spent all day Friday playing outside. My cold was finally improved enough that I could go out in the boat. We fished our favorite spot on the diversion channel of the Colorado River and by lunchtime we each had two beautiful speckled trout to brag about.

After lunch I worked in Happy Camper Butterfly Garden while John fished from the riverbank. There were a few weeds to pull, but the main thing was to trim back the lantana and the Mexican sage which can quickly outgrow this small space. Sometimes I think I should have named this garden The Beast.

The yarrow is in full bloom and so pretty that it deserves a closer look.

In this shot of the garden you can see that the milkweed is mostly stripped bare. Monarch activity has been very good this year. We found many empty chrysalis shells around the area and even a few small caterpillars munching away on the remaining milkweed leaves.

A female Monarch butterfly showed up while I was watering the plants. She went to work immediately laying her eggs.

And all the while John was reeling in fish from the river—two big redfish and a large trout. Well, that was all I could take. I had to join him.

This photo (taken one morning a couple of weeks ago) shows where I stood when I caught the best trout of the day—only steps away from our trailer.

And when I returned to the garden...

madame butterfly was still on focused on her mission.

What a blessing to call Matagorda our weekend home!

From Caterpillar to Chrysalis

When we arrived at the travel trailer on Friday afternoon, several of the Monarch caterpillars in Happy Camper Butterfly Garden were on the move to find a suitable place to make a chrysalis.

A Monarch caterpillar leaving the garden.

We began to look for chrysalises that were already formed. There was a nice one under the picnic table right next to the garden.

Monarch chrysalis. Notice the shed caterpillar skin remaining at the top and the butterfly inside.

There was also one on the fire pit, but something had gone wrong with it.

A glitch in the process.

While we were searching, we watched a caterpillar crawl up the leg of the pit and begin forming a silk pad with its mouth on the underside of the grate.

Making a silk pad.

Later when we checked, it had turned around and attached itself to the pad, hanging upside down in the characteristic J shape.

Just attached and hanging in a J shape.

The next afternoon, I noticed it was beginning to look a little different and I knew the chrysalis would be coming soon. I hoped I would see it happen.

Getting ready for a change.

Of course, I stepped away at the wrong moment and missed it.

Just formed Monarch chrysalis, top view.

However, getting to see a freshly formed chrysalis is pretty wonderful, too.

Newly formed Monarch chrysalis. Notice the silk pad where it is attached to the grate.

There were three new chrysalises formed on Saturday: the one on the fire pit (above), one under a small ash shovel we keep on the fire pit (below), and one under a chair on the deck (not pictured).

Another Monarch chrysalis under the ash shovel.

As we were packing up to come home, there were still caterpillars leaving the garden. This guy was almost stepped on a couple of times, so we moved him to the sign out of the way.

A Monarch caterpillar at Happy Camper Butterfly Garden. Staged photo.

I was hoping he would like that spot for his chrysalis, but it seems he had other ideas.

A Monarch caterpillar in search of a place to form a chrysalis.

Good luck, little caterpillar!

Happy Camper Butterfly Garden

Three years ago we planted a small butterfly garden at our travel trailer in Matagorda. We named it Happy Camper Butterfly Garden and registered it as a Monarch Waystation.

Here's a pulled back shot, so you can see its size.

It may be little, but the beauty and joy it brings is big.

Our garden is planted with a mix of host plants and nectar sources: tropical milkweed, Mexican sage, fennel, coneflowers, lantana, yarrow, gomphrena, and small zinnias that usually come back as volunteers.

Right now the milkweed is doing its thing and hosting several monarch caterpillars. Some of these caterpillars are hatched from the eggs that were laid by the tattered butterfly a couple of weeks ago.

We counted eleven caterpillars, but there could be more. They aren't always easy to see. You really have to look under and around and all over. And then look some more.

This hungry caterpillar was hidden on the underside of a leaf, munching away as fast as he could. 

It's possible that our milkweed plants will be stripped bare the next time we see them, but that's okay since that's what it takes to make a monarch butterfly.

Making the Garden Beautiful Again

We did it! We finally reclaimed our overgrown and weedy flower beds. It took all day Thursday, all day Friday, all day Saturday, and part of the day on Sunday to knock out our to-do list.

Work in progress on Friday.

Weeds were pulled, roses were pruned, dead plants were replaced, bags of soil and mulch were spread, everything was fertilized, a compost bin was built, the lawn was mowed, the vegetable and herb boxes were planted, and there was even some power washing done. And I can't leave out all those trips back and forth to the garden center.

Pretty Knock Out Roses to replace the ones that died.

I took a few before and after photos to share with you. But let me warn you, the before shots are graphic in nature and may make tidy gardeners gasp in horror.

The Rose Garden Before

The Rose Garden After

Such an improvement! Let's look at one more.

The Butterfly Garden Before

The Butterfly Garden After

We showed those weeds who's boss!

It's amazing how quickly things can fall apart in a garden when you aren't able to keep on top of things. 2015 was not our year for gardening, that's for sure. We hope to do better this year.

Now that the tough garden chores are out of the way, the fun of trying out new flowers and plants begins.

Butterfly Blue Pincushion Flower

On one of our many trips to the garden center my eye was drawn to a pretty lavender blue flower called a pincushion flower. Can you see the pins sticking out? I bought three and planted them in the butterfly garden.

Coleus

I also picked up some coleus to add a pop of color in the shady bed out front. It's tough to grow anything out there, so I hope I have good luck with this plant.

Our garden is starting to look beautiful again and that makes me very happy. However, when next weekend rolls around, I think I'm going to suggest we go fishing