Happy accidents
floraluk2
15 days ago
last modified: 15 days ago
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rosaprimula
15 days agoRelated Discussions
2013 Recap & Photos
Comments (13)Even though my list shows a decent variety I only saw one or two of many of them all season. The only thing that was around in good numbers all season is of course the cabbage white! The past few years I had been seeing at least a few "new to me" species each year. Also, there were quite a few days that were just great butterfly days with several monarchs and tiger swallowtails at a time. It was getting a little better every year. I had hoped it was due to me adding more native nectar and host plants every year. 2013 was a bit of a let-down though and made me think the past couple of years were just flukes. You'll notice from the pictures too that most of them are on butterfly bush. While I am trying to gradually switch over to mostly natives, they still prefer the butterfly bushes to most everything else. They are like butterfly crack I think :) I do try to keep them dead-headed though. I thought they would not re-seed here and weren't a problem until I found my first seedling last year! I had been dead-heading all along to increase flowering, but now I will be more diligent about it. I hope numbers will go up this year and everyone will get lots of beauties!...See MoreHappy Accidents
Comments (11)Trying to think of happy accidents, but about all I can come up with are the volunteer datura all over the place and the unexpected survival of a lot of tender salvia. Oh, wait, does this count? I love the tender coreopsis, the tall yellow ones with the red centers, so I don't pull the seedlings, no matter where they come up. Some appeared in the front of a long border, among the low-growing bell flowers. The happy accident was that they *totally* flopped, and seem to be about 6" tall in a drift about 8' long, although if they were staked they'd be about 4' tall, and completely out of place in the front of the bed. It was an accident, and it makes me very happy, so I guess that counts. Katy, will the Phormium survive winter outside? I've been really tempted by that one, too, especially since it gets tall - what a great architectural effect. If you were going to protect a plant like that, how would you do it? Would it be best in a large pot, or just in well-drained soil in a protected spot? Here is a link that might be useful: pink stripe phormium...See MoreEasiest way to kill Japanese Beetles and stick bugs! A Happy Accident.
Comments (5)I have used a similar method to drown codding moths that attack my apples. This "brew" consisted of water, vinegar, molasses, and a bit of banana, hung from the tree limbs in cut off milk cartons (the plastic gallon sized ones with handles work best). The containers fill up fast and need scooping often, the brew just gets stronger with time and needs refreshing every 2 weeks or so. I'll have to give your tomato/bucket method a shot as stink bugs and leaf footers are terrible here, for the asst fruit trees as well....See Morehappy accident plant combinations
Comments (9)Lovely garden, Woodyoak. I often find that nature and happenstance are better designers than I am, so I usually defer to them. An excavation project for our water line created refugees of some old fashioned daylilies and unearthed rocks, so I made a home for both in this little corner. The rocks became a rudimentary stone wall with the daylilies behind it. Then these wild milkweeds moved in and made a pretty combination, pleasing to pollinators. I bought this phlox some years ago and a single stem of bee balm of the same color stowed away in the same pot. The bee balm is mostly finished blooming in the foreground of the picture, but it now engulfs about half of this perennial bed, still accompanied by its traveling companion purple phlox which comes into bloom just as the bee balm goes out. Both have prospered and spread....See Morediggerdee zone 6 CT
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