Butterfly Host Plants

I have been planning my 2011 flower and veggie garden. Last year I had so much fun raising black swallowtail and monarch butterflies. So much so that I have made it a point to add more host plants to my garden this year. Below is my list of plants that I will have in my garden to feed their hungry little caterpillars.
BUTTERFLY (and Moth) HOST PLANTS

Dill, Fennel, Carrots: Black Swallowtails
Asters: Pearl Crescent
Coneflowers: Silvery Checkerspot
Pentas: Tersa Sphynx moth or hummingbird moth
Milkweed: Monarch
Cleome: Cabbage White
Snapdragon: Common Buckeye
Blueberry: Summer Azure
Oak: Red-Spotted Purple; Imperial Moth; Polyphemus Moth; Red-Banded Hairstreak; Dusky Wing Skipper; White-M Hairstreak
Clover: Eastern Tailed-Blue; Gray Hairstreak; Clouded Sulphur
Peas: Eastern Tailed-Blue
Viola: Great Spangled Fritillary; Variegated Fritillary
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I enjoy having them visit so much. The least I can do is serve them dinner. :)

Time to Plant Some Seeds!

On an unseasonably warm day I got to plant my first round of seeds. One Mucho Nacho jalapeno, 9 Fat 'n' Sassy peppers (now named King Arthur), 12 Burpee Petite Series snapdragons, and 9 Velour Blue and Bronze viola. I also started the paper towel method that I described last season to start some Tango celery seeds. It has felt like forever since I've been able to garden. What a wonderful day!

Ice Storm 2011

I hope all of you are safe and warm out there. Quite a storm has hit a huge part of the country and is finally coming to an end. This is what I woke up to this morning. There are many other things I can see out the window that I would like to take a picture of, but I'm not going out there!
A male cardinal waiting to take advantage of the feeders and water.The new water wiggler I bought around Thanksgiving is still spinning, despite the cold, with its first set of batteries. Nice! Lots of birds were using it to bathe yesterday. I also have a birdbath heater in there. There's not a spot of frozen water to be seen even during this ice storm.
Ice.