It’s dreary and rainy here today, pretty typical weather for December in Atlanta, so I decided to dig out some photos from last summer.  I was looking for some colorful reminders that spring is coming, and I found these pictures.

You might recognize the yellow and black butterflies as Tiger Swallowtails , the state butterfly for Georgia.  The glowing-orange flowers are Tithonias, planted from seeds I found at a hardware store.  I didn’t pay attention to the variety I was buying, but I’ll be more careful next time.  These plants grew over 6 feet tall!  The blossoms were pretty and drew lots of winged visitors to my yard, but the stems were so tall and lanky, the Tithonias eventually fell over and became something of an eyesore.  But I will definitely plant a shorter variety next season.  They’re great for coaxing butterflies to stop by.

Want more ideas for drawing winged creatures to your garden? Don’t miss speaker Karen Garland, from the Environmental Education division of the Georgia Conservancy, when she talks about “Butterflies & Butterfly Gardening” at 3:30 pm on Thursday, Jan. 29, at the flower show.

green blessings,

Lynn
www.LynnCoulter.com

a butterfly catches a late-summer snack on a tithonia blossom

I’m passionate about almost everything in my garden (well…okay.  Maybe not the Japanese beetles and thrips and all their buggy relatives).  One thing I’m most passionate about is wildlife.  Check out this late-summer butterfly that stopped to visit my tithonia flowers a few weeks ago.  If you look closely, you’ll see that his wings are a little ragged, a sign that the wind might have tossed him around recently, or even that he had an uncomfortably close encounter with a bird or other predator.

Here’s another butterfly sipping from the same flowerbed. Because my camera caught him in motion, his wings look almost translucent. 

And finally, one more wild thing from my garden:  a kitten who recently showed up.  He’s feral and won’t let me close, unfortunately.  We’ve named him Cornbread, for no really good reason, I suppose, except that it seems like a good Southern name.

Here’s a question for you, something I’ve wondered about for a long time:  Does every truly great garden have to have a cat?  I see cat pictures all the time, posted on gardeners’ websites and blogs.  Or does every garden need a dog instead–preferably one that doesn’t dig in the potato patch or stomp all over the lettuce?

Send me a picture of something wild and winged, or wild and wooly, that lives in your garden.  What are you passionate about?  The folks at the 2009 Southeastern Flower Show want to know!

cheers,
Lynn