Bayscape Blog 9/27/10
Invite Butterflies to Your Garden
By Judy DeFiglio

The butterfly is one of the most unique and beautiful creatures on earth. Inviting these fascinating creatures into your garden is easy when you use native plants. To attract adult butterflies you need to grow a variety of nectar plants that bloom throughout the spring, summer and fall so that there is always something for them to feed on. You also need to grow a variety of plants to provide food for the caterpillar or larvae. They require a different food source than the adult and each species of butterfly larvae is very specific in their choice of host plant. Butterflies native to an area prefer native plants to feed on.
Probably the most recognized butterfly native to New Jersey is the Monarch. The larvae feed on a variety of milkweeds and the adults like the nectar of milkweeds and goldenrod. Asclepias turberosa (Butterfly Weed) is an excellent native plant to include in your garden. It will feed both larvae and adult butterfly.
Butterflies need a sunny location to enable them to fly. Luckily, many native plants like asters, goldenrod and Echinacea thrive in hot, dry locations and are the favorite plants of many species of butterfly.
One important thing to remember when gardening for butterflies, do not use pesticides. If insects are a problem in your landscape try some environmentally friendly methods to get rid of pests such as horticultural soaps, beneficial insects, or a simple blast from your garden hose. Also be careful to check that the damage is caused by some harmful insect before treating. The larval stage of the butterfly does eat the leaves of the host plant so learn to tolerate some damage.
Providing habitat for butterflies is becoming critical as more native habitat disappears. Adding the following native plants to your landscape will attract these beautiful, winged creatures to your garden: Asclepias, Aster, Agastache, Coreopsis, Echinacea, Eupatorium, Liatris, Phlox, Monarda, Rudbeckia, and Solidago.

Bayscape Blog 9/21/10
By Judy DeFiglio
Choose a Chokeberry for Great Fall Color

The Aronia arbutifolia (Red Chokeberry) is a great native shrub to use to create many seasons of interest in your landscape. Dark green, glossy leaves turn a brilliant red in the fall. Clusters of tiny white flowers appear in mid-spring and are followed by bright red fruit in late summer. The plentiful berries last long into the winter. They are very sour tasting which is why the common name is chokeberry. While the fruit may taste too astringent for humans to enjoy, the berries do provide food for birds throughout the winter.
Aronia can grow in full sun to part shade and grows up to eight feet tall. It is a multi-stemmed shrub that spreads four to six feet wide and looks great in mass plantings or as a single focal point in your garden. This shrub can take a dry or wet site or anything in between. Chokeberries enjoy our acid soil and don’t need fertilizer, a real plus for the environment.
Aonia is one of my favorite native plants. I don’t know why this beautiful, easy care shrub is so underutilized by Jersey gardeners. I usually include one in every landscape I design. Give one a try in your garden and I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Bayscape Blog 9/15/10
There’s Gold in your Garden- Goldenrods
Goldenrods (Solidago) are at their best in the fall garden. The large spires of deep yellow flowers, extends the summer garden and attracts butterflies to your yard. There are many varieties of this perennial native plant and all of them are easy to grow, sun loving, and drought tolerant. No fertilizer needed and that’s good for our environment. The height of the plant can be two to five feet tall depending on the variety, so there is a goldenrod to fit every garden. Particularly helpful in our seashore region is seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens) which has a compact growth habit and can tolerate salt spray.
Unfortunately, goldenrod has often been labeled a weed and mistakenly thought to be responsible for hay fever. Actually, the ragweed plant is the real culprit and it blooms at the same time as goldenrod. While goldenrod does readily self-sow and can spread throughout your garden, unwanted ones are easy to remove. If you cut the flower head off before it goes to seed it will not be a problem. To keep your plant more compact, pinch it back in June when it starts to grow.
As gardeners become more interested in using native plant, growers are making more varieties available and lots of new goldenrods have started to appear at nurseries. Check them out and be sure to get some gold in your garden this fall.

Bayscape Blog 9/6/10
By Judy DeFiglio
Ornamental Grasses
September is here. Most residents of the Jersey Shore think this is the best month of all. Bright sunny days and crisp, cool evenings make it perfect weather to be outdoors. Gardeners love September too. It is a great time to enjoy the late summer garden and anticipate the fall splendor heading our way.
If you made the right choice and planted some native ornamental grasses this year, sit back and enjoy. These wonderful, drought- tolerant, heat loving grasses thrived all through the raging heat of summer and now are putting on quite a show with their colorful, interesting seed heads. No fertilizing is required which is good for your pocketbook and extra good for our waterways, suffering from nitrogen overload. The only maintenance needed is to cut them back in late winter. What could be easier?
Schizachyrium scoparium (Little Bluestem) is one of the shorter native grasses, growing two to three feet tall, with great fall color. A good choice for a larger space is one of the Panicums (Switchgrass). Panicum virgatum grows three to five feet tall with blue-green foliage that turns yellow or burgundy in the fall depending on the variety. ‘Heavy Metal’ flowers have a pinkish hue while ‘Shenandoah’ flowers are burgundy-red.
Seed heads last all winter long, providing winter interest when most other plants are gone. In case we have another winter like last year, these grasses look great poking through the snow.