Bayscape Blog

May 10, 2012

Magnificent Migration

by Judy DeFiglio

I vowed all week to tackle the chore of weeding the garden.  I knew I needed to get those weeds early instead of letting them take over the garden like last year, but I kept putting it off (have I mentioned how much I hate weeding!).  Finally, out of excuses and seduced by the beautiful spring day, I headed outside. 

My dread soon turned to delight as hundreds of butterflies swooped in and descended on my garden.  What a fantastic experience.  The Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) was migrating north and decided to stop by my native plant garden for some afternoon refreshment.  While I do design my gardens to attract butterflies and have many of them visiting throughout the season, I have never seen so many butterflies at one time.  It was truly amazing.

Too soon, by the next day, a large portion of the butterflies continued on their journey though many stayed for several more days.  Hopefully, some have decided to make their home here.

One reason so many lingered was that my native plant garden put out a big “welcome mat” for them with lots of early blooming natives for them to choose from.   While the redbud (Cercis canadensis), bottlebrush bush (Fothergilla gardenii), dogwood (cornus florida),  bleeding hearts (dicentra eximia) and mountain pinks (phlox subulata)  were just about done flowering, they still had some blooms remaining.  The mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia), chokeberry (aronia arbutifolia), and arrowwood (viburnum dentatum) had just started to bloom.  The butterflies adoringly swarmed the flowers of the columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), blue star (Amsonia tabernaemontana), and false indigo (baptisia australis). 

Spring can be a difficult time to garden.  There is such a wide variety of temperature and weather and it varies from year to year. As much as I love my garden, I don’t want to be out there on a cold, damp day in March trying to coax some temperamental plant to bloom or worrying that the flower on some exotic will be killed by a sudden frost.  That’s one of the great things about gardening with native plants, rain or shine, cold and/or hot, these great plants just keep on going producing reliable blooms without any fussing. 

As for the weeds, I did get some done (is weeding ever done?) and playing with the butterflies in my garden made it much more fun.

A springtime of color, a banquet for butterflies and an easy care garden to enjoy.  Not one drop of fertilizer or pesticide applied. Good news for Barnegat Bay and the environment.  What’s not to love about growing natives?  Include some of these great spring blooming natives in your garden.  I promise you will not be disappointed.

The Littoral Society has revamped its website. Check it out for more information on native plants and Bayscaping for Barnegat Bay at www.littoralsociety.org.

If you are in need of native plants you’ll be happy to know that Hammett’s Garden Center on Rt. 9 in Forked River NJ is having a sale on native plants with 10% off the purchase of all native plants during the month of May.  Mention that you read about it at the Littoral Society blog site.  Hammett’s was the first retail nursery to commit to providing a specific area dedicated to native plants for the Littoral Society’s Bayscape for Barnegat Bay program.

There are several other opportunities to get native plants:

FREE Native Plant and Seed Swap
JAKES BRANCH NATURE CENTER
SUNDAY, MAY 20, 2012
10:00 am to 1:00 pm

For information call Jakes Branch County Park 732-281-2750 or visit their website www.oceancountyparks.org. The event is sponsored by Ocean County Board of Chosen Freeholders and the Ocean County Department of Parks and Recreation.

There will also be a native plant sale at The 15^th Annual Barnegat Bay Festival on Sunday June 3, 2012 in Island Heights, NJ beginning at10 am. Sponsored by the Barnegat Bay Partnership there will be over 100 exhibitors and vendors.  Rain or shine come out and support this wonderful event.