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Saturday, July 25, 2015

Butterflies Abound

Or do they?

Summertime means lots of beautiful insects,
the most stunning of which might be the butterfly.
Fun to emulate,
butterflies can be found on many items,
including quilts, of course!

Dancing ButterfliesLeahDay.com
   
LaundryBasketQuilts

The Butterfly Quilt by Tula Pink

Two Etsy finds that tickled my butterfly fancy.

Viking Village
Studio Swoon Handmade

  Perhaps the most majestic of all is
the Monarch,
(Danaus plexippus).


It is a species at risk, folks,
largely due to habitat loss,
and we can help.
I have been viewing some absolutely beautiful gardens
on many of the blogs I visit.
 rely soley on milkweed for growth and survival.
I encourage you to google which species of milkweed plant
is native to your specific area
and to incorporate these beautiful plants
into your (hopefully chemical free) garden spaces.
These are the plants, the ONLY plants, that the Monarch Butterfly
will lay her eggs on.  Under the leaves.  
One at a time.

Davesgarden.com

Or en masse.

ruthschickens.wordpress.com
This year, I have planted three mature Swamp Milkweed plants,
and I've started three babies from seed.
One (of the mature) is just starting to bud out now
and I am so excited.
I haven't seen a Monarch on my property
since September of 2012.

Thanks for considering my request.
It's such a simple thing to do.

~karen









19 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

we let our milkweed run wild in our fields. love those earrings! or should i say earwings. :)

Raewyn said...

I love the Monarchs as well and always try to have several "Swan plants" growing for them. I hope your plants attract some butterflies for you this season.

Fiona said...

love those quilts... I never knew that about the Monarch butterfly
Hugz

Lin said...

Good for you Karen - I hope your monarchs return. I don't think it is a butterfly we have around here but we do get plenty mainly because we run our garden mostly as a nature reserve with a veg plot in the middle!

Lesley said...

Very enjoyable post! Love those butterfly quilts and hope you attract many monarchs with your plants!

eileeninmd said...

Hello, I love the beautiful butterfly quilts. We tried growing the milkweed from seed but it did not grow. I am happy to see your milkweed is doing well. Have a happy day!

Karen said...

I love to watch the butterflies in my yard. They are so colorful. I hope the Monarch's return to your yard.

Sondra said...

What a great post! I have tried to relocate milkweed to my property and no success. I never thought of looking for the seeds online, but I will do that now! A blog friend in Ohio has just started a growing/seed business and they are concentrating on wildflowers for their region.

Sondra said...

I came back after finding this If you send a SASE they send you some seeds FREE.
https://www.livemonarch.com/free-milkweed-seeds.htm

Createology said...

Butterflies are precious and they are also the "bearer's of 10,000 happinesses". I shall research my zone for proper milkweed plants. I would hate to lose such a beautiful and important species. Butterfly Blessings...

Carrie P. said...

I have never seen a monarch in person but I tried to grow some milkweed last year. No luck.

Julia D @ Jada's Quilting Adventures said...

Interesting facts! The past owner of my house was a great gardener. I'll have to take a look to see if there's any around my property :)

Sheila said...

Well thanks for the info, I can't remember the last time I seen any type of butterfly including the beautiful monarch . Since I don't know that plant will have to look it up as I sure would like to help and appreciate you passing on this info!!

DeniseinVA said...

Fantastic post Karen.

Barb said...

Love all of your butterflies. When we were young there were butterfiles everywhere and even fire flies...I saw one for the first time the other night...just one...

Judy said...

What a great post! I love the stamps and the earrings are awesome. You know here in our neighborhood, we hardly ever see butterflies anymore because so many people spray chemicals on everything. But when we ride in the mountains, there are wonderful butterflies flitting everywhere, it's such a delight to see. You are so right, if we can help out, it's a small thing to plant a milkweed plant or two to help the monarchs.

Vickie said...

The Monarchs come through Texas (a bit further south than I am) but we do get some come through Comanche County on their way to Mexico. Years ago I saw the migration down around Fredricksburg and Mason it was a magnificent sight to see.....millions! Such an amazing journey they take. My baby grandson discovered some little yellow butterflies a while back. As little as he is they had him mesmerized for 10 or 15 minutes.

Lynette said...

Oh! The Laundry basket butterfly quilt! :D I'm in love. I left a whole bunch of milkweed on our property this spring when it came up. I did pull most of it out of the front-door "formal" garden bed, but still left 3 good plants of it there, and there's a lot of it out and about on the side and back of the 1/2 acre. We don't normally get them much here at our altitude, but I hope if anyone's fluttering about in the area, they'll find the milkweed they need!

Anonymous said...

I got some free butterfly garden seeds to plant next year. I received enough, free, to share with my good friend, and we are both planning to plant them and see what grows and if we see an increase in Monarchs. I used to see a lot of them in Arizona, and I see a fair number here, but I think that makes sense because if the numbers decline, the area would shrink from the far north and far south of their range first, I believe. Beautiful butterfly quilts!