Congratulations! Love your pink beebalm, too. What else did you plant?

Nice shot! You easterner s get all the pretty butterflies. I am envious!

SCG

What a lovely Mother's Day present. That Tiger Swallowtail has seen some action in its short life. It's missing most of its tail. Bee balm was a great choice for attracting butterflies, and hummingbirds, as well. Could we see a picture of the entire garden?

Martha

Good to hear some butterflies finally showed up!

Your female tiger swallowtail probably laid some eggs in her heyday.

The bee balm is SO pretty! I've only grown the blue purple variety, and it didn't last.

Here's hoping you get more butterfly visits!

Sherry

This specimen was crawling on the patio this morning about 10 ft away from the garden.

Well we put the cat back in the garden and it went into the pincushion and started munching away. We then went out for a couple hours. When we returned I went out to check on it and did not see it. I started looking under the plants and found these under the Black Eyed Susan leaves. Then I found the cat out of the garden again and decided to let it be for now. It's pretty exciting getting all this activity now. Any advise on the eggs? As I stated earlier we are newbs, this garden is about 10 weeks old. I have no idea how to raise them or what is involved. Should we just let nature take its course for now? Thanks.

This post was edited by Youngbek318 on Sat, Aug 3, 13 at 15:36

Here's a shot of my beginners BG. There are 2 Tri-Bloom Butterfly bushes, 2 Blue fescue grasses, 1 Coral Reef Bee Balm, 1 Russian Sage, 1 Purple coneflower, 1 Petite Delight Bee Balm, 1 Yellow Butterfly Weed, 1 Butterfly Blue Pincushion and 1 Black-Eyed Susan. Deciding what to put in the bare area behind the bed.

Left side close-up

Right side close-up.

Youngbek318,
Your plants look very healthy and well cared for. I'd encourage you to plant more varieties of milkweed that are native to your area. They are great for all pollinators and especially important for the endangered Monarch Butterflies. In that cleared area, you could just put down seed and rake up some of the soil, or cover with a bit of compost and keep it watered early next spring. There are lots of other great plants. Just search this forum's old threads, and you'll get lots of good ideas.

Martha

Thought it was the same one as Friday but this one has all its tail.

I love your sweet little butterfly garden! It made me smile. Thank you for planting it. The female Tiger Swallowtail at the bottom is just stunning. What a great shot! The Tigers are especially tolerant of human presence I find, and you can get really close to them with the camera. They don't seem to mind. As for the hand raising of butterflies, a person has to decide for themselves what they want to do. If you want to hand raise them, then learn all that you can about the best ways to do that, and then do it to the best of your ability. It's also fine if you don't want to make the commitment of hand raising. Simply providing the plantings that they need in order to thrive is a big contribution. Most here will probably tell you to concentrate on having as many host plantings as you can possibly offer. The host plants are the ones that they lay their eggs on, and each species uses different plants. I will include a link for a good listing of species specific host plants here. First, you need to know which butterflies occur in your area, and you can look at area specific lists at the BAMONA site which I will also link here. I have a favorite basic butterfly ID book that I always recommend, and I will link it here too so that you might take a look at that. The nice folks here will help as much as you ask. So ask away! Happy butterfly gardening.
Angie
Host Plants: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/butterfly/2004041551026161.html

BAMONA: http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/checklists?species_type=0amp;tid=61

My favorite book:http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabast/LifeCyclesBook.jpg

Try planting some Everlasting, Pussytoes, False Nettles, Fennel, Dill, Globe Thistle and Hollyhocks. A Tulip Tree somewhere in the yard will attract those lovely Tigers.
Some native species of milkweed is available at some nurseries.